“Can’t we do something more fun?” His eyes devoured me, and I was completely aware of how little I was wearing.

“How can we do anything if you don’t untie my hands?” I pointed out, grasping at straws.

He smirked. “There’s lots you can do without your hands.”

He came to sit down next to me on the bed, and I cringed as he ran a finger over my lips and I realized exactly what he was implying.

“I’ve been awfully nice to you, haven’t I? If it weren’t for me, who knows what would be happening to you right now. I want you so bad, baby.”

I tried to hold it together. “If you want me so bad, why are you going to let Trevor give me to the Blackwells?”

He frowned. “It’s a lot of money.”

“How much of the money will you get?”

“I know what you’re trying to do, and it’s not going to work.”

“It’s not?”

Riley wiped sweat from his brow. “No. Trevor’s the pack leader; his word is final. I’m lucky he’s not with you himself. Maybe he’s waiting to take his turn later.”

His turn? Bile rose in my throat.

“I still don’t understand how the prince could let you leave his sight—if you were my girl, you’d never leave my room.” He ran his hands over my legs again and I whimpered, things were getting intense.

“I’d like to do this better, but I won’t get another chance.”

I panicked as Riley undid his belt with one hand, his other hand like a vise around my arm. I tried to twist from his grasp, but I didn’t get far.

“Please don’t do this,” I begged, hoping to get to that decent part of him that had surfaced earlier.

“I’m never going to have a chance to get with a girl like you again. I can’t waste it.” He moved on to his button and began to slide down his jeans.

Shaking uncontrollably, I tried to speak. “I’m sure you can get plenty of girls who actually want to be with you, don’t do this.”

He froze. “Who actually want to be with me? You saying you don’t want to be with me?” He glared at me and I realized I had said the worst possible thing. “You want to be with me, baby, and I’ll show you why.” His hand that had been near my knee moved to my thigh and didn’t show signs of stopping. I tensed.

The room shook and a huge crash reverberated. “What the hell?” Riley pulled his pants back on, removing his hand from my leg and releasing my arm.

Shouts followed by what sounded like animals howling filled the air.

Riley went to the door. “Stay right here, this isn’t over.” He slammed the door shut, and I heard a piece of furniture move into place outside the door.

I had no idea what was going on downstairs or outside, but I hoped that I could use the chaos to my advantage.

Waiting until I heard his footsteps retreating, I awkwardly maneuvered so I was kneeling on the bed. This put me at the right height to try to jimmy the window open, which was no easy task with my hands tied.

“Ouch!” I cried as the metal of the window frame cut into the skin of my wrist. Finally, the window moved upwards. I used the wall to move to standing and kicked out the screen. With only a moment’s hesitation, I ducked and took a step out onto the roof, thankful there was an overhang. I looked down into the darkness, glad I was only one story up, and hoping I wouldn’t kill myself in the descent.

With a deep breath I jumped for it, landing hard on one ankle before falling to my knees. Pulling myself up I winced. The pain in my ankle was incredible and my knees were bleeding.

Trying to ignore the inhuman noises filling the night, I fought through the pain and took off running. Thankfully, I was on the backside of the house and had quick access to the woods. I prayed no one had seen me jump. With no thought to where I was going other than knowing I was moving farther from the house, I stumbled through the dark. I would have been quite the sight for anyone watching me run with my legs and wrists covered in blood and wearing only a bra and panties.

I pushed myself to keep running but the pain got worse until I could barely keep going. Just as I contemplated resting, a searing pain shot through my leg and I was knocked down onto my knees again. I rolled over onto my back, coming face to face with a cougar.

Terrified, I started to scream when suddenly a blur flew in kicking the animal off me. As the blur slowed, I realized it was a winged figure covered in streaks of blood. Two cougars lunged for the Pteron, but he flung out his wings knocking both several feet away instantly. With a crack they knocked into a couple of trees. I flinched at the sound of the impact.

Without warning, I was jerked up from the ground. Arms wrapped around my waist. Unsure of who held me, I struggled afraid it was the mysterious Blackwell family.

“Cut that crap out!”

I was in so much pain and so overwhelmed that I didn’t try to place the voice and continued to struggle. Soon, I felt us land. We were surrounded on all sides by deep forest.

“What the hell, Allie! Do you want to get us killed?” Jared shouted as he stepped away from me.

“Jared?” I took a few steps towards him, tears of relief and fear slipping down my face.

He opened his arms, pulling me against his chest, letting me cry.

Jared held me for a moment, running his hands down my back to comfort me. His movements were stilted and I guessed this kind of contact was unusual for him.

Regaining some semblance of composure, I removed my head from his chest.

“Are you okay?” His eyes searched mine while revealing layers of fear, anger, and concern. He carefully untied my hands.

He moved back a few steps and looked me over. “Damn Allie, you look like shit.”

“Gee, thanks.” Now that I was with Jared I allowed myself to breathe. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to cover up.

“Did any of those brutes touch you?

I looked down at the open wounds on my leg. “Define touch?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“Then no. It uh, got close but it didn’t happen.”

“Thank god.” Jared surprised me by pulling me to him again. It felt strange. This wasn’t Jared. “Levi would have been destroyed.” So that was it. I pulled away. Just the mention of his name brought out the anger in me.

“Don’t even say his name.”

“Why not? What the hell were you thinking leaving by yourself like that? You just took off. You didn’t give Levi a chance to explain himself. You ran away before Hailey could even talk to you.” Evidently, Jared’s anger had returned as well.