Chapter 19
Istep off the porch with the leather satchel slung over my shoulder and glance up at the darkening sky. A low rumble of thunder fills the air as a cool wind kicks up, signaling the incoming storm is a lot closer than I thought it was.
There won’t be much time to get these cameras set up around the property before the rain starts, but I have to know what’s coming for us. And I don’t trust that Wendy won’t be able to hack into the system if I boot it back up, again, if I do my best to keep her out.
This place has been a prison long enough, and the only way I’ll break free from it and ensure Callista stays safe is to end things with my dear sister—once and for all.
I move toward the tree line, but I only get a few steps before the front door opens and hurried footsteps rush across the porch behind me.
Shit.
Callista hustles after me, wrapping her arms around herself as she shivers. “Wait!”
“What are you doing, Beauty?” I scan the skies again. “I told you to stay in the house.”
Not only are we about to get dumped on, but as soon as the sun goes down, it will be open season up here.
She scowls at me as she closes the distance between us. “I am not staying in the house alone.” Her bottom lip disappears between her teeth, and she glances from the porch to me. “What if they come while you’re gone?”
“They won’t.”
“How do you know that?”
I don’t want to scare her any more than I already have, but keeping the truth from her hasn’t worked, either. She’s better off knowing and being able to mentally and physically prepare herself. “They’ll wait for nightfall.”
Wide eyes stare up at me, seeking affirmations that all will be well—that I cannot give her. “But how do you know?”
“Because that’s what I would’ve done, and my sister was raised by the same man, taught the same things.”
Her gaze travels to the trees next, and she shifts her weight from foot to foot. “Then let me come with you. I can help you set up the cameras.”
I scowl at her, about to object, when a bright flash of lightning splinters the sky above, followed by a boom that shakes the mountain beneath us. “This storm is going to hit soon. I want you inside.”
She shakes her head, squaring her shoulders, trying to make herself appear bigger and immovable when we both know I could toss her easily over my shoulder and take her anywhere I wanted to. “I’m coming with you.”
Fighting a grin, I step closer to her, until my chest brushes hers. “Stubborn little Beauty, aren’t you?” I capture her chin between my thumb and forefinger and drag her head up so I can kiss her deeply. “Fine…but stay close.”
Having her with me might be better. Anyway. If she’s somewhere I can keep an eye on her more easily, I can worry less about that and more about ensuring I have the property covered with the new cameras quickly, before the storm gets so bad that it’s too hard to move through it.
She scans the woods behind us. “Is Gray here?”
Following her gaze, I search the trees for his silver-gray fur, but if doesn’t want to be seen, he won’t be. “Somewhere, but he won’t come near you if you’re with me.”
Her brow furrows as she shifts nervously. “You promise?”
“I won’t let the big bad wolf get you, Beauty.” I press my hand to her lower back, urging her into the forest. “We don’t have much time.”
Almost as if on cue, the sprinkles start, and she scowls at me but allows me to usher her into the cover the canopy provides from getting soaked.
“This way…” I direct her away from the main path and to a harder-to-find trail that runs parallel to the road.
We move through the trees as quickly as the terrain allows, slower than I could move on my own. I have to wait for her to climb over fallen logs and inch through shrubs I can easily maneuver around. It should annoy me that my task is taking longer than it would have if I had come out here alone, but I hate to admit how good it actually feels to have her with me out here.
Not just good.
Right.
Which only makes what we’re facing so much worse.
Would Wendy really hurt her to force my hand?
She might.
She’s the queen of playing twisted games.
First, dangling the carrot by sending the woman up here in the first place, then when it doesn’t garner the results she wants, threatening to take her away now that I actually give a shit about her.
Diabolical for sure…and all Wendy.
How did I ever miss what she really was for so many years?
Not that there was anything I could have done to stop her from killing Ray.
She had a plan to take over, to make Father see what she could do; she was just biding her time until the perfect opportunity presented itself.
It worked far too well. And that left Wendy in charge of the family when she had barely graduated from college and her political career was only a pipe dream.
Now that she’s attained so much, she’s going to fight even harder to retain it. If she thinks she needs me to accomplish that, then she’ll stop at nothing to get The Beast back.
Even if it means hurting Callista.
I pause next to a large pine, and Callista comes to a halt next to me.
