Feral Awakening (The Feral Series-Book 2) (9 page)

 God, if the little
female started to cry he didn’t know what he would do. He hated to see women
cry. Again, this was why he couldn’t be around people any more. Why were
females always so dam weepy, she probably expected him to comfort and coddle
her now.  Dam it, a better male would know what to do, a better man… “
Ah!”
Bells
thundered in his head as the skillet that had been drying in the sink behind
Kat bounced off his thick skull. Gripping his head with both hands to stop the
ringing, he almost didn’t see her sprint past him and wrench the front door
open. With a roar he struggled to regain his balance and chase after her.

 Her booted feet barely
cleared the front porch before she heard his steps thundering through the house
after her. If she could just make it to her truck in time she just might be
able to get away from the lunatic. Not only was he a werewolf he was completely
nuts. No way was she a Lykan and she wasn’t going anywhere with him.

 Using everything she
had she pumped her legs and sprinted for her truck. She usually left the keys
inside of it since no one in their right mind would want to steal the rusty old
thing anyway.

 Suddenly the air
slammed out of her chest as she was knocked to the ground beneath Ronan’s hard
body. “No!” Kat screeched, struggling to drag in a deep breath and thrashing
underneath him. “Let me go!”

 “Never run from a
Lykan.” Ronan’s furious voice snarled from behind her. “We like it.”

 Kat gasped as she was
flipped onto her back beneath Ronan’s massive body. Fear slammed through her when
she looked into his face and saw his glowing eyes and long fangs.
Oh god! He
was shifting!
Kat renewed her struggles using everything at her disposal,
biting, scratching and kicking, she was desperate to escape.

  Ronan’s beast roared
to be set free. The little female had dared to defy him and …
what the
hell!  Did she really just bite me!
Rarely did any Lykan dare to attack him
and the few that had, didn’t live to tell the tale. The claws on his hands
began to extend and he could feel a surge of power fill his system in
preparation for his shift. With a low growl he took a deep breath, filling his
lungs with Kat’s flowery scent… a scent that was filled with her fear. With a
groan he reined his beast in. If he let his beast take control he would hurt
her and… dam it… for some reason it really bothered him that she was afraid.

 Kat screamed as she
suddenly felt his teeth at her neck. She braced herself for the pain that was
sure to follow. She was shocked when his teeth remained on her neck but didn’t
break the skin. Why was he waiting? A strange calm began to break its way
through her panic. Her struggling limbs beginning to slow.
What’s happening
to me?
Kat could feel her mind beginning to fog over as the urge to fight
seemed to pour right out of her. Her body relaxing, she instinctively turned
her head to the side, fully baring her neck to him in submission.

 Feeling her small body
relax in surrender, Ronan struggled to pull his teeth away from her slender
neck. He hadn’t realized how hard it was going to be to keep from marking her
neck, a mark that would bind her to him for all time. Leaning away from her now
quiet form he released her wrists and ran a trembling hand through his hair. The
surprising need to mark her shook him to his core. What the hell was wrong with
him?

 Kat lay quietly
beneath him now. She had fortunately submitted to his bite in the way that most
female Lykan would. He wasn’t sure if he could have kept his beast at bay had
she continued to fight him.  

 Sliding his arms
underneath her legs he scooped her limp form into his arms and carried her to the
truck. She was docile now but he feared it wouldn’t last long. Opening the
passenger side door he carefully laid her on to the bench seat. Opening the
glove box he rummaged around until he found a length of rope she probably used
to secure her boxes in the bed of the truck. Quickly he wrapped a piece around
her ankles and used another to secure her wrists behind her back, she wouldn’t
be swinging anymore skillets at his head. He might have actually found it humorous
had it not been his own skull colliding with the skillet. 
She had actually
attacked him!  
Ronan was still in shock.  Clearly he had made a mistake by
expecting her to behave as other Lykan female did.  It was a mistake he
wouldn’t make again.

