Page 90 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)

AUDREY

A low, menacing chuckle whispered over me, and I wrenched around, searching for whoever was laughing, my pulse racing.

Once again, I stood in my old pack’s sacred grove, surrounded by undulating red mist. And while logically I knew being back on earth was impossible and I had to be dreaming, the rest of me was too afraid to care. The monster was coming and this time it would eat me.

I bolted into the thick underbrush, running like I had that horrible night, barely able to see in the darkness. I didn’t care when the shrub and tree branches sliced at my skin or I bashed my shins or bare toes against rocks, I ran as hard and as fast as I could. I had to get away. I couldn’t get caught.

Lightning lit the forest around me, a shocking burst of light that passed too quickly for me to tell where I was before plunging me back into darkness. A second later, the menacing laugh returned, now a rolling thunder and part of the storm closing in on me.

“You can’t escape,” a voice hissed.

“I can. I did,” I yelled back, fighting to be heard over another roll of thunderous laughter. “I’m in a different realm. You can’t get me.”

Ahead, a hint of soft light glowed through the thick branches and my pulse leaped with hope. The way out of the forest and this nightmare.

With a growl of determination, I picked up my pace, shoving through a dense bush with sharp thorns, and ran back into the sacred grove.

No.

I twisted to look behind me. The bush I’d pushed through was gone and had become the familiar path between the two towering oaks that the pack used to enter the grove.

How did I get back here?

It was easy to get lost and turned around in the forest, but I couldn’t have run in a wide circle. Not without hitting a recognizable landmark first. And the bush I pushed through. It had just disappeared.

Because it’s a dream, my logical voice cried, barely audible against another burst of thunder.

“It’s because you can’t escape me,” Sterling replied, his voice echoing around me, sending shivers of fear rushing down my spine.

“You can’t escape us .” Royce stepped out of the darkness, his expression filled with the same worry he’d had when he’d tricked me into starting the mating vows despite his ominous words.

“I did escape you,” I insisted even as my body took a step toward him.

“You can’t escape fate.” He held out his arms and my body stepped into his embrace, despite my mind screaming at me to run the other way. Now. Run now! “You belong to me.”

He tugged me closer and captured my lips in the same scorching kiss from before. It was just as powerful and overwhelming, but instead of igniting a dizzy desire, it ignited fear. Now I knew the truth, knew that what I’d felt had all been a manipulation of magic, a trap I’d blindly jumped headlong into.

“No,” I gasped against his lips, trying to shove him away. “I refuted you. I don’t belong to you.”

“You said the vow,” he sneered, his fingers tangling in my hair and painfully jerking my head back, exposing my neck. “You practically threw yourself at me, so desperate for someone to love you.”

“No.”

“Yes.” With a growl, he nipped my lips with wolf-sharpened teeth, drawing blood and a flicker of pain, tighten his grip around my waist, and ground his hard length against my belly. “You bound your soul to mine, Audrey. You belong to me.”

“That’s not true. I’m bound to Knox.” Even before Knox and I had sealed the bond, I’d known I was bound to him. I felt nothing for Royce and I never would.

Royce shoved his hand down the front of my dress and roughly palmed my breast as his teeth grazed over my collarbone.

“You could fuck their whole pack, but you’d still be mine.” He pushed the top of my dress down and sucked on my nipple with a force that shot a gut-churning mix of pain and desire to my core.

“I don’t want you. I never wanted you.” I shoved at his head, trying to get him away from me, but he sucked harder, and the pain turned into liquid need. It burned through me like the feverish heat I’d just survived and my knees buckled.

“You do want me.” He tightened his grip in my hair and bit down hard on the flesh about my nipple, his sharp canines drawing blood.

More pain sliced through me and my core clenched in anticipation.

“No.” No no no.

This wasn’t me. I didn’t want him. He was manipulating me just like he’d manipulated me that horrible night.

I heaved in his grip. He was a psychopath. I couldn’t be attracted to a psychopath. I couldn’t be bound to one.

And I wasn’t.

I was not .

Because this was some sick nightmare, all my worst fears coming true, and I couldn’t make myself wake up or break free.

“Stop,” I begged, tears blurring my vision. I clawed at his face and hands, anything to get away from him, but my nails just skidded over his skin, not even drawing lines on his flesh. “I’m bonded with Knox. Not you.”

“But you’re a greedy cunt,” he sneered. “You want his brothers, too. You want anyone. You want me.”

“I don’t want you!” I screamed, slamming my fist as hard as I could against his temple.

With a roar, he shoved me and my knees slammed onto the hard ground. I scrambled away from him, my body screaming in pain, my transformation dress ripped down the front and my chest bleeding from Royce’s claws just like that horrible night.

“I’ll never want you. You’re a monster!”

“But I have you.” His lips curled back in a vicious smile and tendrils of black smoke lashed around my body, seizing my arms and legs and pinning me to the ground.

The inky tendrils raced around my waist digging into my skin and pinching my nipples, but — thank God — my body didn’t heat with desire and betray me this time. Only pain and fear roared through me, making me tremble and tightening my chest until I could barely breathe.

“I’ll never be yours,” I gasped, heaving and snarling, determined to be free, despite the panic roaring through me. “If I ever see you again, I’ll kill you.”

Royce threw his head back and howled with laughter. “You won’t even be able to touch me.”

The tendrils oozed up my neck and started to tighten.

“I will,” I gasped, heaving and thrashing. “I’ll kill you.” I wrenched one hand free and clawed at the smoke, tearing into it as if I had claws, the wildness from my dreams with Knox rising up within me, giving me a crazy, manic strength.

“I’ll never be yours,” I screamed. “I’ll kill you!”