“We’ll set up a camera here. It catches the edge of the road. Plus, this is the least steep portion of the mountain, where they might come up on foot.”
Her blond brows wing up. “You think they’d try that?”
“Anything is possible with her. She knows the mountain and its secrets almost as well as I do. She can move around it relatively undetected, but she won’t suspect I put up new cameras after I disconnected the ones she had access to.” I pull the camera out of the bag and strap it onto the trunk, assuring the angle is good and catches as much of the road and surrounding area as possible. “Come on, fifteen more to go.”
“Fifteen?” Her eyes widen. “Did I hear that right?”
My lips twitch as I fight a grin. “I told you to stay at the house, Beauty. This is going to be a long, uncomfortable day.”
Almost as my words have suddenly reminded her about the rain falling, she shivers and grumbles something I can’t quite make out. She pushes past me, stomping off to the west.
“You’re going the wrong way, Beauty.”
She freezes, then turns, glaring at me, and throws up her hands. “Of course, I am.”
I grab her arm and navigate her in the other direction so we can work our way down and across the front of the mountain. Access to the backside near the lake and gorge would take them too much time to accomplish, and they’d never get up the cliff face without equipment that would give them away.
When they come, they’ll come this way.
And I will be ready.
We repeat the process over and over throughout the day, with me trudging through the worst of the terrain on my own, setting up cameras in all the places I think Wendy might attempt access while Callista waits somewhere she can try to take some cover from the rain.
It comes down so hard now that there isn’t really any escape from it, though. Our clothes are soaked, and by the time I secure the final camera and work my way back to Callista sitting on a massive rock beneath a grouping of junipers, her teeth chatter.
She watches me approach, her arms wrapped around herself, but despite how much the temperature has dropped with the storm, her gaze heats as it rakes over me.
“Let’s get you inside and warmed up, Beauty.”
After everything she went through yesterday, she doesn’t need to be out here in the cold any longer than necessary.
She climbs from the rock and steps into my embrace, burying her face against my chest. I drop my lips to the top of her head, relishing the feel of her in my arms, even in our wet clothes, with the rain picking up and dropping on us through the canopy.
This woman may have been a pawn in Wendy’s game, but I can’t deny the fact that I’ve fallen hard for her.
Harder than I thought possible.
Like I leaped off the edge of the gorge myself and tumbled down it, straight into loving Callista Fox until the day I finally meet my grave.
She peeks up from under thick, wet lashes. “We don’t have to go in for you to warm me up.”
My entire body stiffens, including my cock pinned between us. “Watch yourself, Beauty.”
The corner of her mouth curls up slowly. “You know, being out in the woods with you reminded me of my first night here.”
I bark out a laugh that echoes off the tree trunks, mingling with the sound of the fat raindrops striking the forest floor. “That isn’t something I would think you’d want to remember.”
Something playful dances in her eyes. “Oh, I don’t know. It was terrifying, but looking back on it, running through the woods like that was a bit of a rush…”
My cock twitches, and my chest rumbles a warning. “Fucking hell, Beauty.”
This is dangerous.
Not just because it’s cold and wet out here, but because she’s still recovering from her ordeal yesterday and this game could bring all sorts of unwanted feelings she isn’t anticipating.
Tipping her head back, I catch her gaze. “Callista, you were kidnapped yesterday. This—”
“Is exactly what I need, Weston.” She stares me down, eyes crystal clear and hard enough to cut a diamond with her determination. “I’m not a doll. I won’t break. I want to feel alive before—”
She doesn’t finish her thought.
And she doesn’t need to.
It’s obvious where she was going—the same place my head has been stuck since the moment I realized she was missing and that Wendy likely took her.
We might be ripped away from each other.
This could end badly.
“So…” She sucks that bottom lip between her teeth, looking at me with a faux innocence that almost makes me come on the spot. “I think you should do it again.”
I lean down and feather my lips over hers, then kiss my way across her cheek to her ear, sucking gently on the lobe enough to make her tremble in my arms. “Do what?”
If this is what she wants, what she needs to get through the turmoil and uncertainty surrounding her, then who am I to deny it to her?
All I’ve ever wanted is Callista home and happy, and I want this to be her home. For me to be what makes her happy. Which means I’ll do anything for her.
She grips my soaked T-shirt in her hands, twisting the material around her fingers tightly. “I think you should chase me through the woods until you catch me.”
