Page 5 of Hunted by Them (Primal Desires #1)

RYDER

The storm cloaked me as if it were molded to my shape.

It was louder, mirroring the tension building inside the small cabin. It shook the pines until they hissed and bowed. Rain hammered the earth in slanting lines, beading on my skin, like it wanted to wash the man away and leave the thing beneath.

I pictured her inside the cabin. Small, confused, aroused, curled over her pack on the floor like the canvas would somehow save her from herself. She had learned to follow society’s rules, and those rules had kept her safe and alive.

Build walls, hold the hinge, make yourself smaller until the danger gets bored.

But out here…the wilderness didn’t work that way. Out here, the smaller things like her drew the larger predators closer.

I steadily knocked on the outside wall, then took a step and whispered, “I can hear your racing heart, Sweet Daisy.”

I knocked a little softer, the sound almost lost under the rain. Pressing my ear to the wood, I knocked harder this time and heard her breathing change on the other side…fast inhale, a little gasp. She was so close that if I reached through the wall, I could’ve grabbed her.

“Leave me alone,” she cried out, her voice nothing but tremors.

Dash’s chuckle rode the wind from the far side of the clearing. He raced across the open grass and jumped up onto the porch with a bang that had our mouse screaming inside. He rolled off the porch and smiled as he stood beside me.

“She jumped like a mile high. Give me two minutes, and I’ll have her bolting out the door into the woods for us to play with,” he exclaimed, practically begging.

“Not yet.” My voice stayed level, the kind of calm that pulled leashes tight. “We want the fear but with obedience.”

“Speak for yourself, I want her to struggle. I want to stare into her terrified eyes as I fuck the fear out of her,” Dash growled.

“We did things your way last time. Now it’s my turn.” I rolled my eyes at him.

He grumbled like a child having a tantrum, but crossed his arms, signaling his submission.

Jaxon crouched in the trees right across from the front door. Familiarity made it easy to pick him and his large caribou antlers out in the darkness. Lightning veined the sky, and his eyes glowed inside the white of his mask.

Dash and I moved closer to the front so that I could see the window, but she would struggle to see us.

The storm rippled and threw one of those blue-white flashes that stole the world and returned it in a blink. In that flash, I saw her at the window. Her hair wild, mouth parted, palm splayed on the glass as she stared at Jaxon’s location.

A burning moved through me that I hadn’t experienced before. Sweet Daisy was stunning. I licked my bottom lip, wanting to taste her. Wanting to be inside her and claim her.

“Come on,” I called to Dash, then jogged to the treeline and around to Jaxon.

I stepped out far enough to let the lightning bathe me in its light and give her a clean look.

I knew what she’d see. The antlers curling up like a crown, the deer skull covering my face, dark tattoos of nature and death covered my chest and shoulders.

I let her see exactly what she was up against…

what she wanted. Then I leaned back into the tree and breathed with the storm until my heartbeat matched its timing.

She darted below the window, and I smirked. She wouldn’t be able to resist looking out again. Sure enough, not even a minute later, her eyes peeked over the edge. I didn’t need to be in the room with her to know what she was thinking. There was fear with an undercurrent of lust staring back at me.

“Keep your eyes on me, Sweet Daisy,” I told the wind, and loved that she looked around like I was in the room with her. Like the walls had spoken for me. “You feel it. The wild inside you has finally found a mouth,” I growled a little louder.

The thunder crashed, chased by a lightning strike.

Dash slid closer on my right, impatient and needy in his desire. “She’s primed, I can see it.”

“Not yet,” I corrected. “But she will be.”

Another flash. The glass fogged under her breath. She didn’t run from the window this time. She didn’t drop to the floor to hide. She stayed still, her eyes locked on me.

Good girl.

I could have smashed through the door, ripped the latch, grabbed her wrists, and pulled her into the rain. But that was what amateurs did when they mistook speed for power. That wasn’t the game. The point was to be chosen.

