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RILEY

I smiled, rubbing my face into the soft pillow, feeling rested and content. Rolling onto my back, I stretched, raising my arms over my head. My hands bumped into the headboard.

I froze because that was not the brass headboard on Nana’s bed.

I shot up and blinked. Oh my God, this wasn’t Nana’s house. This wasn’t Dad’s house. I didn’t recognize the room. Where was I, and why was I sleeping here? I felt like Goldilocks and wondered if there was a big bear coming in to claim his bed.

“You’re awake. ”

Startled, I jumped a foot. Seeing a big man in the doorway, I pushed back into the very rugged, very log, headboard. He wasn’t a bear. He was… holy shit ! He was–

“Mr. McIntire,” I breathed. I sat up, fast.

It all came back to me in a rush, like a fast-forward button on a movie. Tyler. The wolf. The shower. His dad coming to the house. The needle. Then nothing. Then… here.

The big man winced and ran a hand over the back of his neck. “Cody. Just Cody.”

His deep voice was like the scrape of a snowplow on an icy road, and it made me shiver.

“Fine,” I snapped, throwing my legs over the side of the bed. I’d been kidnapped. I needed to get out of here. “Cody. What’s going on?”

He held up his hands in a non-threatening gesture. I chalked it up to how hot he was that I wanted to trust him, despite my better judgment.

“You’re going to stay here with me for a while. I need to explain some things to you.”

I frowned, alarm bells going off. “What? Um… why? And where is here?”

I was in a log cabin with timber walls and ceilings, wood floors. The simple furnishings were also made of pine. Through the bedroom window–with simple white curtains flanking the glass–I could tell the sun was still up, so I hadn’t been asleep for more than an hour or two. I could also tell by the fact that the view consisted of trees and more trees that we weren’t in town.

He approached the near side of the bed, and I slid across in the opposite direction. I wasn’t scared of him like he might harm me, but I was scared of not knowing why I was here and why I was more attracted to him than freaked out. Maybe the drugs messed with my head. Except, I’d been mesmerized by him when I’d found him at Nana’s house, too.

I should be really freaking out. Okay, I was. Some.

Mr. McIntire… Cody … was big. Broad. Dark. Handsome. Hot. Sexy. His eyes bored into mine, and I felt seen and exposed, as if my clothes were made of thin tissue, not satin. When his gaze lowered to take in every inch of me, my nipples hardened. Traitors!

He drugged me. Kidnapped me. Saw my body, apparently, because I’d been in a robe before, and now I was dressed. Put me to bed. God, his bed.

This was Tyler’s dad. His DAD. And the more we silently stared at each other, the more I was drawn to him. That close cut beard was doing it for me. So were his intensely blue eyes. His strong body. His–Oh, God… Stockholm syndrome? Daddy issues ?

“This is my cabin, sugar,” he said. He lived in town. I’d been to his place before because of Tyler, so this must be a retreat? A mountain getaway? A lair for hiding kidnapped women? “You’re here because…” He stopped and rubbed the back of his neck. He couldn’t stop staring at me. Into me. “Well, you’re mine.”

I blinked. Then again. “Um… what?” I was his? Okay, now I was freaked.

“What you saw with Tyler was real,” he continued. He stood, feet spread, loose-limbed. But he gave off a commanding air. Strong. God, what drug did he give me because I wanted to lick my lips at how… virile he was.

“The wolf,” I said, after a hard swallow.

He nodded.

“Tyler’s a werewolf,” I clarified.

He shook his head. “Not a werewolf. It’s not a disease where you can give it to someone–it’s a different species. Tyler’s a shifter.”

“That means–” I eyed him from head to toe. Took in the jeans that molded to his body in ways that shouldn’t be legal. A snap shirt that just asked to be yanked open. Forearms that were pretty much porn. Hair that was a little long and curly, and I couldn’t forget the beard. I wanted to touch it, feel how soft it was. Feel it… everywhere. I was totally into the beard .

Was it because guys my age couldn’t even grow a mustache?

“I’m a shifter, too,” he admitted.

Maybe I hit my head on the hike with Tyler. Maybe I was delirious. Seeing things. Hearing things. Maybe I wasn’t even awake. Maybe this was a drug-induced dream. Through Tyler, I’d known Cody–even tangentially–for a few years. We’d never really talked before because he was a friend’s dad. A friend I’d kissed earlier and found it very lacking.

