Page 17

CHAPTER 17

J ustine’s friends, Roxie and Lucy, were avid romance readers. They’d introduced her to everything from light romantic comedies to dark paranormal romance. She’d enjoyed all of them. They were a great escape from reality after a long, hard day at work.

Plus, the world was a dumpster fire. Anyone who didn’t enjoy a little romantic escapism needed their head checked as far as Justine was concerned.

I digress…

But never, ever , did she imagine she’d be living the plot of a paranormal romance novel.

Although, since her true love was not the delusional werewolf who had zip-tied her to a chair, it was feeling more like she’d taken up residence in a horror novel.

What she needed was to calm down. Think this through rationally. Act more like Penelope Garcia on Criminal Minds and less like a sassy novel heroine who was destined to fall for her captor.

At least the dumbass wasn’t lurking over her anymore. Telling him she was hungry had sent him scurrying off like a rat with a stupid grin on his face. Obviously, the thought of feeding his fated mate pleased him.

Pfffttt . Fated mate. Her . What a load of horse crap.

As soon as this was over, she was going home and purging her E-reader of every wolf, bear, and dragon shifter romance she’d ever downloaded.

Well…maybe she shouldn’t be too hasty about the dragon ones. She’d especially liked those. But the wolf and bear books were history !

She gave her zip ties another useless tug. Breaking them was out of the question. Even if she broke her wrist, the ties were still too tight to maneuver out of. Plus, she’d always been skeptical of that particular escape tactic when she’d seen it in movies and on TV. Unless you enjoyed pain, how could you possibly break your own bones?

Besides, something told her to just wait this out. To stay as safe (and unmolested) as possible, and wait for Khill. She was sure he would’ve realized she was gone by now and started looking for her. And with his tracking skills, he’d be able to find her in no time. Especially now that he knew she…

Oh. Wait. A. Fucking. Minute .

Justine’s blood ran cold as a horrible thought occurred to her. She’d meant to tell Khill she loved him, but she hadn’t. She’d been too distracted by all the kissing and nudity to talk about much of anything, let alone how much she loved him and probably had for years .

She’d been in love with him since the first time he grumpily forced her to go home and take a break after she did twelve-hours straight of surgeries. And when he’d grumpily binge-watched The Great British Baking Show with her when she was stuck in bed with the flu. And when he never once told her she was hard to connect with, or that she should smile more. No, not Khill. It tickled him that her grumpiness rivaled his. He protected her and cared for her without asking for anything in return. He loved her because of her personality quirks, not in spite of them.

He was kind, caring, and giving—more so than any human or monster she’d ever known. Whenever something annoyed her, he was the first person she wanted to bitch to about it. He was the first one on her mind when she woke up, and the last one on her mind when she went to bed.

She loved the shit out of him.

And she’d crawled out of bed and left him there without a word.

Holy hell, he probably thought she regretted their night together!

She renewed her struggles with the zip ties with a vengeance. As if being kidnapped by a delusional werewolf wasn’t bad enough, now the orc who probably was her actual fated mate was out there somewhere thinking she didn’t love him.

This was a disaster .

Maybe if she tipped her chair over, it’d break when it hit the ground, allowing her to pull her wrists and ankles free. She might also smack her head on the floor and give herself a traumatic brain injury. That’d suck.

But damn it, that was a chance she was just going to have to take.

Justine took a deep, cleansing breath, closed her eyes, and threw all her weight to the side. As the chair started to tip, she steeled herself, waiting for impact.

It didn’t happen.

When she cracked an eye open to see what had gone wrong, she found herself nose-to-nose with a very angry werewolf.

Gulp.

“You were lying,” he hissed through gritted teeth as he righted her chair. “You weren’t hungry. You just wanted to be alone so you could try to escape!”

He heaved a takeout bag of what smelled like Thai food against the wall.

She flinched, pressing herself as far back into her chair as she could. She knew the smart thing to do would be to play along and try to pacify the raving lunatic. It’s what Penelope Garcia would do. But Justine was tired, she actually was hungry, and she had much better things to do than sit here with this idiot. So, she hissed right back at him, “Of course I was lying, you stupid asshole! You kidnapped me and tied me to a fucking chair!”

He shoved his hands through his hair, frustration drawing his features tight. “Why don’t you get it? This is fate! You can’t fight it! Why are you still trying?”

“Because I don’t love you! I can’t even remember your damn name! Why would fate give you a mate that doesn’t even remember your name? Not to mention that I’m in love with someone else!”

“No,” he said, furiously shaking his head. “You’re not.”

“I sure as shit am!”

“I can prove it to you.”

Well, if those weren’t the most terrifying words she’d ever heard in her life, she didn’t know what was. And that theory was proven when the crazy jerk lunged forward, grabbed hold of her hair, cranked her head to the side, and sank his teeth into her neck.

Justine wasn’t sure if the primal scream that split the air was actually coming out of her mouth, or if it was just happening in her head. She tried to fight, did her best to rock her chair away from him, but his grip on her was unbreakable.

“I’m going to fucking kill you,” she grated out through clenched teeth. “And if I can’t, my husband will!”

Her voice rose so high on the word husband that he finally pulled his mouth off her neck, dropping to his knees at her feet. While she fought to control her thundering pulse, he stared up at her, wide-eyed as her blood dripped down his chin.

“Holy shit,” he whispered. “You don’t feel it, do you?”

She scowled at him. “Were you dropped on your head as a child? Of course I feel it; you fucking bit me! I’m bleeding here!”

He shook his head slowly. “No. Not the bite. The mating bond. You don’t feel it, do you?”

“No! I told you already, I’m married. I love my husband!”

And that’s when Khill appeared out of thin air directly behind the werewolf and everything got a little…chaotic.