“Open for me,” I murmured. “Be a good girl and open the door.”

She looked toward the door but didn’t move. Jaxon broke a slim branch deliberately, and the crack echoed. She jerked back, and her eyes went wide.

“Open. Open. Open for me,” I chanted into the wind.

The storm’s energy coursed through me. I’d been hard since the trailhead where we’d first picked up her tracks. My hand traveled down to unzip my pants. Not a show for the world. A show for one window. For one pair of eyes that couldn’t look away.

My cock sprang free, and I sucked in a ragged breath as the cold rain pounded down on my aching shaft. Our Sweet Daisy stood like she was drawn to her feet by the sight of me.

Dash joined me on my right. Jaxon was to my left. Each of us jerked off, our hands working in time to the sound of the drops hitting the trees. A steady pace, a merciless rhythm that had me groaning into the night.

I tipped my head just enough for the antlers to rake the low branches, then let out a sound that was somewhere between a growl and a promise. She used her sleeve to clear away the condensation obstructing her view.

“You like what you see, Sweet Daisy? You want our cocks, don’t you?”

Dash made a hungry sound. “You’re killing her.”

“That’s the point.” I slowed my rhythm. I wanted her to feel time like it was a living thing.

“Fuck, I want to come so bad in that tight pussy,” Dash groaned, his hand moving faster.

“Don’t come yet, make her work for it,” I ordered.

“Fuck…ugh,” he growled, forcing his hand away, but leaving his cock out for her to see.

“Come on, Sweet Daisy, crawl to me,” I called out, voice as deep and commanding as the storm. “Come kneel in the rain and put your pretty mouth where I tell you. I’ll hold you by the hair as I shove my cock down your throat. Let you breathe when I say, so you know who owns you.”

The wind took my words. The rain tried to hide them. But the mouse in the room heard it anyway.

She pressed closer to the window, a moth drawn to a dangerous flame. The sight of her choosing to watch nearly had me spilling my release on the ground, but I held off—I intended to come inside of her.

Mark her. Make her ours. Make sure she leaves here with a part of me in her soul, a part of me that she’ll never be able to forget .

She would remember this night—nine months from now—as she brought the culmination of our actions into the world.

My cock bounced as it flexed, begging for more. Her eyes followed as I tucked back into my jeans. I buttoned up, but it did nothing to hide the shape of what she could have had.

Dash swore softly. Jaxon’s mouth tipped up at one corner.

“Open the door, Sweet Daisy. Come to me…come to us.” We stepped back out of sight. “We’re waiting for you.”

Sage

I couldn’t see their faces, but somehow, I knew what they wanted. I heard a voice on the wind ordering me to come outside. To take what I wanted. I licked my lips, unable to look away.

They watched as I peeked over the edge of the window. The weight of their stare was penetrating, even hidden behind their masks.

I didn’t mean to move. That was the worst part. I didn’t decide to stand there staring. The decision rose up and gripped me, holding me in place. Maybe that was part of their power, their lure. I glanced at the door, my hand shaking.

Another strike, and they stepped further into the clearing in front of the cabin.

Antlers, a stark contrast to the dark world around them.

Chests, all carved muscle with wet skin gleaming.

The middle one reached down and undid his jeans.

Heat flooded my body as his cock came into view.

I slowly stood, eyes glued to him as his hand gripped the long length.

He didn’t move fast or frantic. It was like he wanted me to see every action.

My fingers splayed on the glass. It was the only thing keeping me from reaching out to see if this was real or some sort of exotic dream.

I knew the lore. People had claimed they heard a call, maybe a baby crying, or their name on the wind.

I’d always thought it was fake, the effects of dehydration or too much alcohol.

But this…them…no matter how many times I blinked, they were still right in front of me.

I should have looked away.

I didn’t.

Shame raced through me like a fever, but the heat blooming lower in my body was worse. It ached and throbbed between my thighs. I crossed my legs, hoping to trap it there and starve it out. It only grew. The pulsing fell into time with the movement of his hand.

