Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Snow flashes past as I run into the dark, ducking under low branches with breath burning in my chest.
My boots sink into the drifts, slowing every stride, but I push harder. I can already make out the chase behind me—the lumber of his steps, faster and heavier than mine, eating up the ground. He doesn’t sound winded. If anything, he’s gaining on me.
It’s only a matter of time before he clears the lead I have on him.
In the dark, every branch I brush stings my hands and snags my coat sleeves. The air bites at my naked skin and fills my lungs until it hurts, sharp and unnatural when I try to draw a breath.
Trees loom up all around, their trunks thick and dark. I can’t stop glancing sideways, sure I’ll see him flanking me. I’ll feel him closing his arms around me as he prepares to take me down.
Every nerve buzzes from adrenaline.
I don’t feel afraid the way I used to; it’s more potent and visceral, transformed into the excitement you feel when you’ve long-anticipated a special moment in your life.
It makes my pulse jump and heart flutter.
I want this. I want him.
Even if it brings about my destruction.
I’m ready to deal with whatever comes my way. I rang the bell; I sought him out.
A stick snaps, closer than it should be, but I don’t risk looking back. My breath puffs out of me, half-sob and half-gasp for more air.
The cold has come to mean nothing. I’m practically naked in near subzero temperatures. My brown skin is icy cold and my nipples are achingly hard and every breath burns. But it’s all part of the game. It’s part of the hunt this deep in the woods, so late at night.
The sky is an inked black, void of any stars or moon. The snow itself is stark and white, falling thicker and harder as I push through the woods and lead him on.
I take a hard left, hoping to dodge him, but the snow is deeper here. My foot sinks past my ankle and throws me off.
For a second, I’m scrambling, arms pinwheeling for balance. Branches whip into my curly hair, tugging and stinging my scalp, but I barely register it.
I’m so high off the hunt. So consumed by the adrenaline rushing me.
In the distance behind me, his footsteps grow louder, matching my speed and then easily outpacing it.
His gaze becomes a feeling, tracking me in the dark through the gaps in the trees.
Never letting me go. Not for a second letting me out of his sight.
My heart flips inside my chest, spurring my legs to pump even faster. It’s like I know what happens next, yet I want to try to outrun him anyway. I want to make it as hard as possible for him as he hunts me in the dark woods.
If he’s going to catch me and dominate me like he’s done before, then he should have to work for it.
He should really have to earn it.
I flit between the trees, strategic in how I move and where I go. Every step is a move that can buy me a little more time or ultimately lead to my demise.
He’s on my tail, undoubtedly waiting for mistakes.
The ground dips without warning under freshly fallen snow. My boot catches on a hidden root and suddenly I’m pitching forward, reaching out with numb fingers to break my fall.
The world tilts at a hard angle.
One second, the sky is above me and the snow is below me. The next, it feels like the opposite as I leave the ground and take a spin.
I land upside down in the snow, limbs punching and kicking to right myself. I’m barely back up on my feet before the world is whipping past me again.
An arm has caught me by the waist, solid and unyielding as I’m sent flying face first into the snow.
I don’t even try to push myself back up at first. The impact from the fall steals the air from my lungs and makes me grunt. I’ve crashed into the ground, immediately pinned down by a heavier, stronger weight that anchors me.
He’s done it; he’s caught me like I inevitably sensed he would.
He flops me over onto my back, his disturbing horned mask stark against the black sky and white snow.
I react off instinct, instantly lobbing punches at him, missing all except one. My fist lands in his sternum, and he grunts as he takes it, then he slams my wrist at the side of my head, rendering it useless.
Then he’s tearing at my clothes like he’d done the last time. The lace lingerie is shredded, breaking at the seams as he grips it with his rounded fist and pulls hard. The sound of the fabric tearing is so sharp I gasp and writhe under him.
As if I wasn’t exposed enough already.
But that’s just it—it’s the barbarism that turns him off. The primal, abrupt, animalistic nature of these encounters that he’s clearly seeking and I’m getting off on as easily.
