Taming the Hunted (4 page)

A lump rose in her throat. She tried to swallow it, and with
it, her fear. Gabriel watched her as she worked through the realization that
she may as well be dead. In her mind, she knew that had she not been secured to
the chair at that point she very well may have ended it then and there. Bile
rose in her stomach as she thought on the life now set out before her. More animal
than human. Killing for fun rather than need.

“It’s not all bad. A lot of the stories you have been fed
are made to breed hate around us.”

She looked at him. This man had protected her on more than
one occasion in the past few days, and he barely knew her. The panic was fading
as her training overtook her fear. She was a hunter, not a child. She had
trained to accept any situation with a cool head. Could she do that now? It was
her life, not his. Werewolves were a gray area for her kind. Neither evil nor
friend.

“Marian?” Gabriel’s gaze had not left hers since the
realization hit her. He stayed when he could have left.

Even now, his attention was for her, not his pack who she
had threatened by her very presence. This was no place for her to adjust. A
house full of wolves was not somewhere she considered safe when she felt so
vulnerable in her new body, her new life. She needed to leave, and to do that
she needed to trick Gabriel. As bad as that made her feel deep in her gut, it
was the only way she could see of getting out.

“Hey, have I heated up yet?” she asked, her pulse racing as
she tried to calm herself and think clearly.

He gave her a look that said he guessed she was up to
something, then he glanced down, she presumed checking to see that he was still
strapped to the chair. He reached over to feel her forehead. She struck out
with her left foot, right in the crotch! He made it to the other side of the
room faster than she could imagine, bounced off the wall, and doubled over with
a huff of pain.

She knew she wouldn’t be getting out of the chair now, but
felt it well worth it to watch him hobble around the back of the kitchen whilst
his genitals regrew.

Gabriel took his wounded pride and other assorted injuries
and vacated the kitchen without so much as a backward glance at her.

“I’m hungry,” she yelled after him, not expecting an answer.

Sighing, she settled in for a long wait with just her
jumbled thoughts for company. Her wrists chafed as she pulled at them in their
cold metal shackles. The chair was meant for a much larger person, one of the
pack maybe, so her hands were looser than they should be in their confines. Try
as she might she couldn’t get them out though, achieving scrapes and bruises
for her trouble. She did note with interest that the small bloodied scratches
she caused on her flesh faded and healed in a matter of minutes.

She tried to sleep, to calm herself, but it was no good. Her
senses were pressing on her, telling her that she needed to adjust and grow
with it. It was growing dark outside when she started to get seriously hungry
again. Her emotions were running wild. She could hear people moving about in
the rest of the house, but no one had come when she called.

She had never been the kind of person who liked being
ignored. Being an only child raised by a doting aunt with no children of her
own accounted for that.

She kicked her feet against the chair. No one would believe
it. The hunter had become the hunted.

It was nightfall. She could hear owls outside, swooping out
for their prey as the trees rustled in the ocean wind, and she was ravenously
hungry. She started rocking backward and forward on the chair, pulling at the
restraints. The cuffs weren’t budging, as she’d found out earlier, but the
floor was made of wooden floorboards and it was an old looking house. She hoped
they had termites, but felt that as her luck had taken a leave of absence over
the last few days, it was just too much to hope for.

She bounced in the chair, slamming her weight first up
against the bonds then slamming her slight frame back downward, causing a loud
crack from the floorboards. She tried it again and with a last crack, she found
that the back two bolts had come loose. She rocked forward again and pushed up
with her feet, causing the front two bolts to jump.

At least being a werewolf had one advantage. Her strength
meant she could escape from other wolves, which would definitely be a plus in
her line of work. She balanced, bent forward with the weight of the chair on
her back, and waddled over to the fridge only to get stuck between the table
and the wall halfway around. That meant that the table had to go, and moments
later it resembled a ski ramp more than a piece of kitchen furniture as she
slammed it with her chair.

Gabriel walked into the kitchen to find Marian sitting in
the middle of a pile of woodchips in front of the open fridge, munching on a
chicken leg. He looked to where the chair had been bolted to the floor and
stared at the four large holes and the gouges in the wood.

“Want some?” she asked before bending to take another bite.

“That’s eighty year old wood you just ripped up!”

“That’s probably why it broke so easy,” she mumbled around
the chicken bone.