For some reason, the feelings I should have for Tyler I was feeling now for Cody. Attraction. Interest. A craving. A longing to be kissed and not solely on my mouth. Why? I had no idea because this was Tyler’s dad !

Tyler never said anything bad about him, never accused him of being a crazy helicopter parent. Hell, mine was. As deputy sheriff, Dad was a control freak in all aspects of his life, especially when it came to me and my life. Cody was… cool. Always had been.

Except I hadn’t known he’d always been a freaking shifter or found him H.O.T.

That meant he was going to turn into a wolf. He was going to fight a mountain lion. But there were no mountain lions here, wherever here was. There was only me. Was he going to tear me to pieces? Rip out my throat? Claw me?

No, no, and fuck no.

With a flick of my gaze to the bedroom door, I sprang from the bed and ran for it. I had to get the hell out of here, away from Cody. Away from any McIntire. Just… away.

Dad had always told me to be vigilant about my safety. To walk in groups, to hold my keys in between my fingers. To be watchful. Cautious.

And yet I’d left my front door unlocked, and a man came in, drugged me, and kidnapped me to a cabin in the woods. It was literally the plot of every crime show on TV. If that wasn’t enough, which it was, he just admitted to being a shifter wolf.

If I hadn’t seen Tyler in action earlier, I wouldn’t believe it. I’d laugh in Cody’s face. But I had. Too much. That meant I shouldn’t stick around and do anything with Cody’s face or the rest of his body.

The cabin was pretty small, thankfully. I cut through the main room and threw open the front door.

“Riley!” Cody yelled, his voice practically echoing off the log walls.

I heard the heavy footsteps, which meant Cody was coming after me as I ran across the front porch and jumped down the three steps onto a field of wild grass and wildflowers. I didn’t see another house. A narrow dirt drive was the only guide I had to civilization. I was alone with Cody, the shifter. A wolf. If he was anything like his son, he’d have fangs sharp enough to rip out a mountain lion’s throat. Enough strength to break the animal’s neck.

Which meant he could easily do both to me.

“Fuck, sugar! Stop. Fuck. ”

I saw his Jeep, turned, and ran for it, prayed the keys were inside. If not, I could lock the doors and… I had no idea, but it was a metal and glass barrier between me and a… wolf person.

My breath came out in pants, and the adrenaline pumping through my veins fueled my sprint. Except I wasn’t a runner. I’d done cheerleading in high school. It wasn’t an endurance sport. I could bend and flip, but that sure as hell wasn’t going to save me now.

Before I made it to the car, an arm banded around me. I shrieked. My feet lifted off the ground as I was pulled back against Cody’s hard body. His head came down to my neck, and I swore he sniffed.

“No! Don’t rip my throat out!” I struggled in his snug hold, and I threw my head back, whacking his face.

“Fuck!” Cody muttered. His grasp didn’t loosen. His arm banded about my bare torso where my t-shirt rode up. He might’ve put clothes on me but not a bra.

“Don’t squirm. Don’t fight. For fuck’s sake, don’t run ,” he growled.

“Why?” I cried. “You’re going to eat me!”

He went completely still. Completely rigid, and I felt every hard inch of him. Every inch. And he didn’t growl with words this time. He literally growled.

“If you don’t hold still, I will throw you down in the grass, and I will eat you. I can smell how turned on you are right now. I know that pussy of yours is wet and ripe for licking.”

His words–filthy and obscenely hot–had me going slack. He wanted to eat my pussy? Mr. McIntire?

We were both breathing hard and perhaps now for a different reason than a mad dash.

“Yes, your pussy,” he repeated, as if he wanted to make sure I understood. “The only danger you’re in with me is passing out from the orgasms I give you.”

I had absolutely no idea what to say to that. Guys I’d dated never talked that way. Sure, I’d made out with a few of them, and I knew all of them wanted sex–what guy didn’t?–but they didn’t speak so boldly. So… plainly.

“A word of warning,” he continued, his arm giving me a little squeeze. “Don’t run from a wolf. My wolf loves a chase, and you, sugar, just gave him one.”