 He was careful to make
sure the sleeves of her shirt were under the rope, protecting her skin. He remembered
how soft her skin had been as he ran his hand down her back as she lay pressed
against his chest in the cave. With a low growl he quickly shut the door of the
truck, sealing her inside and putting a barrier in between them.

 Kat’s brain floated in
a fluffy cloud. The dashboard of her old truck began to come into focus. Her
head was gently lifted and something hard and warm was placed underneath it. Kat
was confused when a low voice filled the cab of the truck. “Should of just done
this earlier.” The roar of her truck starting up was like a shot of caffeine to
her system and she was suddenly wide awake.

 She struggled for a
moment to use her hands to push herself up only to realize they were tied
together as well as her feet. “What the hell?”

 Finally managing a
sitting position, Kat could do nothing as she looked out the window and saw her
little house fading into the distance. Still not sure how he had managed it Kat
realized she was truly caught. The jerk was actually kidnapping her!

 Kat gasped and pressed
into the back of the bench seat as Ronan suddenly leaned across her, grabbing
her seat belt and buckling her in.

 Thoroughly piss at him
and more than a little scared Kat stared out the window and fumed in silence
not willing to make eye contact. Where the hell could he be taking her? All he
had said earlier was “somewhere safe”. Exactly where do you supposed a werewolf
considered “somewhere safe” anyway?

 Kat could feel herself
approaching meltdown. Being kidnapped was the last straw. There was only so
much a girl could take. First the feral attack, then Benji turned out to be a
crazy werewolf, now this. Now that she thought about it, she was also
completely weirded out by the way she had melted under his bite too. There was
no way in hell that she would let him see her break though.

 They drove for several
more miles when Ronan’s voice startled her out of her daze. “Are you injured?”

 “What?” Kat looked at
him in confusion.

 “You are… quiet. Did I
hurt you?” Ronan’s gaze met her eyes for a moment before he scowled and looked
back at the road again. She could see his fist tighten on the steering wheel
while he waited for her to answer. For a brief moment Kat considered faking
some kind of injury with the hopes that he would untie her, giving her a chance
to escape but she was just too exhausted just then to pull it off.

 “No.”
You big
stupid jerk of a caveman. Why would he care if he had hurt me anyway? How dare
he treat me like this, after I fed him ham sandwiches in that alley! Crazy,
delusional, thick headed…
Kat amused herself with all of the names she
wanted to call him but instead chose to keep to herself. Oh the things she
would love to say to him. She just didn’t want him doing that thing with his
teeth again though.

 Kat went back to
ignoring him as she stared blankly out the passenger side window. They drove
for miles like that, stopping once for gas. Occasionally Kat could feel his
eyes on her but she refused to even acknowledge that he as even in the vehicle
with her.

 Her mind kept circling
around the things he had said earlier. He had said that female Lykan matured
once they were twenty five. Well she was twenty seven. Her mind went back to
the run through the woods that was unbelievably fast. The screw driver she
easily embedded in the shop wall. The mood swings and then there was the
strange energy that kept pulsing through her system.

 The scariest thing was
that she had dreamt of them. The beasts. They had been in her nightmares since
she was a little girl. They chased her with flashing fangs and razor sharp
claws. Now when she remembered her dreams the faceless creatures began to take
on the shape of enormous werewolves instead.

 No. She was not a
Lykan. She wouldn’t even consider it.  Eventually the stress and exhaustion of
the last forty eight hours began to catch up with her. They drove for several
hours like that and late into the night. Her arms ached from being tied and she
had a stiff neck from leaning against the door of the truck. Just as she was
about to break and beg him to release her he pulled off of the main road and
down an old deserted gravel road. After driving a couple of miles into the
middle of nowhere he pulled off the road and came to a stop in a secluded area
surrounded by trees and brush.

