Page 20 of Loving the Lion

“What the fuck?” she whispered to herself, glancing in the rearview mirror. Now she was panicking, did she turn off, leaving the main road to travel on what looked like a one lane road—a road she was unfamiliar with? Not that she knew where the road ahead of her would lead to either.

Her mind flooded with thoughts of Bachar, and she wanted desperately for him to appear. As the large SUV hit her again, sending her slightly smaller vehicle spinning, she realized she was in one hell of a predicament.

Bachar, Tarek, and Keair ran through the woods, their oversized animals carrying them quickly over the snow and downed trees from last night’s storm. Tarek, his animal more comfortable in the wintery conditions, lead the way.

Bachar could hear vehicles in the distance up ahead and prayed one was Sally’s. He heard more laboring up the mountain and knew instinctively that Tarek had ordered the security team to follow them. While his lion was roaring in his head to go faster, to gather more reinforcements, he knew that both the wolf and the tiger would lay down their lives to protect him, and more importantly to protect his mate.

He breathed in the cold air, the nostrils of his lion opening and closing, letting out large puffs of white air. In other circumstances, he would have enjoyed the speed at which he was running with these two men. Enjoyed the feeling of freedom. But not today. Not while Sally was in danger.

Tarek slowed and then stopped, his snout in the air. Bachar and Keair stopped right behind him, scanning the area. A wolf’s sense of smell was greater than a cat’s, but both Bachar and Keair could see farther and with greater detail.

Tarek moved again, loping towards the road. Within minutes, the three came upon an abandoned vehicle, nose first in a ditch. Bachar didn’t hesitate to change back into a man, despite the freezing temperatures and the fact that he was naked. He strode through the snow as if it were a sandy beach and yanked the driver’s side door.

“Damn it.” Sally’s scent immediately assaulted his senses. “She was here.”

The other two men remained in their animal form, Tarek, already starting to track. Luckily the snow predicted for the day had not started yet and the tire tracks of another vehicle were clearly visible. As were the signs of a struggle. Spotting a dark patch in the snow, he knelt down, touching it with his fingertips before bringing it to his nose. As he feared, it was blood. Her blood. For the first time since he was but a cub, the shift came over him without any thought or control on his part. His lion sent a chilling roar through the mountains as it bounded forward, determined to find its mate.

Sally tried not to allow the terror racing through her overcome her and make her the helpless victim she knew the men wanted her to be. Despite her best efforts, she’d been forced off the road and dragged from her vehicle. She’d struggled and managed to bloody the nose of one of the men and bruise at least one pair of balls.

Unfortunately, her efforts to defend herself had also resulted in a bruised cheek and split lip for herself.

After the men had kidnapped her, she’d been surprised when they had continued in the same direction that the front desk clerk had told her to go. Until her brain had woken up and she’d realized that he had been part of the plan.

A plan she was still uncertain of. Why would they want to kidnap her? Unless her brother was in far more danger than Bachar had told her, there was no reason. He was a young half-shifter, of absolutely no threat to anyone. The ride down the bumpy road didn’t last long, and soon they were pulling her roughly from the back seat.

“Sally Abigail Wilder, what have you gotten yourself into?” she murmured to herself as two of the men dragged her through the snow and onto the front porch of what appeared to be an old hunting lodge that had fallen into a deep state of disrepair. For a moment, her twisted sense of humor took over as she wondered if Bachar was aware that such a building was on his lands. It was nothing like the elegant hotels she’d seen so far. She doubted he even knew of its existence. If he had, he no doubt would have had it razed. She knew it would have offended his senses. The smell certainly offended hers. Her eyes started to water at the putrid odor assailing her poor nose as she was forced inside.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” An unpleasant male voice came from the far end of the room. The man behind her pushed her forward, almost making her fall. Thankfully, her hands were tied in front of her so she kept her balance..

“So have you slept with the mangy lion?” The man walked over to her, sniffing the air. She had no way of knowing if he was a shifter or a human. If he were a shifter, he would surely smell Bachar’s scent on her.

Sally raised her chin, looking the man directly in the eye. “I’m not sure to whom you’re referring to.” Maybe she could confuse him with proper grammar.

The other man frowned. “Bachar. Have you slept with him?”

Sally threw back her hair, defiance written all over her small face. “Have you seen the man? He’s built like a brick shithouse. Of course, I slept with him.”

“Did he mark you?” He gripped her chin and twisted her neck from side to side. When he didn’t find anything, he grabbed the neck of her t-shirt and ripped it until the tops of her breasts were exposed. “I see he didn’t. You must not be important then.”

“Well, thanks a lot,” Sally muttered. “You sure know how to build a girl’s self-esteem.”

The man laughed. “You are nothing but a whore that spreads her legs for dirty shifters.”

“I take it you aren’t one then?”

“How dare you suggest such a thing?” The affronted look on his face told Sally he’d just as soon have been accused of being a leper.

Sally started to shiver, the temperature in the small cabin not much higher than that outside. She’d realized in the last few moments that she was in the hands of the radical humans that had been in the news for the past several months. They wanted the government to take back the land they had given the shifters and basically round them up and put them on reservations, much like the government had Native-Americans. While humans had never welcomed the disclosure of the existence of shifters with open arms and happy hearts, most of humanity had accepted them. There were however still small pockets of humans around the country, even the world, who were less than thrilled to know that man wasn’t at the top of the food chain anymore.

“Maybe we should remind her what it’s like to be with a real man?” The one she had kneed in the groin stepped forward, cupping his bruised junk as he leered at her partially exposed breasts. The others grunted in agreement, and she knew the time for her to make her move was now. Suddenly, she realized why her stepfather had been so insistent on teaching her self-defense. She’d always thought it was because she was a girl.

Now she knew he might have suspected she might find herself in this type of situation when Nick discovered exactly what he was.

As the men moved closer, she took a deep breath and brought her hands up as swiftly as she could, clipping the leader under the chin. It didn't have much effect on the man, but it was enough to cause a commotion. She turned on her heel dodging the hands of the other men who tried to grab her as she headed out the door.

“After her!”

Fear spurred Sally on. It didn’t matter that there was nowhere to run except into the snow covered trees. Only one thought blazed through her mind—get away!