Chapter 1 - The Hunt
AUTHOR'S NOTE: THIS IS GOING TO GO THROUGH A GIANT EDIT SOON. IT'S A DEFINITE ROUGH DRAFT. ANY OF MY BOOKS THAT HAVEN'T BEEN PROFESSIONALLY EDITED WILL HAVE A DISCLAIMER AT THE BEGINNING OF THE BOOK.
POV: Sabrina
I was lost, deep in the Tennessee wilderness.
Tears coated my eyes, and my sweat-drenched, unfit body was two seconds away from giving out on me. Why hadn’t I kept up my cardio these last two years of college?
A better question would be why I had agreed to stay with my mother and her new husband in Podunk, Tennessee, for the summer after graduation.
I glanced back at the long dirt road behind me, attempting to swallow my fear. My phone was dead, and my car had run out of gas two miles back after I looped the same few roads for hours. Getting to someone’s house was my main goal, but I hadn’t come across one single house in two damn miles.
I tapped my phone, which was clutched in my hand again in desperation.
The blood moon hanging above me cast a hazy red glow against my skin.
“Dear God,” I hissed. “I’m freaking lost.”
I wanted to cry. No, scratch that. I wanted to scream, but I was afraid it would attract some hillbilly hermit or animal.
A shiver raced down my spine as a wolf howled in the distance.
I picked up my pace, adrenaline taking over my body, pushing me past the pain.
My white summer dress was drenched and molded to my curves, and my flimsy sandals were rough against the gravel.
The wind tossed my brunette hair around my shoulders, hitting me with a musky, wild scent that turned my stomach.
Ten minutes later, I noticed a streetlight and sighed in relief.
“OK, Sabrina. Half a mile. You can make it.”
I began to trot, a humorless giggle slipping from me. That’s when I saw the man standing in the tree line to my right.
I halted, my spine stiffening, my body warm.
“Hello?′ I asked.
I blinked when he didn’t respond, hoping I wasn’t imagining this. Fear snaked its fingers around my throat.
“Can you help me? I’m lost.”
The man stepped out from the tree line and inched his way up the ditch to the road.
He was bigger than an average man.
Tall.
Broad.
The blood moon did little to give me enough light to see him from afar.
Something deep inside of me saidrun.
Stepping back, the man halted and tilted his head. “You going to run, Little Wolf?”
Little Wolf?
Who did he think I was?
“I’m not sure what you mean,” I said. “I’m trying to get to my mother’s house. Do you have a phone?”
He crept closer, his movements turning slow, his body shivering.
He had to be on drugs, the bad kind.
I stepped back again; this time, the man dropped to all fours, and when he glanced up, two red eyes glared at me. His body shifted and contorted on the gravel, turning into something foreign. Something beastly. Before he finished, I turned and ran for my life down the ditch and into the overgrown forest.
My heart pounded heavily, and my arms cried out as I ran through the brush. One of my sandals broke around my ankle, but I didn’t stop for it.
I pushed through, hearing a wolf howl again, but this time it was closer.
Too close.
I pushed through the darkness, branches tearing at my limbs, the warmth of my blood coating my skin.
“Please, God,” I whispered.
I don’t want to die tonight.
I kept running, hearing the man-beast gaining on me from behind.
Tears fell across my tightened cheeks, and a lump of dread filled my throat.
My brain tried to picture what this man had turned into, and I prayed it had nothing to do with the wolf’s howl and the growling in the distance.
I broke free from the trees and into a field with a giant house in the distance. “I can make it,” I whispered.
Rushing through the thick grassy field, I pushed myself, daring a look back.
My heart stopped beating.
A giant wolf raced toward me.
A scream I didn’t recognize ripped from my chest and sliced through the humid air. I fumbled forward, my life flashing before my eyes.
My parents would never know what happened to me.
Death by a giant wolf wasn’t where I saw myself going.
I pushed further, my body crying out as I made it to a giant magnolia tree, tripping over a root.
My hands hit the ground.
The thundering sound of my heartbeat drowned out his approach.