“New rule,” he said, coming around to pull the meat from her
hand. “You are to be watched twenty-four-seven.” His gaze flicked to her wrists
still bound to the chair.

The familiar fire burned in his eyes again as they roamed
the peaks of her breasts through the large shirt. Marian grinned up at him. So
the boy liked a little bondage. She was down for that if it meant his gorgeous,
hot, manly self would hurry up and slake the fire that burned in her groin. It
was easy to forget her anger at the situation when Gabriel was in the room.

He sat with a sigh and watched her from the bench as she
made her way through the contents of the fridge.

Sighing, he rose and removed the cuffs from around her
wrists, rubbing the blood back into them with long, firm strokes. “I’ll get one
of the guys to make up some iron shackles for tonight in case you get out of
control again.” His eyes said that he might use them even if she didn’t lose control.

She watched him, thinking. Her face was inches away from
his, his gaze boring into hers. The shirt she wore was pulled tight across her
chest by the way she sat. She could tell it had an effect on him as he adjusted
his position to accommodate the bulge of his swelling cock. His eyes roamed the
crotch of her panties, visible just under the hem of the shirt.

He brushed her lower lip with his thumb, gentle and tender
as he moved it along the soft curve. Then he was flying across the room, again,
as her fist connected with his chin.

He yelled out in pain. She knew it hurt him and grinned at
the thought.

“I have some clothes upstairs that you can change into,
we’re going out,” he snapped at her.

She got up and gestured for him to lead the way as though she
hadn’t just thrown him into a brick wall.

She went upstairs and changed fast, not asking where he had
gotten the women’s clothing. The shirts, she noticed, would fit a much bustier
woman. Emerging from the bathroom, she found Gabriel giving her that same
crooked smile that had sent such dangerous feelings to the pit of her stomach.
She’d settled the matter last time by throwing him across the kitchen, next
time she wasn’t sure it would be as easy. She would just have to think of
another way to keep herself from falling for him.

Taking a deep breath, she walked into the hallway, ignoring
the mass of manliness behind her. Getting up the stairs hadn’t been as hard as
going down them. She got to the end of the hall and hesitated long enough for Gabriel to get annoyed. Without asking, he threw her over his shoulder and carried her down.
She braced her hands on his back and felt his muscles flex as he descended. Her
eyes stayed shut. As soon as they reached the bottom, he put her back on her
feet and went straight to the door. If he had to do that every time she needed
to go to bed, she was going to lose the war over her body.

She followed him outside, and they climbed into a black
convertible. She tried not to watch his large hands as they moved over the keys
and wheel.

“If I’m going to be staying here, you will have to make me
up a room on the ground floor,” she told him.

He looked at her and there was a flicker of something in his
eyes before he hid it behind a veil. She had decided whilst captive in the
kitchen that, although she would like nothing more than to leave, she had to
face facts. She was a wolf and someone had to show her the ropes of this new
life. She couldn’t think of anyone better than tall, dark, and handsome next to
her.

“You will stay in my room,” he stated, as though insulted by
the idea of her sleeping without him. “That way I can keep an eye on you.”

“In case I turn into a slobbering dog in the night and
attack small children?”

“That’s not even funny,” he scolded.

They sat in silence with only the radio breaking through the
tension. “I have to go home tonight,” she commented.

His brow creased and he didn’t answer right away. “I don’t
think that’s the best idea,” he said, his gaze remaining on the road.

“I have to pick up some clothes. And besides, I have a
business to run. My clients will be wondering why I haven’t contacted them.”

His yellow gaze flickered to her face, lingering for a
second before he turned back. “No.”

“But I have to.”

“No, you don’t. You can ring your clients from my mobile and
we will buy you new clothes.”

She was taken aback by how forceful his voice was. It left
no doubt in her mind that the matter wasn’t up for discussion. That was the
problem with ‘alphas’, their word was law in the pack.

They made a detour to the mall, as he had suggested.
Shopping was not her favorite activity, but she had no clothes and he refused
to take her home. He hurried her through the mall, one hand on her back as he
whipped out his card faster than the checkout girl could swipe. Several of the
girls gave him lingering looks that took in his tailored suit and broad
shoulders, but one look at his face and most turned away.

“You could lighten up a bit, you’re scaring people,” she
whispered to him.

“I’m being perfectly polite,” he hissed, making the checkout
girl take a step back.

“No, you’re being a brute, and I have half a mind to smack
you like a bad puppy.” The second she said it, she cringed.

