What the hell was a knot? Was that some disgusting slang word I’d never heard before? If it was a gross euphemism for his dick, why in the world was it going to make me bleed when he stuck it inside of me? That was a strange and terrible thing to say.
Out of sheer desperation, I began to furiously struggle once more. “Let go of me! Help! Help!” I began to yell, hoping my screams could be heard over the powerful speakers of the film.
As soon as I got loud, Kane got serious. In the space of a second, the biker threaded his fingers through my hair and wrenched my head back so far it gave me instant whiplash. The suddenmovement silenced my voice so completely it was as if he’d just pressed mute on a remote.
“I said no screaming. Do it again, and I’ll have to get rough with you, bitch!” He hissed through clenched teeth.
Get rough with me? He was already holding me prisoner and squeezing my neck threateningly tight. I trembled at the thought of what “rough” meant to Kane. He sure didn’t seem like the kind of man to fuck around. I had a feeling if he said it, he meant it.
“I think we’ve had enough foreplay for one evening,” Kane ominously stated. “It’s time to get to the main event. You’re coming with me, Kitty Cat.”
Was he going to drag me into the woods and rape me? Or worse, take me back to his Club House and pass me around to his equally heinous friends? Fresh horror showered over me then. Despite the summer heat, I grew cold all over and goose bumps erupted along my skin.
Before I could find out what the monster had in store for me though, a voice behind us growled, “Get your filthy fucking hands off my girl, Kane!”
It took everything I had to keep my heart firmly in my chest when I recognized that deep growl. Though I’d only ever heard it once before, it was so memorable, I knew I would never forget it.
Kane roared and flipped our positions then. I was now facing Ace. Beside Ace, there were two other Night Stalkers standing at attention, awaiting their leader’s command. His enormous friend, Domino, stood to his right, and another biker I’d never met to his left.
“I’d stay back if I was you, Ace,” Kane warned, his gaze darting from one enemy to the next, quickly summing up the situation like only a predator could. “You wouldn’t want us to fall down this steep hill. Imagine what would happen to someone as fragile as Cat?”
“You never learn, do you, Kane?” Ace snarled from the edge of the wood line, stepping fully into the moon’s light and revealing his sharp, masculine features. “You must have a death wish coming after my girl like this.”
While I didn’t object to his statement, I felt it was kind of strange that Ace was calling me his “girl”. Maybe he was just telling Kane that so he’d know I was under the Night Stalkers’ umbrella of protection? I’m sure that was it. Whatever the reason, I appreciated it. Because the way Kane was holding me now, so tight and close, told me I wasn’t the only one feeling trapped in this moment. Kane did too. That knowledge felt so good, I could have smiled. Though I didn’t dare under present circumstances.
“Even you can’t be this dumb, Kane. Let Cat go and deal with this like a man,” Ace demanded, throwing down the challenge like the alpha he absolutely was.
Kane laughed then, but there was no real joy in the sound. “A man? But we aren’t men, are we Ace? We’re animals. And this animal isn’t ready to give up his prize quite yet.”
“She’s a woman, Kane. Not a prize. Don’t be this pig headed,” Ace reasoned, his gaze flicking in my direction for only a second, before it returned to the threat.
Kane hauled me even closer then and hissed, “What are you going to do? Sic your dogs on me with our precious little bundle in my arms? I don’t think so, Ace. You’re bluffing.”
“I never bluff,” Ace shot back.
“Good, because neither do I,” Kane agreed. The vicious bastard spun me around and flung me to the ground so hard and fast I couldn’t catch myself and began tumbling over the edge of the deadly cliff-like hill.
CHAPTER 7
Ace
I’m not a man who lives with fear. Being a ware, and the president of an MC, has taught me to be pretty bold and daring. But seeing Cat pushed toward that ledge, the image of her breaking her neck as she hurtled down the rocky hillside, was one of the most terrifying moments I’d ever experienced.
Until Cat went through a full change, she was, for all intents and purposes, still human. That meant she didn’t have our reflexes or our ability to regenerate yet. She was vulnerable to everything humans were, including breaking her neck from a nasty fall.
Moving faster than I thought was possible, I threw myself forward. Landing on my belly, I managed to snag Cat by the sleeve of her uniform just as she began to roll. Unfortunately, her forward momentum pulled me with her. When I felt the material begin to rip, I did the only thing I could think of. Yanking her hard, I gripped her arm and tucked her under the wing of mine as we picked up speed and started to barrel rolldown the hill. Curling myself around her fragile body, I braced for the impact of the ground.
Thankfully, the section of hill we started from was mostly covered in grass and it helped soften our impact when we made contact with it. However, it couldn’t completely shelter us from becoming gravity’s bitch as we began to hurtle toward the next drop.
Using my handy shifter reflexes, I was able to grab an exposed root before we really spun out of control. Digging my boot into the hillside, I held fast, and we jerked to a sudden stop. Taking a moment to orient myself, I shifted my weight onto my back.
I wasn’t worried about myself. Cat was a different story. Though we’d only descended about fifteen feet, I didn’t know if the wind had been knocked out of her or she’d inadvertently cut herself on something sharp as we’d tumbled.
“Babe, you okay?” I checked. She was so still and quiet, I couldn’t tell.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” she hesitantly answered after a few seconds, holding onto me as tight as a baby kangaroo in her mother’s pouch.
“Good. I’m going to slowly get to my feet. Wrap your arms around my neck and don’t let go. Alright?”
