Page 5 of Auctioned Wolf Bride
I couldn’t waste more time. I pulled out my knife and started running, hoping maybe I could get a head start.
I had barely gotten three steps when a large shifter nearly as massive as Rand—stepped in front of me. He grinned down at me, looking me up and down with a greasy leer that made me want to take a shower.
“Hey there, sweetheart,” he said, taking a step forward. “You lost?”
I backed up, raising my knife, forcing my hand not to tremble. “Nope. I know exactly where I am.”
He grinned, moving closer yet again. “Are you sure? These woods are pretty dangerous. All sorts of guys who might try to take advantage of you. It’s not safe for a pretty girl like you to be out here all alone.”
“I can take care of myself,” I growled, gripping the knife tighter.
He barked out a laugh. “You hear that, guys?” he called. “She says she can take care of herself.”
Out of the corners of my eye, I saw two more shifters stepping through the trees. The crunch of leaves behind me told me a fourth was at my back. My breathing shallowed, my pulse beginning to race as the danger of the situation pressed down on me.
I curled my fingers into fists, trying to keep them from trembling. I knew enough to know I was in trouble, but showing any sort of panic or fear would only make things worse.
“Step aside, or I swear you’ll regret it,” I growled. “Just let me go, and we can forget any of this ever happened.”
“Oh, she’s got a bit of spunk to her,” the one on my left said. “I like that.”
“Leave me alone,” I snarled.
The man in front of me tilted his head as he considered the knife. He sniffed, then raised an eyebrow.
“Hey, Larz,” he said, keeping his eyes locked on me, a slow, knowing grin spreading across his face. “Ever seen a shifter defend themselves with a knife?”
“Normally, they’d have shifted by now,” the man beside me said.
By now?That made it seem like they had done this before. Normally, that would have made my skin crawl, but I had a more pressing problem to deal with. If they realized I couldn’t shift, that I had no real defenses against them, I wasn’t sure what I would do.
“Bit funny, don’t you think?” the man in front of me asked.
“I’d say so, Viktor,” Larz agreed.
I snarled, fingers lengthening to claws, teeth going sharp. I could still partially shift. I could only hope that would be enough to throw them off the scent.
“Try me,” I growled.
Viktor stopped, considering. Then he laughed again.
“We’ve got an absent on our hands, fellas!” he crowed.
The others chuckled, making my stomach churn with dread.
Viktor grinned as he leered down at me again. “I’ll bet someone would pay good money for a girl who couldn’t get away that easy. Especially with a body like that.”
He lunged forward, reaching for my arm. Reacting on instinct, I swiped out with the knife, but not quickly enough. Fire ran down my bicep as his claw raked across my arm at the same time my knife sliced upward. The man howled, stumbling backward as blood trickled through the fingers pressed against his cheek where I had sliced it open. He snarled, eyes blazing, but I was already darting away, making for the dense pack of trees.
Pain ripped through my scalp as someone grabbed my hair and jerked me backward. The knife flew from my hand. I stumbled into a muscular chest, and the man pinned my arms behind me.
“Let me go!” I snarled, thrashing and trying to break free of the man’s hold on me, but he was too strong.
They forced my hands behind me, rough fingers squeezing tight. Cold metal snapped around my wrists. A moment later, a heavy collar wrapped around my neck, and a padlock clicked into place.
“You’re not going anywhere, cutie,” the man holding me whispered in my ear. “Better just come quietly—”
I kicked my leg backward, slamming my heel into his crotch. He howled and let go of me. I ran again, this time screaming, hoping that someone—anyone—would hear me.