That made him pause. “I told you I wouldn’t hurt you.”
“No, you said you wouldn’t rape me, or that you wouldn’t have to rape me. I don’t think you clarified hurting me.”
He grinned. “Touché. I won’t hurt you, Amia. Not intentionally.”
“Then untie me. My arms hurt.”
He moved his gaze up to her bound hands and let out a grunt as he took in the slight burn marks on her wrists just visible above the ropes. So the burns were her fault actually, from pulling and tugging. But he was as much to blame. He’d tied her up. He made quick work of the knots and had her hands in his, rubbing them then moving his hands down her arms in a brisk massage that brought all her nerves screaming to life.
She moaned, and he sat next to her as he continued stroking her.
“I wasn’t thinking. Sorry. I had to make sure you wouldn’t run if you woke up before I did.”
“What makes you think I’d run?”
He chuckled at that. “Everything about you. Unfortunately, I can’t let you go.”
“Why?” Once again, his claim filled her mind.
Mine.
She saw it in his eyes, in the flash of neon that fought to overpower the natural blue, but he shook it off.
“I came here searching for answers. Answers I didn’t get.”
“What you got was almost killed. Was that in your plan?”
“I was overconfident. My mistake.”
“I doubt it’s your first, or last.”
He met her gaze, and she felt a strong desire to comfort him at the sorrow she saw in his eyes. But his next words stopped her cold.
“Not so bad of a mistake, seeing as it brought me you. And I think you might be what I came here for.”
“Who, you mean. I’m a person, not a thing.”
He nodded his head but said nothing, and she felt a chill go down her spine.
“You’re not going to let me go, are you?”
He shook his head.
“I saved you. They would have killed you. My God, they had you close to death…” Her voice trailed off as she really looked at him.
His face had been swollen all to hell. He’d had cuts and bruises all over him. But now? Other than a slight bit of discoloration here and there, his face was sheer masculine perfection. How had he healed so fast? That wasn’t possible? Was it?
“Take your shirt off,” she commanded, wanting to see if the wounds she’d seen there had healed as well.
Reno grinned as he reached for the hem of his shirt. “Change your mind, darling?”
She snorted and shook her head. “Not likely.”
He loomed over her now, with a bare chest that had her lungs seizing with a lack of oxygen. Jesus, he was gorgeous. A nice patch of dark hair spread across his torso and trailed down over his abdomen in a downy line that disappeared beneath the snug jeans that hugged the blatant outline of his sex. Oh, he’d be more than a mouthful, and damn if she didn’t want to taste him as much as he’d said he wanted to taste her. She was so close to saying yes to him. So close it scared her just a bit.
“Like what you see?” He leaned back and spread his arms wide, giving her a better look at his broad chest and taut abdomen.
He appeared to have a twelve pack! It was a sin for a man to look this good. And she was weak, getting weaker by the minute. She did her best to shake the lustful glaze out of her eyes and really look at him. Once again, nothing but some minor discoloration here and there. A few old wounds that looked as if he’d taken a few bullets. She had one of those herself.
“You’re healed,” she finally managed to whisper.
He looked disgruntled at her observation but not surprised. It wasn’t human to heal like that. She’d accused him earlier of being different. The glow around him, the neon eyes, and now the ability to heal quicker than was humanly possible. She’d been told all her life shifters existed. But her family was crazy? Weren’t they?
His eyes met hers.
“Who are you?” she asked again, and she wasn’t talking about his name.
Reno wondered what was going through Amia’s head. She was a Blane, no matter her adamancy that she had no family. She had to have been raised on what shifters were like. Please, God, don’t tell him they just picked people out at random and tortured the fuck out of them just because they thought they might be. Surely the hunters had some guidelines they followed, characteristics they looked for? There must be a hunter handbook like Abby had read about. Whatever it was, Reno needed to know what they were, and Amia was his only source of information now.
