9. Mallory
MALLORY
The woods behind the cottage were different than any I’d been to. Quieter. Older. Peaceful. I felt an inner calm as I trotted in and around the trees, the overgrown brush tickling my bare legs.
I hadn’t planned to go far when I’d left the house, just a quick walk to clear my head, maybe a little exploring, but the deeper I went, following what might have been a trail that wound between moss-covered trunks, the more the noise in my head softened.
The constant buzz of thoughts faded into something manageable.
The air smelled earthy and of recent rain and pine, holding a similar cleanliness to the ocean-salt air at the beach.
Eventually, the trees opened into a small clearing, branches parting like a curtain to reveal a perfect circle of grass.
Sunlight spilled through the canopy in fractured gold, the light diffused by leaves and shifting with the breeze.
Wildflowers I couldn’t name dotted the grass, tiny purple blooms, others white and delicate.
It was perfect.
An ideal place to curl up with a book and lose yourself for hours in the words written and the song of nature. A place that felt like a secret the woods had decided to share.
I dropped my bag on the grass, kicking off my old sneakers and socks, and my bare feet sank into the cool grass, the blades tickling between my toes. My body remembered what my mind had neglected lately.
It had been weeks since I’d been able to practice yoga.
With the move, unpacking, and settling in, there hadn’t been enough hours in the day, but the ground, the trees, the wind, and the sun called to me.
I had nothing to do today, and a Sunday yoga practice in the woods was what my soul wanted.
Just a few minutes before I headed home.
I started simple. Mountain pose, grounding through my feet. Then forward fold, letting my spine decompress vertebra by vertebra. Halfway lift. Plank. The familiar sequence unwinding in my body like a language I’d spoken fluently once and was remembering now.
I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed this.
How much I’d needed it.
The world narrowed to breath, balance, and the whisper of wind through leaves overhead. To the way my muscles engaged and released. To the solid earth beneath me and the open sky above.
I was midway through a transition, warrior two shifting into extended side angle, my hand reaching toward the ground, when I felt it.
A shift in the air…the awareness of being watched, and with it came the first tendrils of fear.
Good thing I’d trained for moments like these.
I’d never had to put them into practice, but there was always a first time for everything.
Snap.
A twig, not too far away. My awareness detonated.
I definitely wasn’t alone, and every nerve lit up inside me, instincts kicking in hard and fast, but I didn’t react.
With slow and unbothered movements, I did one last full-body stretch and slipped into my shoes, scooping up my socks and my bag.
I moved toward the spot of woods where I thought I had emerged from, hoping to retrace my steps easily enough back home.
I wasn’t entirely surprised when steps followed me, but I wasn’t happy about it. Tendrils of fear danced in my blood, urging me to pick up my pace as I entered the trees, the forest closing in around me.
Are they following me?
If so, why?
Could it be those kidnappers Paisley and Atlas were telling me about?
My brain battled with the decision to keep going at a normal pace as I trekked through the woods or to just go full-out and start running. Could I outrun them? Was it a risk I was willing to take? Either choice had its own risks.
Leaves crunched under my feet, but no matter how much distance I tried to create, I felt them closing in behind me. It wasn’t long until they would be close enough to grab me.
Sweat beaded at the back of my neck. My sense seemed heightened from being acutely aware I was being followed.
I resisted the urge to look over my shoulder, but the voice in my head telling me to move my ass couldn’t be ignored anymore.
Picking up my speed, I shifted to a brisk walk, but the hair-raising on my arms warned me their strides were longer than mine and swiftly bridging the distance I desperately wanted to create.
I wouldn’t make it home before they were on me.
Fuck it.
If they wanted a confrontation, I’d give them a face-to-face they wouldn’t forget.
I waited, buying my time, going over the moves in my head, until I heard their steps. From the corner of my eye, I caught a flash of color. Clothes. Hair. Skin. Fur. Hell, I couldn’t tell. I didn’t have time to digest. I had to catch them unaware before they caught me.
Patience. Not yet. Just keep going. Wait…wait…wait…now.
I spun, dropping low and driving forward, my hand catching his wrist, twisting hard as I stepped into him, using his size against him.
My foot hooked behind his ankle, my other hand pressing into his chest. He hit the ground hard, leaves crunching beneath him as the air rushed from his lungs in a sharp exhale.
I followed him down, straddling his hips and pinning him flat on his back before he could recover, asserting dominance over the situation.