Fuck.
It was already running through my head, but to hear those words from her lips makes my cock weep.
Tightening my hold on her, I ensure she can feel just how into this idea I am. “And then what should I do?”
Spell it out for me, Beauty.
What are the rules?
The corners of her mouth lift slightly, as if she’s fighting a grin that wants so badly to come. “Whatever you want.”
He jerks back and locks gazes with me, tilting my chin up. Disbelief and hope color his onyx eyes. “You’re sure, Beauty?”
Absofuckinglutely.
Without hesitation, I step back out of his hold, retreating slowly into the thicker woods. “Give me a minute head start.”
Weston growls low, his entire body tenses, ready for the challenge and probably more than primed for it.
He slides the now-empty bag off his shoulder and lets it fall to the ground. His massive, deadly hands flex at his sides, like he’s warming them up for what’s coming. “You better run, Beauty, because you have no idea what you just asked for.”
Oh, shit.
It’s a dangerous game I just started with The Beast.
I’ll probably regret it later, when the adrenaline wears off and the bruises and bumps all over my body start aching again. But after spending the day out here with him, watching his muscular body move so easily through the wilderness, witnessing the sure way he handles every task without hesitation, absorbing the power and energy that radiate from him, all I’ve been able to think about is having all that directed at me.
Before the shit hits the fan, I need to feel all of him. Need to experience all that he holds back with me because of his fear of scaring me. Because the only thing scaring me now is the very real possibility that this will be the last time we get together.
It needs to be one to remember.
But if I don’t figure out where I am and where to hide, this little chase isn’t going to last long.
Weston knows these woods too well, and I absolutely suck at hiding in them. Every step I take on the uneven ground, every twig that snaps under my feet, every frantic pant that comes out of my lips too loudly gives away my location.
It won’t take him long to find me.
The thought of what he might do when he does get his large hands on me should send fear through me the way it did that first night, but so much has changed.
He has changed.
I have changed.
We have.
I understand him now.
I’ve seen the real man—the one cursed and plagued by his guilt and regret, who tried to end things so long ago and instead only ended up a prisoner himself to someone who should love him.
He just wants a normal, quiet life, and I want that, too.
But the version chasing me through the woods is a combination of him and The Beast—the one everyone fears—because that’s a part of him, too.
He may suppress it.
He may wish it weren’t there, but there’s no denying that a very real, very terrifying portion of him possesses the instinct and ability to do very dark, very depraved things.
I stumble over a fallen log and freeze, listening to the sound of the rain hitting the trees above and trickling through the canopy. Water runs down the side of my face, and I wait for any signs that he’s close.
By now, a minute must have passed, but it feels like I haven’t made it very far. I’m definitely not cut out for survival in this place, but I won’t have to wait for long.
Blood rushes in my ears, my heart pumping rapidly after my mad dash through the trees.
But no other sounds.
Nothing.
Just an eerily quiet forest brought on by the rain or the fact that the animals know a predator is loose.
Maybe both.
I scan around me, trying to figure out which direction to head, but before I can move, a familiar strong arm wraps around me from behind and a hard chest presses into my back.
A yelp slips from my lips, and I try to kick free from his hold.
Weston doesn’t relent, just growls deeply in my ear, tightening his arm. “Where do you think you’re going, Beauty?”
Before I can answer, he pushes me forward until my chest presses into the massive trunk of a tree in front of me. The rough bark abrates my left cheek, and I peer at him out of the corner of my eye.
He keeps his weight against me, pinning me in place, preventing me from moving. His hot breath falls on my cheek as he reaches between us, and the sound of his zipper sliding open mixes with that of the falling rain. “Remember you asked for this, Beauty.”
God, yes, I did.
My pussy throbs in anticipation, and I squeeze my thighs together to help ease the ache, waiting for him to act.
Teeth graze along the side of my neck. “Do you get off on running from me, Beauty? On the adrenaline, the fear of being caught?”
Fuck…
I wish I could say no because I can admit how fucked up I must be to actually ask for him to do this after how we first met and what happened yesterday. But just like every time he talks like that, moisture pools between my legs, and I clench for something that isn’t there yet that I want so badly.
Squirming under his chest pressed into my shoulders, I try to turn more so I can see what he’s doing, but he lifts his hand to my jaw and holds it tightly, keeping me in place.
