She was trapped. There was no other way to word it and no escape, not when the net was locked tight in a triangular angle, and the ropes were too thick—and yes, not when claws were digging into her, ready to tear her apart at the slightest movement. Anne tried not to panic, but it blazed in her system, anyway, stealing the air from her lungs and leaving her gasping for it. Outwardly, she tried to be as stoic as possible, understanding that emotion brought nothing but a triumph to the other party.
The net was rattled, and so was her body when she didn’t respond. Sharp eyes peered at her, and now she saw what color they were: blue, lighter than the morning sky, and just as captivating. The rest of him wasn’t, a form that triggered all her alarm bells until it resounded all over her. She swallowed the need to flee and gripped the net instead. Then she swallowed and kept eye contact.
“Seriously? You are going to use the silent treatment on me?”
There was something about the man’s disbelief that told her he was at his wit's end, his patience buzzing on a thin line. But the claws stayed put, not digging any further and not retreating, while his face remained dangerously close, ready to bite at any second. If she were her old self, she would tear that face off and bite him first. If she was….
Stop. Focus.
Don’t let him get to you.
Her spine steeled, and her shoulders straightened. His focus wavered, noticing it, but he snapped his attention back to her.
“So, you don’t have a name? Or a clan? I would have assumed you were a homeless human, but there’s nothing human about the way you move…and no human would just take a dip in that pond and bathe as if she had not bathed in days.”
A gasp got lodged in her throat as she examined him and noted that he wasn’t kidding. Heat crept up her body along with mortification, but she glanced away before he could see it. To her astonishment, the claws retreated in a moment of hesitation.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t look when you got out of the water.” There it was again: that soft, low voice that made her instincts whirl in confusion. “It just so happened that I was there, too, bathing on the other pond…and we are getting side-tracked. Your name?”
Silence.
“Does that mean I can keep calling you sweetheart? It fits your face but not your attitude.”
She glared. Too late, she realized her mistake as triumph flared on his face, indicating he had been waiting for a reaction. The claws retreated altogether as he stood up and folded his arms, emphasizing corded muscles and his tanned complexion. He gave her a hardened look.
“Okay. You want to play this the hard way. I get it. I wouldn’t give anything away if I were caught, either. But here’s the deal, sweetheart.” A pause. “There were attack complaints in the vicinity and a trail of dead animals. A camp was destroyed, and a group of campers was driven away in fright—and you just happened to be in the area when the latter two happened. Now, you are following campers to their campsite and coming back with their food. You are leaving them with nothing while they make their way back to civilization.”
His eyes widened. He sneered.
“Was that the plan? Were you going to attack them on their way down and defenseless because of hunger?”
I didn’t take everything,her mind screamed. But the guilt shot up, remembering when she did take everything those four women had except for that jar. When the net was rattled once more, she looked up.
“Tell me while I’m still being nice. Tell me, sweetheart, before I show you what we do to violent intruders like you—”
A pained shout interrupted his threat and had her body snapping with tension. It sounded inhuman. She blinked and he was moving, leaving her alone as he streaked away in a blur, exploding in his bear form before he disappeared into the trees. Her mouth went dry. Longing hit her hard, willing her body to do what he did, but she remained in her human form, trapped inside out.
She wanted to scream. Instead, she exhaled the panic away and kept her ears open, hoping she could at least evade whatever sinister form was coming for her. The forest was decidedly quiet, the shout already cut off and the man not making any sound. It caressed at her nerves until she was trembling, and Anne had to curl herself to ease it off.
The minutes went on and her mind became a separate form of trap. She broke free from it when a figure emerged from the trees, panting hard and bloody. But he had no wounds on him, and the blood wasn’t his. A brilliant, resolute gaze pinned her with a force that held her breath.
“It wasn’t you.”
She released it in stunned silence. Bafflement rose before understanding gave way and had her clutching the net. She shook it, willing him to let her go. Hope blossomed when he cut off the triangular ties, but that died when he dragged her bundled, still-covered form deeper into his territory.
“There was a dead deer. Torn apart and eaten alive. Fresh, maybe not long before I reached the area. It was just past your favorite spot and the culprit left no traces behind. Normally I would track instantly, but….”
You are here,was the silent message.
She kicked and made as much commotion as possible, hurling her body into tree trunks and grabbing onto shrubs to lock her in place. With a sigh, he clutched her waist and placed her on his shoulder in one smooth heave. She stiffened when a hand traveled to her back.
“If you bite me, I’m going to drop you. Hard.”
Anne bit her tongue and battled the urge to bite him. Human teeth wouldn’t do any good. She kicked a few more times until it dawned that it was futile, so she changed tactics and viewed his path instead, trying to memorize landmarks.
“That’s not going to help. The trees are nearly identical, and save for the camper’s shortcut, we are careful not to leave marks behind.”
We.So, he did belong to a clan. She glowered at his back, then ogled the lush green the deeper they got. He stopped at a green mound of leaves—and to her surprise, slipped in a hidden door and took her to an interior box that barely had any light.