My breath came fast, my adrenaline surging as I tightened my grip and glanced down. I froze.
What the—?
No. It can’t be.
Familiar light-green eyes stared back up at me.
“Maddox?” I blinked, gazing into his face, unable to believe what my eyes were seeing.
Oh.
Shit.
For a second, neither of us moved, my heart still thumping wildly in my chest. Perhaps more now. Of all the people in Elmwood, why did it have to be him?
His dark hair rested in a bed of leaves. “Fuck,” he rasped, still catching his breath, his hands resting loosely at his sides like he wasn’t even trying to fight me. “That’s one way to greet me.”
Heat flooded my face, but I didn’t move. “Why were you following me? I could have hurt you.”
His brows lifted. “Hurt me?”
I leaned forward just enough to make my point. “You’re still on the ground, aren’t you?”
His gaze dragged over my face. “What the hell was that?”
“Self-defense.”
“Where did you learn to do that?”
“I’ve been taking classes since I was little. Krav Maga, mostly. Some jiu-jitsu. I don’t get to use it often, so...” I smiled down at him. “Thanks. That was fun.”
“Fun?” he echoed, pushing himself up onto his elbows, leaves caught in his hair.
My fingers itched to pick them out. “You’re not having fun? I could always try a different technique?” I shifted on his lap, causing a bolt of lust between my legs. I should have removed the leaves. It would have been safer than the friction I’d just created. What was wrong with me?
His gaze darkened. “Don’t you know it’s not safe to be alone in the woods?”
I took a moment to study him, which was mad considering what I’d learned about Maddox and his family on Friday night, but something about him didn’t produce those tingles of unease. He gave me a different set of tingles, annoyingly so.
How could I be stupidly attracted to him? Suddenly, the idea of being alone in the woods with Maddox took on a different meaning, and perhaps just as dangerous.
“Why? Do you plan to hurt me?” I asked with a hint of playfulness. I had no clue where it came from. Who was I?
He pushed up on his hands, bringing our faces close. “I could. And who would be the wiser?”
I tilted my head, a faint smile touching my lips because apparently fear and curiosity were the same thing in my brain. “Try me. I dare you.”
Am I flirting with him? Who am I?
I’d never flirted a day in my life.
His light-green eyes narrowed, and I watched his expression shift. Surprise, maybe. Or reassessment. “You don’t react like other girls. I can’t figure you out.”
“You want me to be some helpless girl who can’t take care of herself, right?” The challenge hung between us. “That’s the assumption you’re working with?”
“I’m not going to hurt you.” He said it flatly, like I’d insulted him by suggesting otherwise.
At least he had some standards. I’d seen plenty of guys who had no qualms about harming a woman. “So, the famous Maddox Corvo has morals. That’s not what I heard.”
He snorted softly. “I just bet. What can I say? My reputation precedes me.”
It wasn’t lost on me that we were having an entire conversation with me in his lap. Why wasn’t I moving? And when the hell had his fingers come to splay over my hips, as if he wanted to keep me on top of him. “Does it bother you?” I asked. “What people say about you?”
“Should it?”
“Most people care what others think.”
He had this intensity about him that made me want to sway toward him. “I’m not most people.”
I huffed out a quiet laugh, shaking my head, but I didn’t move. Not yet. Because for some reason…I wasn’t in a hurry to let him go. “Neither am I.”
His thumb stroked over the exposed skin just over my waistband. “So, I’m learning.”
Was he touching me on purpose? Intentional or not, he was making my head fuzzy. “At least I know I can take you.” A hint of satisfaction slipped into my voice.
His gaze dipped to my lips. “Careful,” he warned, his tone dropping. “You keep talking like that, I might start thinking you planned this.”
I snorted. “Yeah, because I regularly lure guys into the woods just to throw them on their backs.”
“Wouldn’t blame you. It’s a good look on you.” He drew me forward an inch.
My breath caught just slightly, heat singing over my skin.
Deliberately, I took the corner of my bottom lip between my teeth, drawing his gaze to my lips.
I wanted to see if the color of his eyes would change, darken.
He didn’t disappoint. I lifted my eyes, meeting his, seeing the flecks of darker green in his light eyes, and my heart fluttered.
His gaze flicked to my mouth, and I relaxed deeper into him. Gravity suddenly ceased to exist, and the world stopped. It was a feeling I’d only read about or seen on TV but never experienced. “Are you going to let me up, or do you plan on keeping me prisoner all day?”