Page 14 of Cold Foot Revenge (Wreck’s Mountains #7)

It had been a long time since Roxy had felt this kind of hope.

She’d made two thousand dollars tonight. Two. Thousand. Dollars.

She’d made her way to the front stage without permission and ignored Grave barking out to get to the back. Fuck him. She’d done four private dances tonight and been paid for those in hundred-dollar bills.

She had a full money pouch in her bag for the first time in a long time, and a feeling of urgent determination swelling inside of her chest.

She was going to free herself.

She was really going to free herself, and two thousand dollars was a damn good start.

She could pay her late rent, and get some food in her pantry, and pay the electric and water bill on time this month, but she wouldn’t be making a payment to Grave.

She was done with this. She’d repaid his loan back and was just coasting on interest now.

That was a game, just like the resumes he’d saved for some reason she would never understand.

Was he hoping she would find them? Was he hoping she would realize how trapped she was?

Or was he just so cocky he thought he would never get caught.

Or more likely, he didn’t give a shit if she found out or not. He’d kept those resumes as a trophy.

She was done paying that asshole. This two thousand would pay up her bills, and then pay to break her lease, and be the start of a nest egg so she could get the hell away from here.

Roxy just needed a few more nights like this one, and she was making a run for it.

Just a few days, and she would free herself.

A smile took her lips, and God it felt so good.

“Hell of a night,” Lucky called as she made her way out the back door of the Rabbit Hole, trying to avoid Grave and the guys.

Roxy’s grin grew bigger. “Not bad at all.”

Two thousand dollars!

She could do this.

She could do a big push this week and then toss this coyote mask in the trash on her last day and never look back.

Dylan’s world was so tempting to her. She wanted that. She just had to figure out a way to get it, and this was it—one last push.

She was still smiling to herself when she rounded the building and saw Grave leaning against her car.

Shhhoot.

She skittered to a stop in the gravel, the smile fading in an instant.

“Hey pretty girl,” he called, pushing off her car. “We need to talk.”

Roxy slid her hand into the side of her bag but didn’t find her keys there. She felt all around it, and then opened the big part of her bag, rifling through it as she approached slowly.

“Looking for these?” Grave asked, his deep voice echoing across the parking lot. He held up her keys. She could tell they were hers from here, because she had this shiny purple bear paw bottle opener on it, and it dangled from his fingertip.

His eyes were bright orange and glowing, which said one thing—his inner grizzly bear was worked up.

“How did you get my keys?” she demanded, trying to sound brave.

“My keys. Say it right.”

Dread filled her with his words.

“Your loan is up, you didn’t pay me back for the car in time, so I’m repossessing it.”

“I have paid you back for it.”

Grave shook his head. “Not according to my books. You owe me three thousand on it still.”

“What?” she snapped. “No, I don’t. I paid this part of the loan off first.”

Grave offered her an empty smile. “I’m afraid you did not. I would remember signing the title of it over to you, and I definitely didn’t do that.”

“Why are you doing this?” she asked.

He flinched his head to the side and approached her slowly.

“Impatience, perhaps.” In a blur, he snatched her bag from her hand, and she screamed and held on as tight as she could.

He grabbed her arm and squeezed it so hard, Roxy yelped in pain.

He pried it out of her hands, and grabbed her by the neck of her sweatshirt, pushed her back, back, until her shoulder blades slammed into the side of her car.

His thick forearm went across her neck, and she tried to scream, but her esophagus was being crushed.

She struggled as hard as she could, but he was impossibly strong.

“You made some cash for me tonight,” he snarled out. “Thank you for that.”

“It’s mine!” she choked out.

“No. It’s all mine. Everything you have, and everything you are…that is all mine. Something has gotten into you lately, pretty girl. You’re crossing some boundaries you can’t uncross.”

Run.

The sound of her animal’s soft voice whispered through her mind.

She couldn’t though. He was holding her bag with everything in it—her phone, her wallet…the two thousand dollars that would catch her up and kick off her new life!

He pressed his body against hers and placed his lips against her ear as he ground his hips against her.

“I like this side of you sometimes, when I want to fuck you, but not when you talk to me. Not when you disrespect me as your Alpha and ignore Crew meetings. Not when you’re sneaking around behind my back. I feel a change in you, Rox.”