I gasped as the other two followed suit, and soon I was staring at three sexy men who seemed to be half animal and all male. They stroked their cocks, and my mouth watered. It didn’t matter how much I berated myself. My body wanted them.

I was aware of everything, wholly attuned to my surroundings. The boards creaked as the rain cooled them. The cot frame in the corner squeaked when the building shifted. Beneath those details, a steady drum. Him. Words that penetrated the walls to seep into me.

Come to me. Come to us.

A whisper rose under the louder noise of the storm.

Come out, Sweet Daisy.

I stopped breathing, wanting to clamp my hands over my ears, but the whisper persisted.

Crawl.

God, I wanted to crawl to him. Instead, I stood still, frozen in place. Fear kept me grounded to the spot.

Open for us. Let us take you in all the ways you have never dared to voice.

My hand slid down my stomach, and I sucked in a ragged breath as I touched my aching core. My legs spread wider. “Oh, dear god, what is happening?”

Let us in.

My body betrayed me like it had been waiting for this moment my whole life.

Desire was not a straight line. It slithered like a snake, but for them…

it spiked like a fever. For a few seconds, no more than a heartbeat, they moved together in perfect sync.

A beautiful visual burned into my mind forever.

“Don’t,” I told myself, pulling my hand from between my legs and letting it hover uselessly in front of my chest like a flimsy shield. A mockery of protection that could block this all out, to make them go away, and to stop the insanity.

Another bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, and he was closer now…or maybe I imagined it. The antlers raked a low branch. He tipped his head as if listening to something only he could hear.

“Open the door,” the voice urged.

It wasn’t loud, or even forceful, yet it carried the heaviness of a command. The storm had chosen me. They had chosen me. Now it was my turn, but the choice had already been made.

They put their cocks away, and I almost yelled, No . Almost. Stepping back into the darkness, they disappeared, and my heart pounded harder.

No, they can’t leave.

Without even thinking about it, I darted to the door. My fingers tightened on the latch.

“Are you crazy, Sage? You can’t go out there,” I scolded myself.

I thought of the city, of my apartment with its mismatched mugs and one plant, but no one there to greet me.

I thought of the job where my ideas sounded best coming from someone else’s mouth.

I thought of my ex, whose apologies always sounded like requests and accusations.

I thought of all the ways I had tried to be small, palatable, and easy to place on a shelf. I hated that version of me.

“Please,” I whispered, but I didn’t know if I was talking to him or to myself. “Don’t leave.”

The wind paused like a held breath for an answer, but there were no more words exhaled. I stayed with my hand on the latch a long time. It felt like the only proof that any of this had happened. The only thing that still had warmth. I released my hold, every finger aching with fatigue.

I picked up the flashlight I’d dropped and sat with my back to the wall, pressing my knees to my chest. My clothes clung to my body. My hair was heavy and wet from the steadily leaking roof. The pad under me was too thin to separate bone from board, but I closed my eyes.

It didn’t help. I still saw antlers, rain, and three men, or part men, who were calling out to me. I hated them for leaving. I hated myself for wanting to follow.

I tried to list rationalities. Men. Masks. Dangerous. Get out at first light. Hike as fast as you can. Don’t look back. None of those words held weight. The only words that did were the ones that had come through the door and pressed down until my breath changed.

Open the door, Sweet Daisy. Open the door.

When I finally fell asleep, it wasn’t deep.

The cabin, its smell, and the sound of rain stayed with me.

Most of all, the shape of the men standing at the edge of the forest. They belonged to a story I’d never believed until I heard the whispers for myself.

The gentle commands disguised as an invitation.

I woke sometime later with my cheek on my knees, heart thumping like a rabbit. The storm had backed off from a roar to a steady hum. The door was closed, but my heart was heavy. Nothing had changed, and yet everything had.

I didn’t touch the latch on the door. There was no need.