“You stay right where you are, Beauty.” His lips hover over my cheek. “You look so beautiful out here like this.”
His jeans slide down behind me, and a large hand slips under the waistband of my yoga pants and thong and cups me between my legs.
A rumbled groan of approval vibrates through me, and he nips at my ear. “Christ, Callista. You’re so fucking warm, so fucking wet. This is for me, huh?”
I whimper and nod as he applies more pressure, pressing the heel of his palm against my pussy but not moving it.
“And what if I were a real predator out here that captured you and had you pinned and at its mercy? What would you do?”
I stiffen and try to fight his hold on my jaw so I can see him. “You are a real predator.”
The words seem to shock him for a second as his eyes widen slightly before they go almost black and narrow on me. “You don’t know what you’re saying, Beauty.”
“I do.”
I don’t want some restrained, worried about breaking me, gentle version of Weston; I want the primal, fuck me hard against a tree in the woods one, and I don’t want there to be any doubt in his mind once he starts that I’m capable of handling it.
He rolls his palm, and I gasp at the little electrical shocks that shoot out from my core.
My legs tremble. “I do.”
Another growl slips from his lips, then he jerks his hand from between my legs, releases my jaw, and tugs my pants and thong down to my knees. The cool, damp air hits my skin right before his palm does, the slap so hard it sends me rocking forward.
A sharp sting spreads across my ass where his hand collided with it, the burn sweet and so damn good that I squeeze my eyes closed and bite my bottom lip, trying to stop myself from whimpering at the ache it causes in my exposed core.
“You need to be more careful what you ask for, Beauty, because I can’t deny you anything.” He trails a finger reverently down my cheek. “If you want The Beast and you ask for it, you’re going to get it.”
I groan and grind back along his hard cock, now trapped between my ass cheeks. He slides his hand around again and slips two fingers up into me easily, spreading me wide without preamble.
“Fuck!” I spasm against the rough bark and clench down, my legs quivering so badly that only his grip on my cunt is keeping me upright. “Pl—”
Somehow, I manage to bite back the plea that dangles on the end of my tongue, one that will likely only set him off more in favor of gasping in a heavy breath.
The cool rain falling around us, punctuated by occasional flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder, only heightens everything, until I can feel every single drop that hits my exposed skin, hear every rustle of leaves, smell the crisp air and that scent that’s all Weston.
He thrusts in and out, curling the rough pads of his fingertips into that perfect spot deep inside me that makes me jerk in his hold. “First, you’re going to come on my hand, Beauty, and after, I’m going to take you against this tree. Then, you’re going to come down my throat as many times as I want. Do you understand me?”
I whimper and nod, and he smacks my ass again with his free hand.
“Good girl.”
The motion of his hand draws all my attention to that spot between my legs. All those things that seemed so intense, so real only seconds ago, disappear. It’s just the movement of his fingers inside me and the heel of his palm rolling over my clit in a fast, brutal, unrelenting rhythm.
My orgasm comes fast and hard.
A bright, blinding light igniting behind my closed lids.
One massive rush of pleasure that overwhelms my body, making me gasp and jerk in his hold, the rough bark scraping my cheek barely registering.
He groans his approval, kissing the corner of my mouth, continuing his ministrations and dragging it out as my pussy ripples and clenches around his fingers violently.
It finally starts to ebb, and I sag against the tree, his strong grip keeping me on my feet instead of face-planting into the wet dirt.
His tongue slides over my cheek, licking off the rain that trickles over my skin, and he pulls his fingers from me and runs them along my lips. “Open.”
I do as he commands, and he slips them into my mouth.
“Do you taste how incredible you are? You understand why I can’t get enough of this?” He growls, grinding his cock against me. “Why I can’t give you up?”
All I want is to be able to tell him I feel the same, that I can’t imagine leaving him or this place, but showing him is my only option.
I groan and suck on his fingers the same way I want to do on his cock, something he hasn’t let me do yet. And knowing this man, he may never let me. He seems more intent on torturing me with pleasure than taking his own most of the time.
“Fuck…” His groaned curse floats through the air, and he tugs his fingers from my mouth and grips my chin again with them. “You are mine, Beauty.”
His other hand shifts behind me, and he angles my hips back and drags the head of his cock through my slick folds, then aligns himself and drives home in one swift motion that completely steals my breath.