I struggle fruitlessly from underneath him as he clamps a large hand shut on my right breast and squeezes.
A scream travels up my throat as I tip my head back and my dazed vision lands on the dark plum sky. His grip is so harsh and rough that it hurts.
It’s designed to hurt. It’s designed to ruin me. He catches my nipple between two thick fingers and twists the erect bead, making me cry out further.
All while his thighs hold me down. His weight keeps me firmly planted in the snow.
The sense of urgency explodes inside me.
I decide I’m not going to be taken so easily. My screams ring out in the air as I thrash and fight. As pleasure and pain assault my body at the same time he gropes it.
But there’s no resisting him when I’m already as good as naked, only my coat to keep me from lying bare in the snow. The lingerie is a torn scrap loosely clinging to my body as he forces my thighs wide apart and then sinks two fingers deep in my pussy.
“Motherfucker!” I hiss at him, clawing at his shoulders. His chest and throat. Then his jaw, drawing a long line under the ridge of his mask.
He grabs me by the face, squeezing my cheeks in his firm grip, glaring down at me through the pitch-black holes that seem like an endless abyss.
A tremor of fear rocks me. But then it’s quickly followed by a different kind of tremor.
A sense of exhilaration from the danger and excitement of the moment.
…of the fact that this primitive, brutal stranger has hunted me in the dark woods and now he’s caught me and gets to have me.
My nipples are pebbles as he twists and tugs at them some more. Sparks of sharp, stinging pain pass through my breasts, making me even more breathless than I already am.
No one’s coming to save me; no one’s around to hear me scream.
The thought makes me even wetter. My pussy throbs harder.
But as turned on as I am, pussy slicked with arousal, I still keep fighting. I scratch at him, using my nails as claws, jerking and bucking against his heavy, solid body.
It’s part of the game for him. He simply grunts in return, one hand dropping to his belt buckle to undo his pants.
We’ve developed a dark and twisted dance without even coordinating one; it’s purely carnal and instinctual as we feed off each other.
My struggles turn him on and his dominant brutish behavior turns me on.
I want to be taken, and he wants to take me.
His dick juts free from the constraints of his faded Santa Claus pants, long and hard with drips of precum glistening from the head.
He strokes himself a couple times, then guides himself straight into me.
It’s an explosion of sensation all at once.
My body locks up as my jaw drops and my pussy tingles.
Within seconds, he’s thrusting away. His hips are a blur of motion as he strokes into me, quickly building to a hard, punishing rhythm.
I’m fucked into the snow. I’m fucked on the ground in the most primal way as he releases the kind of thick grunts that sound like music to my ears.
My head reels trying to process the sensory overload. I lay half numbed by the icy snow and half hot from the burning passion between us.
He fills me so damn good it’s mind blowing. His dick is large and long, stretching my pussy, breaking me open like no man ever has before.
I claw at the snow just trying to keep up with him, bare ass sinking into the snow as he drills into me.
He groans, grinding his hips and switching up the motion. My pussy clamps down, pleasure like a hot knife cutting through butter. I’m so far gone, I’m looking up at the sky. I’m swimming from the dizziness that’s come over me.
Every nerve ending in my body is either completely numbed or firing off on all cylinders.
He fucks me like I really am the game he’s caught. He’s a beast, and I’m the little helpless animal he’s devouring as his meal.
There’s nothing civilized or considerate about it as he groans and his hips pump away. He slams into me and my cervix aches from how deep he goes.
But there’s no stopping him. No slowing him down as his rough hands fondle my naked breasts and pinch at my nipples some more.
I cry out, pussy tingling around his dick. My walls massage him, trying to keep up with the brutal pounding.
His hips fire off regardless. They slam into me over and over, his cock sliding thick and throbbing as deep as it can possibly go, drenched by my soaked heat.
My body curls around him. My legs crisscross around his back, and I wrap my arms over his shoulders to hold on.
The collision between our bodies is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever imagined.