His hand flexed on her back and his amber eyes seemed to
burn with fire as he turned to her. It was hard to breathe, but she didn’t
mind. Her thoughts were focused on his face, which seemed to lean in closer as
he inhaled her scent in a carnal, animal-like way.

Her senses tingled and screamed ‘danger’, but her body was
drawn to him. She could feel his growing excitement against her side and felt
herself grow warm.

He seemed to gain control of himself as the girl behind the
counter handed back his card. He steered Marian out of the shop and into the
underground car park. The sound of screeching tires echoed around the concrete
walls. Gabriel was now moving so fast that he was pushing her rather than
guiding her. As they came in sight of the car, he pulled her into another space
and pinned her to the wall. He clasped her hands in both of his and held them
over her head against the cold concrete. Her heart raced as he leaned in. She
sighed at the feeling of his warm breath on her face and closed her eyes,
caught up in the moment like a drug.

“Don’t ever speak to me like that in public again, Marian.”

Her name rolled from his mouth like silver and she could do
nothing but nod, hyper-aware of his body leaning over her. He shifted both of
her hands to one of his and traced her jaw with his fingertips. She breathed
out and stared into his eyes, which glowed in the shadows.

He traced his lips along her collarbone, his hand on the
back of her neck, pulling her closer. She groaned and slumped into him, but he
stood back far enough that she couldn’t touch him.

“Gabriel.” Her voice trembled, with fear or lust, she didn’t
know which.

His chest rumbled and he scraped his teeth across the soft
flesh of her breast. His body loomed above hers, and she felt so small and
fragile in his hold.

“Say yes, Marian. Say that you will never talk back to me.”
Each word vibrated deep within him, his breath hot against her skin.

“Never. I would never,” she whispered, arching her back,
longing to press against him.

Her lips were open to him and he brushed them with his. As
she stared up into his golden eyes, his pupils dilated in the dark.

“Good girl.” He covered her mouth with his.

He tasted of cherries and the sweet tang of grapes that they
had sampled as they shopped. His tongue traced her lower lip and he deepened
the kiss. Headlights swept their hiding place and she knew they had run out of
time. He leaned back, easing the pressure on her hands, and with one hand on
her waist, half supporting her, he guided her to the car.

They didn’t wait until they were in the house. With a rough
tug, Gabriel pulled Marian into the trees just off the driveway. It should have
hurt more as he thrust her against a tree, but she smiled at the pain and
gasped as he ripped her shirt off and took one erect nipple into his mouth and
pulled.

It seemed that she was being punished, and if this was the sentence,
that was just fine with her. She grabbed hold of his shirt collar and pulled
his face up to hers. She licked the inside of his lip before pressing her mouth
roughly against his. His hands went to her buttocks and he lifted her from the
ground. The feeling of being so powerless made her tremble. She had never been
the aggressive type in bed, but something inside of her tipped, and in one
movement, his shirt went flying into the bushes.

She ran her nails down his back and he arched in pleasure, a
cross between a moan and a growl escaping his lips.

He grinned down at her, a look so full of fire that her
breath caught in her chest, and she was glad he was supporting her as she was
sure her legs would not hold out. He reached between them and ripped open her
jeans, sending the button flying off so hard that she was sure it dented the
car. He fumbled in his haste to get her jeans off one-handed whilst supporting
her with the other. His tongue worked circles around her nipple, sending sparks
of energy down her stomach and causing deep sensations in her core.

“I need you, now,” she hissed in his ear.

His hand made it to her center. He pushed the fabric at her
crotch away and drove two fingers into her. Her body arched with the intrusion,
her breath leaving her in gasps. His thumb rubbed circles against her clit as
her hand found his already hard cock. She worked to release it from his fly,
her hand pumping the warm mass of it through the cloth. He bit down on her
neck, and pain and pleasure surged through her as he marked her like an animal.
She rode his hand, her hips bucking against him. A whimper escaped her lips as
she felt a familiar rush surge through her.

“Well, you’re going to have to take a rain check,” a voice
from behind the car interrupted.

Gabriel growled at the intruder and half spun to face him,
the hairs on his arms rising beneath her hands.

“Sorry, kids, but we have a small situation which needs
taking care of,” the voice, who she now recognized as Kennard’s, said.

“Yeah, and you just interrupted it,” Gabriel growled at him.