He was twitchy as hell, and he knew why. The spirit inside him was no longer lying dormant. It was awake and ready to take control. He felt it pushing at him every time he looked at her. It wanted the sexy woman badly. Truth was, he did too. But he knew his duty. She was a means to the answers they were desperate to get, and the good of the group came before anything personal. No matter how much his cock ached, his teeth ached, and
fuck
, even his chest ached.
“Who are you?” Amia asked.
He wanted to wipe the fear off her face. The last thing he wanted was for her to be afraid of him.
“I told you who I am.”
“You told me your name,” she countered. “Not what you are.”
He shrugged shoulders that suddenly felt as if they held the weight of the world. “I’m just a man, Amia.”
She shook her head, denying his words. “You’re more than a man.”
He let his lips flip up in a cocky grin. “I’d be happy to show you just how much of a man I am.”
She snorted and rolled her eyes. All he had to do was invite sex, and she pulled back. She wanted him. He could smell the sweet scent of her pussy. It had his mouth watering. But she wasn’t ready to admit she wanted him. He hoped she did soon. The animal in him was riding him hard, urging him to take her, and he would. He would take what she offered, and he really hoped she offered everything. For a moment, he felt a desire to claim her in a primal way, to mark and mate her as Tah had Abby, but he shook it off. A woman deserved more than a man who would always feel compelled to put the needs of others first.
“What exactly are you planning to do with me?” Her eyes were wide, curious.
He felt himself sinking into the green orbs. “I’m taking you back with me.”
“Back where?” Now she looked scared, and that didn’t sit well with man or beast.
But it couldn’t be helped at the moment. He needed her. No, he needed answers from her.
“Home.”
She shook her head desperately. “I can’t go with you. Trust me, it’s not a good idea. I can’t tell you what you want to know. I’m nobody, Reno. Nobody.”
Now wasn’t that a lie.
“It’s the only thing to do now. I can’t go back to Parkview. Neither can you.”
She snorted. “I always go back.”
She muttered the words under her breath, but he heard them anyways.
“Why? Why do you go back? Why were you there? And why did you rescue me?”
“So you do remember I saved your ass. You owe me for that. You have to let me go.”
He shook his head. “I have a feeling you’d run right back and get yourself caught.”
“They always catch up with me eventually.” And she sounded as if she’d accepted that.
“You could be safe with me, with us. We’d protect you. We just need information, Amia. We need to know what we’re up against.” What the fuck? Where in the hell had those words come from?
She laughed, but there was no joy in the sound. “You’re up against your worst nightmare. They’ll get you if they want you. No matter how fast or how far you run.”
“Didn’t look to me like you were running away from them. Seemed like you were challenging them to stop you.”
“And aren’t you lucky I did.” She sneered at him.
“I am.” He nodded in agreement. “But why would you do it? Why take the risk?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do.” She sounded almost broken by that confession.
“I won’t let them hurt you.” But he sensed they already had.
“Why do you even care?”
Good question. One he couldn’t answer at the moment. All he could do was give her the truth. “I don’t know. I just do.”
Her bitter laugh filled the room again. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
He stalked over to her and leaned down so they were face to face. “I will kill anyone who dares try to hurt you. Good enough for you?” He bared his teeth, knowing his elongated canines were shocking to her. They were still shocking to him, and he’d been anticipating them since Tah. Nothing. Until this trip. Until he’d met her. Now, they were nice and long, filling his mouth. “I will rip out the throats of anyone who even tries.”
“I need to go to the restroom,” she finally whispered, her eyes flicking away from his face. He didn’t sense fear, but there was something there, something subtle.
He moved away and used his arm to point her toward the bathroom door.
“Go ahead and freshen up,” he offered. “I want to be on the road soon.”
She nodded and hurried across the room, being sure to pass as far from him as she could. The soft click of the door shutting was in direct opposition to the pounding of his heart. He could still taste her on his lips where he’d trailed them over her neck. He could still feel the scent of her lust wrapping around his balls. His cock was so hard he could pound nails with it. It was going to be a long trip back to Colorado.