 Kat’s heart lept into
her throat.
Oh god! What’s he going to do now? What the hell did he need a
dark secluded road for?
They were in the middle of nowhere and she was
completely at the mercy of a crazy man.

 The fear rolling off
of the little female had his beast roaring behind his temples. Her silence
during the drive had… bothered him. Jumping out he stomped around the front of
the truck and jerked her door open. She cringed and pulled away from him as he
reached into the truck for her. With a low growl he pulled her out of the truck
and stood her in front of him. Glaring into her eyes he growled at her. “Dam it
female. Stop looking at me like that. I’m not going to hurt you.” Not trusting
herself to speak Kat nodded her head but refused to meet his eyes. She was on
the verge of a breakdown but she would be dammed before she let him see her
cry.

 “Now, I’m going to
untie you for a bit so you can see to your needs. Make any move to run from me
and you will spend the night tied to the hood of the truck. Understand?” Kat
nodded her agreement and he knelt down in front of her and began untying her
legs, her hands were quick to follow. Kat gasped in pain as the blood suddenly
rushed into her fingertips and the muscles in her arms screamed now that she
could move again.

 Ronan watched her
helplessly as she clenched her arms around her stomach and grit her teeth
against the discomfort. Something deep in his chest ached when he realized how
she hurt after being tied up for most of the day. Shaking off the strange
emotion he pointed towards the trees. “Stay close, you have five minutes and
then I’m coming in after you.” Again all he got was a brief nod as she moved
stiffly into the trees.

 Fortunately she
emerged from the trees a few minutes later and moved to stand next him where he
sat on the tailgate of the truck. Pointing to the tailgate next to him he watched
her as she reluctantly hopped up and sat as far away from him as she could.

 She glanced in the
back of the truck and recognized several things from her house.
Oh goody. He
packed for her after knocking her out earlier. How considerate.
Reaching
into one of the boxes he pulled out some of the protein bars she usually took
hiking and an apple and handed them to her.

 She wasn’t all that
hungry but she took them anyway. She had no idea how late it was since her old
truck also had an old radio with no clock. She guessed it was after midnight
though.

 “We will stay here for
the night. I need a couple hours of sleep.” His wounds were almost healed but
the amount of energy it took to heal so much damage was draining.

 “Here? In the truck?” Kat
looked at him in surprise. Ronan reached behind them and pulled her sleeping
bag out giving it a pat.

 “Camping. Wonderful.”
Why
not camp out under the stars with her stolen gear in her stolen truck. But then
again what was a little theft when you already had kidnapping on your rap
sheet.

 
Finishing
off a couple if protein bars and three apples, Ronan set about spreading out
the sleeping bag in the bed of the truck. Reaching into a box Kat was surprised
to see him pull one of her quilts out. He must have grabbed it off the back of
her sofa. With a scowl she wondered what else he had helped himself to from her
house.

 Looking at her half
eaten apple he raised his eyebrow at her. “Are you done eating?”

 “I’m just not that
hungry.”

 “Very well.” Kat
flinched when he suddenly grabbed her wrists and began wrapping the rope back
around them. With a groan of frustration Kat fought back the urge to attack
him. She lowered her head and focused on deep calming breaths. She was too
tired and there was just no point. Kat had never felt so helpless in her whole
life. He would quickly overpower her and she absolutely didn’t want his teeth
on her neck again. Tears of exhaustion and frustration filled her eyes and to
her horror, began to track down her cheeks.
Oh god. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. It’s
just the stress playing hell on your emotions. Knock it off. I am so not
crying.

 
Ronan
had just finished placing his last knot in her rope when wetness hit the back of
his hands. Startled, he watched the tiny drop of moisture track across the back
of his hand and roll off the side.

 “Kat?” He tried to
peek under the curtain of mahogany hair that hid her lowered face from him. The
sound of her actual name on his lips startled her for a moment. He had only
referred to her as “female” even though the stupid jerk knew her name. She
still refused to look up at him though.