My bear growls softly inside my chest, on edge but content at the same time.
We have our mate,I tell him.
Good,he says.Now keep her safe and convince her she’s ours.
Yeah, that might be a little harder to do…
THREE
Fern
I don’t havetime to respond to him before he picks me up again and strides through the trees.The second my stomach lands on his shoulder, panic slams into my chest.
The big guy—Jameson—doesn’t slow as he carries me straight up the porch steps of a house tucked deep into the trees.Warm light spills from the windows.It looks safe.Cozy, even.
Which is precisely why I start fighting.
“No—no, no, no!”I twist in his grip, kicking and squirming as hard as I can.“Put me down!”
He barely reacts to my attack, which only makes my fear spike higher.I know I could never take him in a fight, so that lonely eaves running.
“Fern,” he says firmly, like he has every right to say my name.“You’re safe here.”
“Easy for you to say!”I shout.
I try to remember every true-crime show I’ve ever seen.What did they say about kidnappings?Something about not being taken to a second location.
“This is a second location!”I scream at him.
His steps pause.“What?”
I kick out again.“You’re not supposed to go to a second location!”
“This is the first place I’ve taken you,” he says as he opens the front door.
The second he crosses the threshold, I grab the doorframe with everything I have, fingers locking around the wood.Pain shoots up my arms, but I cling to it like it’s my last lifeline.
“I amnotgoing to a second location,” I snap, heart hammering wildly.“That’s literally how people disappear.I never should’ve let you carry me anywhere!”
“I was helping you,” he says, frustration creeping into his deep voice.
“Oh, is that what we’re calling kidnapping now?”I glare over my shoulder at him.“Because that’s what it feels like!”
Footsteps crunch on the gravel behind us.I look up to see three more men approaching the porch.They look relaxed.Amused, even.
Great.Of course they are.Now I’ve traded two men in the truck for four men and a cabin.
I bare my teeth at them in a silent challenge.
Jameson turns his head toward them and lets out a low, dangerous growl.“I’ve got this.”
One of the guys chuckles.“Yeah?Looks like you do.”
“I said I’ve got it,” he snaps.
They lift their hands in surrender and back off, still grinning like this is the best entertainment they’ve had all night.
“Yeah,” I mutter.“We’ll see about that.”