He wondered what she’d say when she found out they were already miles away from Parkview. He’d had a hell of a time sneaking back into town with her unconscious body adding dead weight to him, but he’d been loath to leave her anywhere on the off chance someone found her before he got back. He’d already had his stuff in the Jeep, so it was easy to use the keypad, lay her out in the backseat and use the keys he’d tossed in earlier to start it.
He’d driven as far as he dared before stopping and renting a cabin for the night. He’d been a little afraid she might wake up then and set the alarm off trying to get out. But she’d been out cold and still hadn’t woken up when he carried her in and, as an afterthought, tied her to the bed.
He heard the screeching of the alarm and jerked the door open, expecting to see more of the Blane hunters in wait. How had they found him so quickly? Instead, he just caught the tail end of Amia as she took off around the side of the cabin he’d rented on the outskirts of Glacier National Park. He hadn’t wanted to chance a motel.
He grinned, in no rush to take off after her. In fact, he felt a trickle of anticipation go through him as he used the keypad to shut off the alarm then reset it. There was nothing but woods between him and the next cabin. Woods where Amia was running. Did she even realize she was taunting him to chase her? To capture her and claim her as his prize? He shook his head, trying to dissuade the beast that was starting to ride him hard again. He did his best to throttle the roar back, but it echoed around him anyway. With a grin, he took off after her.
Did she know how easy she was to chase? Did she have any idea how she left a pheromone trail behind her, pulling him to her? There was something primal about chasing her, sexual even. He could just see her ass darting behind a tree maybe a hundred yards in front of him. He vibrated with the need to take her once he had his hands on her. Just push her to the ground, rip their clothes out of the way and mount her like the animal he was becoming. And it scared the shit out of him.
He was within fifty yards when he picked up on another smell and realized they weren’t alone. Someone was out there with them, and though he smelled no threat, he wasn’t sure enough of his senses yet to trust he wasn’t just being cocky again. He’d had heightened senses for a long while, but nothing like what he had now that his animal spirit, his beast, was wide awake and demanding free rein.
He let out another roar and put on a dose of speed that had him catching up quickly. When he was within a few yards, he bunched his thighs and leapt through the air, taking Amia to the ground under him. His muscles burned with the need for something more than he was willing to give, and he felt the snarl of the beast leave his lips at being denied. He did his best to cushion Amia as he took her beneath him and rose to crouch over her.
“What the—”
“Shh,” he ordered, his eyes darting everywhere. He could smell whoever was out there. But still, he didn’t feel threatened. “We’re not alone,” he told her when she pushed at him to make him move off of her.
Her pushing turned quickly into a grip of steel as if she were afraid he’d leave her. Not likely. But her eyes were all over the place, searching just as he was.
“When I tell you to, I want you to get up and run back toward the cabin. Nowhere else, Amia. Back to the cabin.”
She nodded her head.
“I’m not going to let anyone hurt you,” he vowed again. How many times would he need to tell her that before she believed him? He met her eyes then went back to looking around the woods. “Ready?” he asked and felt her nod against his chest. He eased slowly back from her and moved so he was in front, shielding her as best he could while he searched the area. Why couldn’t he find whoever was there?
“Reno?” She whispered his name in a question.
He took a deep breath, inhaling the scents around him and couldn’t isolate the one he was searching for. It was there, subtle but still registering. Amia was too close, though, and her scent consumed him as nothing else could. Or maybe it was just that the focus of his beast was more on her and a burning desire to claim her.
He breathed out and gave the command. “Run.”
She took off behind him, and he could hear the pounding of her feet against the earth as she headed back the way they’d just come.
“She’s mine,” he stated, wanting whoever was watching to know Amia was no longer alone. He swore he scented approval, and didn’t that just fuck with his head. “No one will hurt her again. No one.”
He backed slowly away, keeping his gaze scanning the area around him. When he felt the tension ease from his shoulders, he turned and ran. It didn’t take him long to catch up to Amia, and he tossed her over his shoulder with ease. When she wiggled against him and yelled, he smacked her hard enough on that stellar ass to shut her up. He would have to make sure she understood she wasn’t getting away from him. Not without those answers he needed.