He fucks like the beast he is. There’s no relief as his thrusts come harder and rougher and my hips buck to keep up.
My rising orgasm drowns out the discomfort. The numbness from the freezing snow and the sting of his huge dick stretching me.
I’ve tapped into the most animalistic, carnal part of myself. I’ve given into him so completely, I’m no longer able to fight back beyond dragging nails down his back.
He lifts my hips and penetrates me at a whole new angle, making me cry out even harder. I come at the second hard, punctuating thrust.
My pussy spasms all around his cock, pleasure chemicals flooding me.
I freeze up except my toes. They curl inside my boots as the rest of me is blinded by the intense orgasm.
Hot and sharp.
It rolls through me stronger than the others before it, leaving me panting and slicked by sweat.
He grunts as if in approval, then flips me over. I’m tossed from lying on my back to being flattened on my stomach.
The chilling snow numbs my torso at once. But it’s nothing compared to the slam of his hips half a second later as he spears back into me.
He enters me from behind, fucking me on all fours. I fist the snow, crying tears, pussy swollen and tingling, stretched around his dick.
He pounds into me showing no mercy, his grunts drowning out any protests.
The snow has only picked up since we started fucking. It flutters through the air, landing in my curls and on my face as I blink through the winter cold and claw at the ground.
His hand snakes around to my throat and he wrenches me up, squeezing at the slender column like the primitive animal he is.
I gasp at the airway restriction, hands flying up to pry his off. But it’s once again useless as he drills into me and commands my body in every possible way.
He’s in control; he’s dominating me, exerting himself over every ounce of willpower I have.
All I can do is take it; spread my thighs and let him fuck my pussy hard and deep.
A second orgasm starts to wash over me, smaller than the first but still intense. He’s still gripping me by the throat when his other hand reaches around and rubs at my clit.
Pleasure spikes so sharp and sudden that it brings tears to my eyes. It’s enough to drive me to coming as I go still in his arms once again.
My whole body convulses, pleasure tingling up my spine.
Radiating from my pussy.
He loses control at the feel of me coming on his dick, thrusting harder and faster. His rhythm unravels as he chases his own peak.
He’s fucking me so roughly I’d break if I were any more delicate.
With a hoarse, broken grunt, he spills deep inside my pussy, hips jerking, his body crashing down over mine. We drop back against the snow with him on top, his dick throbbing and twitching inside me.
A moment passes where we lay where we are in the snow, heaving ragged breaths and letting the last pings and zings of pleasure attack our bodies.
Then he’s lifting himself off me, still moving with grunts like the beast he is.
I roll over, wide-eyed and dazed, unsure what to say.
Even what the hell to think.
There’s no doubt this has been the craziest, most unbelievable seventy-two hours of my life.
But as I’m vaguely preparing myself for him to get up and disappear among the trees like he’s done before, he proves this time is different.
He reaches up and takes off the disturbing antlered Krampus mask. It falls away, landing in the snow a couple feet away from us.
I gasp, meeting his real gaze for the first time—or at least for the first time since these hunting games began.
Staring down at me is none other than Mark, the driver.
His rumpled brown hair hangs over his brow, and his eyes look even darker in the snowy night.
I’m reminded that I’d noticed how intense and unsmiling he’d been the moment I met him at the airport. He was a gruff, composed man with a ball cap and broad, solid build.
Little did I know he was the one who would spend the next three days hunting me.
“Mark,” I mutter in shock.
For the first time, the corner of his mouth twitches enough to form a half grin.
“Not Mark,” he says. “Noah. Noah Taylor. Brother of Neil Taylor, the guy who met you the day you arrived. The Mr. Taylor who really hired you.”
I’m speechless as I blink up at him. He seems to recognize my shock, because he scoops me up from the snowy ground as easily as he’s handled me before. I go from numbed in the mounds of fresh snow to warm in his thick arms, pressed up against his bare chest.
“It’s okay, Ivy,” he says in his raspy voice. “I can explain everything.”