She kicked and struggled on his shoulder, spitting expletives even he hadn’t heard put together in his lifetime.
He dropped her back into her seat. “I don’t think that’s anatomically possible.” He secured her seat belt again, his hair dripping rainwater onto her chest. Then he leaned in until their gazes were an inch apart.
She shrank back, her chest heaving.
“I don’t want to put you in the trunk, but I will,” he growled, letting the beast inside him make an appearance. “I’ve been gentle with you so far, and I mean you no harm. But I’m taking you where I’m taking you, and there’s not a thing you can do about it. Either get on board, or the rest of the ride is going to be very uncomfortable for you.” The idea of trapping her in the trunk made his gut clench, but he’d do it.
Fear glimmered in her eyes because she wasn’t a moron. Even so, her jaw set at a stubborn angle that both impressed and intrigued him. She looked beyond him at the lights of the fast-food places, and then her lips turned down.
“Nobody saw us,” he confirmed. The rain increased in force, plastering his hair to his head. Even so, he stayed right where he was since the exit ramp remained deserted. “I appreciate your attempts to get to know me, so let me give you this. This challenge from you, this stubborn fight inside you, does nothing but turn me on.” He waited until his words sank in and her eyes widened before continuing. “Your being pliant and obedient bores me. So you have a choice to make. Do you want to bore me or arouse me?”
She blinked. “How about I rip off your head and shove my socks down your headless corpse?”
Amusement grabbed him so quickly he couldn’t help a quick bark of laughter. “Aroused it is, then.” He slammed the door and crossed around the car to retake his seat. Oh, he couldn’t keep her, but she was making that reality look bleak. Maybe someday when he took care of his problems, he could look her up. Of course, she’d probably be around a hundred years old by then.
He drove onto the main road and turned left, headed toward the mountains.
Wet grass covered his shoes and made his ankles itch. Even so, he hadn’t been this calm in months. The longer he was around her, the more he felt like himself again. They drove for nearly an hour before he spoke. “How are you feeling?”
She started. “Excuse me?”
“Right now. How are you feeling?”
“Extremely angry,” she said, her hand clutching the door handle. “I don’t know what your game is, but kidnapping me and then expressing concern won’t work. I’m too smart to be brainwashed.”
Nobody was too smart to be brainwashed. “I’m not playing games with you.” For the briefest of seconds, he considered telling her the full truth. That would be treason on so many levels, but he didn’t much care about immortal laws. Unfortunately, giving her such knowledge would only put a bull’s-eye on her back, and he couldn’t do that to her.
Barely noticeably, she reached for her seat belt, and her body tensed.
He sighed. “If you jump out of the car now, you’ll harm yourself. I’m about done with this, Honor.”
She looked at him. “Oh yeah? You said that you won’t lie to me, and you also said you wouldn’t hurt me. So I’m feeling all right about defying you.”
He turned off the road onto a private lane clearly marked as such by the Grizzly Motorcycle Club. “I said I wouldn’t harm you. Hurting you is on the table.”
She jerked. “Are you nuts?”
Sighing, he reached over and pinched her arm.
She yelped and rubbed her bicep. “What in the world is wrong with you? Why did you pinch me?”
He’d barely touched her. “Don’t be a baby. I was showing you the difference between harm and hurt. I won’t cause you harm, but if you don’t start behaving yourself, I have no problem enforcing my rules with a little bit of hurt.”
She partially turned to face him. “Are you kidding me? You’re going to pinch me to death?”
He grinned. She really was funny. “No. I’m not going to pinch you to death.” Then he turned to face her, the road in front of him memorized so well, he didn’t really need to pay attention. “But here it is, gorgeous. I’m trying to help us both as well as the people around us, and I need some space and time to do that. The uncle who raised me was a bastard on all levels, but he did impart several lessons that have served me well. One was that every action has a consequence. Don’t make me teach you that.” He looked back at the road, searching for the turnoff into the mountains.
Her breath quickened. He could hear it. “Are you threatening me?”
“Yes.”
Her chin dropped, and the vibrations cascading off her weren’t from fear. No. They were anger, and they made his skin prickle.
While he appreciated the fact that she wasn’t terrified of him, even if she didn’t realize it, he needed her to behave so she didn’t blow herself up. He drove across a handmade bridge over a small creek and parked next to a cabin set against an outcropping of rocks. The shed to the side was only big enough for his two bikes, not the car. “Now that we’re on the same page, we’re here.”
* * * *
She could not figure him out. He’d caught her too fast after she’d gotten free. Was he some sort of athlete? The strength with which he’d tossed her over his shoulder had caused all sorts of flutters in her abdomen before her brain kicked in. Was she already getting brainwashed? Identifying with her captor out of necessity? For a quick second, she shut her eyelids.
When she reopened them, the cabin was still there. The structure was dark and indistinct in the rainy night, but if she squinted, she could see better. Rough logs had been shaped to form the home, and the weather had darkened them to a rough gray. “I’m not staying here.”
“You are.” He opened his door and crossed to the trunk, taking out her suitcase.
She released her belt and pushed open her door, slamming it loudly. The sound echoed back from the rocks behind the cabin, but nothing else stirred. How far were they from other people? She kept her focus on the cabin and tried to study the surrounding land through her peripheral vision as the rain slashed at her, molding her white T-shirt to her full breasts.
Only lurking trees, high and dark, stood guard around them. The creek flowed quickly, no doubt to a larger river. If she followed the creek to the bigger tributary, she could find her way down to a town.
“You’re hours from anywhere,” Sam said, carrying the case toward the cabin. “It’s dark and the storm is getting worse.”
Her skin chilled. She moved to follow him.
His shoulders visibly relaxed, and the second he planted a shoe on the narrow porch, she launched herself into action. She barreled around the car and straight for the forest, running along the creek and plunging between two trees. Then she made a sharp left toward a group of boulders, zigzagging rapidly as she moved, being careful to avoid following a straight line.