Page 8 of Hunted by Them (Primal Desires #1)

SAGE

The command gripped me, and my feet moved before my brain registered that this was the stupidest of all my decisions so far. I stumbled into motion with no real direction. I hit the treeline and crashed into the forest, my boots squelching in the mud, making it harder to move.

Covering my face with my arms to keep from getting hit by branches, the first inkling of real fear began to seep in. The sound of things moving in the woods behind me shook me to my core. But the yipping noises, like I was being tracked by a pack of coyotes, were what drove me into a panic.

What was I thinking?

I hadn’t been thinking. That was obvious.

The heavens opened up like someone had turned on a tap. It was as if the storm swallowed me whole. The rain came down in sheets, and the wind slashed at my face like a knife.

I found myself on a deer path, which was ironic, and I might have laughed had it been for any other reason. I looked left and then right as the sounds of their pursuit grew louder. Looking back, I caught a glimpse of antlers in the next flash of lightning.

Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.

I veered right and ran as fast as I could. The trees clawed at me, tearing my soaked shirt and scraping my arms.

Somehow their voices rose over the storm. I heard them clearly despite the booming thunder, the crack of lightning, or even the pounding of my heart in my ears.

“Run, Sweet Daisy, run.” The Buck’s gravel growl felt like it had been whispered in my ear, and I whimpered. “Run faster, run harder…we’re going to catch you anyway.”

A terror-filled sob escaped my throat. It wasn’t being caught that I feared. It was what they planned to do with me once they had me.

Off to my left, the Elk’s laugh reached my ears like a taunt between the trees. “I can almost hear her racing heart…I can’t wait for her to scream for us.”

I dared to glance over and couldn’t see anything but the white of the antlers keeping pace with me. It looked like they were floating, and tears stung my eyes as terror took hold.

It was so dark that I could barely see the ground. The trees blurred, my thighs burned, and every nerve screamed to run faster. But there was a little voice in the back of my mind that refused to be drowned out.

I wanted this. I chose this. I turned around, opened the fucking door, and ran.

They all moved over to my left. Three sets of boots loud like a herd charging toward me.

I veered off the trail, crashing through bushes and brambles, thinking I could lose them.

The silence that followed was worse. No boots or laughter.

Just my own ragged breaths, pitch dark, and the storm gnashing as it raged.

The vegetation was getting dense, and I stopped as soon as I passed a large tree that created the first bit of open space.

My eyes searched the dark. A sheet of lightning rippled overhead, and I expected to see the skull masks, but there was nothing.

The trees rustled, but there was no sound of anyone approaching.

Oh God…I was soaked to the bone, shivering, and so turned around that I didn’t know how to get back to the cabin. This was truly the stupidest thing I’d ever done.

With the next flash of lightning, I noticed that my long-sleeve shirt was torn to shreds. I covered my mouth to hold in a pitiful wail. Crying was no help out here. I needed shelter from the pummeling rain.

I took a step forward, and then…hands.

My breath left me in a gasp as I was slammed against the large tree. Hot muscle trapped me against the bark. I was terrified to look, but opened my eyes to stare directly into the bottomless orbs of the man who wore the deer skull.

My breath caught in my throat, and for a moment, it was just the two of us. A piercing blue gaze held me frozen. The wind and rain were gone. It was just him and the sound of my breathing.

“Hello, Sweet Daisy,” he growled as he easily pinned my wrist above my head with one hand.

A muscled thigh jammed between my legs, forcing them open, grinding upward until sparks exploded inside of me. I gasped, and even though I couldn’t see his face, I sensed the smirk and the glint in his eye.

A hand wrapped around my throat, demanding my silence as I opened my mouth to scream. Instead, all that came out was a pathetic whimper.

The Buck’s voice rumbled as the skull brushed my jaw. “You’re mine now.”

My body trembled, and I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant. Before I could ask, the Elk and Caribou stepped into view behind the Buck’s wide shoulders. I swallowed down the next scream that wanted to rip loose. The masks weren’t fake. They were real bones shimmering in the rain.