Reaching for the tree trunk, I began pulling myself upward, attempting to climb it. The last time I checked, wolves couldn’t climb trees.
But humans could.
Each pull burned my arms.
I swung my leg over the lowest branch when I felt a searing pain in my opposite leg. I screamed again and fell from the tree. The wind ripped out of me. He’d pulled me down with his mouth and a gnarly bit etched my leg.
The wolf pawed at the ground and spun a quick circle of excitement, his black fur blending into the darkness around us.
“Please,” I begged.
Glancing upward, I watched as the wolf zeroed in on me but stopped abruptly.
He bared his teeth toward my left.
Out of the shadows crept another wolf, his coat white as snow, his teeth bared, and his stance low.
Something about him sent a shiver through my body.
He was bigger than this wolf by far.
Dominant.
He jumped, making the other wolf cower.
Then he stood up high, his silver gaze meeting mine.
Great, two giant wolves will fight over who gets to eat me.
Just as quickly as he approached, like magic, he shifted into a human man. I gasped loudly, my mouth open, my body panicking.
He was gorgeous. Dirty blond hair. Sharp jaw. A giant scar across his cheek. His body rivaled any man I’d ever seen.
He had giant shoulders, sculpted pecs, and abs.
I was panting over this thing.
“Leave. She’s mine,” he said, his voice smooth but deep. It traveled over my skin and left goosebumps behind it.
The other wolf cowered away and ran back into the woods.
The man turned to me, his eyes penetrating mine. “Where did you come from, Little Wolf?”
That again?
“I need to get back to my car. Can you help me?”
Another howl sounded in the distance, followed by the sound of sex. What was going on?
This man smiled, and lust pooled between my legs.
Reality smacked me in the face when I let my eyes travel down his body, seeing the impressive third leg hanging between his legs.
Dear God. Please get me out of this.
He bent in front of me, those silver eyes eating me alive. “I can help you, but you aren’t returning to your car.”
Another dose of fear hit me.
“I need to get back,” I said, scooting away from him.
He tilted his head. “You want me to chase you, or do you want to submit now?”
Submit? Submit to what?
“Listen,” I said, standing on shaky legs. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Sir. Can you please help me get to my stepdad’s house? His name is Jeoffrey Freeman. Please?”
He smiled again, and a shiver worked down my body this time.
What fever dream was I currently trapped in?
Another howl echoed around us, and the man closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.
I took the chance to run.
It was a stupid assumption that I could get away from him. My ‘turn into a wolf’ option hadn’t been checked during birth.
His soft chuckle hit me hard, my body betraying me like the little out-of-shape twit she was.
The shadows of the trees fell over me when I felt him again. He hadn’t shifted back into the beast but wrapped his arm around my waist and pinned me against him.
His head was several inches above mine, but I felt every ridge of that masterpiece he called a body.
“Come on, Little Wolf, you can do better than that.”
He tugged me around, pressing my back against the tree trunk, and pinned me with a searing kiss.
I moaned. Moaned!
What the hell was happening to me?
Fire licked at my veins as he palmed the globe of my ass, his dick pressed against my belly and his tongue dominating my mouth.
This was ecstasy.
It was mind-numbing, body-demolishing lust.
He ran his palm down my body to the top of my pants and slipped his fingers underneath my underwear.
He chuckled when I caught his wrist. “Please.” I couldn’t let this stranger do this to me.
He pulled back, his canines shimmering in the moonlight. “You want to play the game? You’re not impressed by your alpha?”
Alpha? “What are you talking about?”
He smiled and dipped his mouth against my neck, inhaling my scent. “I’ll play Little Omega.”
This man, beast, hauled me over his shoulder and began walking toward the house in the distance.
Good, maybe I could call my parents.
Or maybe he would shackle me up?
Maybe this was a dream, and I’d wake up soon.
“I can’t wait to taste your throbbing heat,” he said, moaning. “I can practically taste you now.”
Lust and adrenaline rocked through me.
Where in the devil’s butt crack had I landed?