She struggled under him as he pressed his hips against her. “You’ve been drinking.”

“Wrong!” he yelled in her sensitive ear, and it hurt so bad, she curled in on herself and clapped her hand over her ear like that would relieve the ringing there.

He gave her space by mere inches, and he was enough to free her neck from his pressure and inhale a deep breath into her burning lungs.

Run.

The Crew was beginning to file out of the Rabbit Hole, but no one was stepping in. Nick was wide-eyed, like he wanted to say something, but he remained silent.

Grave was Alpha. He could do whatever he wanted.

Tears were streaming down her face as she realized this was really happening. Grave was taking her car, and he was taking the money she’d danced for tonight.

He was making sure she knew freedom was unattainable.

He was taking away her hope.

“I hate you,” she uttered, infusing every word with such truth.

“You weren’t saying that when you were screaming my name,” he said through a cocky, sharp-toothed grin. That was for the Crew. A few of them chuckled, and she hated them all.

“Forever ago. That was back before I knew you were a fucking monster who had to Turn Crew members because you knew no one would be loyal to you willing—

Slap!

Roxy’s face snapped to the side, and the excruciating sting was instant. Her neck hurt, as if she had instant whiplash from the open-palm slap.

She’d never been hit like that before.

Warmth trickled down her split lip. Grave was wearing rings tonight.

Stunned, she pressed her hand to her cheek, sure he’d broken the bones there.

Still, not a single one of the Grit-Bron Crew said anything against Grave.

Run.

Panting, she eased her face back toward Grave and glared up at him. He was smiling, and his eyes were empty, and remorseless.

Run.

Her damn lip trembled, and she hated it, but she straightened her spine and lifted her chin higher into the air.

Run. Please run.

Her skin was tingling with the animal urging her to Change, but something Dylan had said was replaying over and over in her mind like a war drum.

Grenader.

Grenader.

Grenader.

Slowly, she reached up and pulled the neck of her sweatshirt to the side, and watched the realization wipe the smile right off Grave’s face as he beheld the claiming mark.

“I’m claimed. I’m taken.” She lifted her voice higher.

“Since this Crew loves it’s fucking made-up rules, I’ll remind you what the actual, real-life rule for all shifters is.

If I’m Claimed,” she said cooly, forcing her furious gaze back to Grave.

She leaned forward, “Then no one else can fucking touch me.”

Grave roared in rage in her face, and she gave in.

Run , the coyote had said, and run she did.

She closed her eyes and fell to the ground as her body morphed into the coyote.

It hurt, and her skin was on fire, but nothing had hurt like that slap from a man she didn’t respect.

Nothing hurt like having a demon pry her freedom from her hands.

Nothing hurt like losing her car to a man who was strangling her in so many ways.

Behind her, she could hear the snapping of bones, and Grave roared out, “Bring her to me!” as he Changed.

Roxy didn’t look back. She could hear the order in his voice, and the others wouldn’t have a choice. They would have to bring her back to the Alpha.

She struggled the first few steps to rid herself of the neck of her sweatshirt, but the second she was relieved of the constricting fabric, she took off at a dead-sprint.

They would have her scent, and some of them were extremely fast.

Run.

Heart pounding, she ran across the busy street and dodged two cars that skidded to the side, trying to avoid her. The screeching of tires was deafening in one ear, but the other was still ringing from Grave screaming in it.

Behind her, she could hear commotion as the Crew went charging across the street after her. The humans were going to eat this up. She would be blamed, of course.

If she made it a few more blocks west, there was a big park, and she could hopefully escape through the trees.

If she made it to the other side of the park, her house was only a mile and a half away.

Wait! Dylan’s hotel was even closer. Oh, she wanted to get to Dylan. He had a handgun. He could save her!

But…a handgun wasn’t going to stop what was coming for her. A handgun wouldn’t even slow it down.

She couldn’t bring the Crew to him.

She couldn’t do that to him.

Grave had given the males bears, and the females smaller animals.

It was Kristy’s panther, who swatted her back legs out from under her.

Roxy went skidding into the corner of a building with a yelp.

She couldn’t get stuck in that alley with any of the Crew.

Escaping to the park wasn’t going to work!

As Kristy overshot and skidded through the dry leaves that had accumulated in the alley, Roxy changed directions and ran back for the busy street. She needed human attention on her.

That was her only chance now.