She slid down Gabriel’s body as best she could as he sure
wasn’t letting her go. His hand brushed the wet crotch of her underwear as she
lowered herself. She paused, pressing herself against him as he worked a finger
in the side of the lace again. He looked at her, and the fire in his eyes
signaled that he wanted to forget Kennard was there.

“Now, children,” Kennard drawled.

She wondered how well he could see in the dark.

“Fine, we’ll solve whatever it is then pick up where we left
off,” Gabriel snapped. With a final stroke, he withdrew his hand, tucking his
manhood back into his slacks, and pulled her past Kennard and into the house.

As they passed the brush her top had landed on it, she
grabbed it, Although it was in pieces, she managed to wrap it around herself
enough to have a little modesty.

They burst into the kitchen with Kennard in tow. Jake and Nole were waiting for them. Marian noticed that the remains of the table and chair
she’d broken had been removed.

“Now, what was so important?” Gabriel demanded.

She had never seen him in such a state of anger. As she had
known him less than a week, it was not that surprising, but she was turned on
even more by his apparent forceful desire to have her. And she was more than
lusting to pick up where they’d left off. Her clit throbbed with neglect, and
she could tell he still strained against his pants.

“Sorry, mate,” Jake said, looking to the tattered remains of
her shirt. “But Terrance is back and it looks like he has taken the, um, less
favorable option.”

Gabriel shot off some very impressive words that even made
Kennard raise his inexpressive eyebrows and Nole giggle into her hand.

“Who’s Terrance?” Marian asked when no one looked to be
elaborating on the situation.

“He’s the imbecile that attacked you,” Gabriel growled.

“Oh,” was all she could think of to say.

“That’s a bit harsh, Gabe. It was an accident, and it looks
like it didn’t turn out so bad in the end,” Jake commented, looking toward her
now button-less clothes.

Gabriel paused for a moment, looking at her body beneath the
fabric with that small smile on his lips, distracted from his duty to serve
justice for her. She crossed her legs in an effort to not squirm under his
gaze.

“We can’t find him,” a pack member reported, coming into the
kitchen.

“Keep looking,” Gabriel demanded.

“The others are still searching,” the pack member replied,
holding his hands out between Gabriel and himself.

At his side, Nole stood, slurping a strawberry milkshake as
if the situation were not out of the ordinary in the least.

“What’s wrong?” Marian asked, looking to each of the pack
members who inhabited the kitchen.

There was a pause where a lot seemed to be said without
being spoken out loud.

“Come on.” Gabriel took the hand that still held hers and
swung it over his shoulder, swinging her up after it.

“Hey, I can walk, you know,” she protested.

“All of you go look for the idiot,” he told the room. “Nole,
stay here and keep watch, little one.”

From her position, Marian saw them all hurry for the door.
Everyone except Nole and Kennard, who wandered toward the fridge.

“You, too, bloodsucker,” Gabriel commanded, not turning
around. “For once, do as I say. You’re as much responsible for this as he is
and don’t forget you are here by invitation.”

Kennard continued to the fridge and pulled out a bag of
blood and sunk his teeth into it before he replied, following them into the
entry. “I was just grabbing a snack. We’ll be here all night and I won’t have a
chance to feed. That is, of course, unless the human is willing.”

He never got to finish his sentence as he was forced to duck
the picture that Gabriel tore off the wall and flung at him without missing a
step.

“I was joking,” Kennard drawled, not rattled in the least.
“Little Nole, let us go for a walk.”

Nole emerged from the kitchen at a skip. She took Kennard’s
offered hand, in her other hand, Marian saw a small, pointed blade had replaced
her milkshake glass. They headed outside together, leaving Marian and Gabriel.

“Where are we going?” Marian asked, noticing that they were
headed for the stairs. “And should she have a knife?”

“My room is safer than any on this level as he can’t scale
the walls. Don’t worry, you won’t even notice we’re not on the ground.”

She bit her lip as she felt his hand slip between her legs.
It could have been an accident, but as his fingers brushed her crotch, she
doubted it. She blushed as her blood beat harder through her veins, and she
hoped there was no one left in the house to witness his roaming hands.

True to his word, they were at his door before she even
realized they had left the entry. He carried her in and laid her on the bed,
his hand sliding along her inner thigh as he lowered her off his shoulders.

“Stay,” he told her, tying her to the bed frame with the
tattered remains of her shirt before leaving and slamming the door behind him.