The Elk chuckled as he stepped up beside me.

He leaned an arm against the tree, blocking me in and adding to the raging heat in my body.

His eyes were hazel, but so light in color that they seemed to glow in the dark.

He grabbed my hip and squeezed before his fingers skated around to the curve of my ass.

“Are you dripping, Sweet Daisy? Are you fucking ready for us to destroy your soaked pussy?”

I swallowed, my mind nothing but a blank canvas.

The Caribou took up the same pose as the Elk on the other side of me. He brushed close to my ear, and his voice came out like velvet. “Why did you run?”

I had no answer. I moaned as his fingers skimmed over my chest, tweaking a nipple through my soaked shirt.

“Say it…why did you run?”

I arched helplessly into the Caribou’s touch, but no words left my mouth. I moaned again, my hips jerking against the Buck’s thigh still between my legs. My body quivered, and I ground harder, the friction brutal and perfect.

Elk slid his hand all over my body, joining Caribou until I couldn’t tell who was who. My nipples peaked, aching, trapped between wet fabric and merciless fingers.

Shame crept up my spine. I had no idea who these men were, and yet my body seared hot, and it didn’t stop me from rolling my hips against the thigh holding me in place. Despite all the reasons why this was wrong, my body didn’t care. I wanted all of it.

The Buck’s growl deepened, chest rumbling like an animal. His hand at my throat flexed, making me mewl.

“Answer the question. You opened that door. Tell us why,” the Buck demanded.

“We already have her tongue tied.”

The Elk’s laugh deepened and sounded so filthy. He planned on ruining me exactly like they threatened. His hand slipped between my thighs, pressing the soaked denim tighter. He rubbed over my clit, making my knees want to buckle.

“Fuck, you’re grinding on him like a bitch in heat. Say it. Say you came back so we could break you,” the Elk urged as my eyes closed. I was so close to coming.

Caribou rolled my nipple hard, tugging until my cry caught as the Buck squeezed his hand tighter.

“You’ll never look at a tree the same way again, Sweet Daisy. Every time you pass one, your body will ache with the memory of how badly you wanted us to take you here. We can fuck you hard against the rough bark until your ass is raw…”

I wanted to scream yes, but I remained quiet.

“But we won’t.”

My thighs clamped around the Buck’s leg, riding the friction, wanting to come so badly that it felt like a wild desperation tearing through my body.

The Buck nuzzled at my neck and I wanted to feel his lips on mine. I wanted his teeth to bite me. And when he spoke, the words were not just an order. They felt like a vow. A promise that I had no way to refuse.

“Sweet Daisy, we’re not men…we’re the storm inside you. You’ll crave us every time it rains.”

My breath froze in my chest, that single line sinking deep into my soul, and they knew it. Their laughter rose around me like wolves circling a carcass.

And then just as suddenly as they’d trapped me…I was released. They stepped back, leaving me reeling as I stared up at them. My hands slowly dropped as I wondered what came next.

“You need to answer the question,” Buck prompted.

When I didn’t say anything, they separated and darted back into the thick brush. I pushed away from the tree to chase after them, but my knees were so shaky I fell flat on my face.

When I looked up, there was no sign of them. Rain pelted down, masking the tears that slid down my cheeks.

Their voices came, echoing as they melted into the storm. “You’re not ready,” the Buck rumbled like thunder.

“Answer the question, or never see us again,” the Elk taunted like a lightning strike.

“What do you want me to say?” I yelled into the darkness. I turned in a circle, trying to catch a glimpse of them, but there was no movement, no sign that they’d been touching me seconds ago. I stepped forward, the woods enveloping me in its shadows.

“Run again, Sweet Daisy. Run until you accept your fate, and then tell us what we need to hear,” Caribou said, his voice caressing my ear like a breeze, even though I couldn’t see him anywhere.

The lightning flashed as I yelled up at the threatening sky. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“Yes, you do. Now run!” Buck’s voice boomed, and I staggered forward on shaking legs. My body was so wracked with a wild lust that it felt like madness, and yet…I didn’t want to escape.

I never wanted the chase to end.