Chapter 6
Chapter Six
In the end, she wasn’t the one who broke the kiss. Lium pulled back, disengaging one agonizing millimeter at a time, until she could think coherently. It hurt to be dumped back in the real world again, and she stared at him blearily, wondering what the hell had happened.
“What… what was that?” Her voice rasped, low and raw.
He pried her fingers from his shirt and scooted the stool back about a foot. “That is what I was trying to work up to. That is a mate bond—or it will be, if we encourage it.”
She stared at him. “That’s just for shifter books, Lium. That’s not a real thing.”
“But it is a real thing, and that’s probably how it ended up in books in the first place. Ideas are usually inspired by something. And with my people it—stop that, Ellie.”
Her hands, without her realizing it, had crept toward him until she was running her fingers over his thighs. She looked down and snatched them back like he was made of fire. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
“It’s not your fault. The closer we are, the more we touch, the tighter the bond will get. I shouldn’t have kissed you, but you’re fairly irresistible.” He sighed. “The bond is mostly affecting me at this point, but you’ll start to feel it more and more.”
There was a lump in her throat, and she tried to swallow it down. It was a ridiculous story. It couldn’t be true, except it felt true. She couldn’t even argue with him, because she knew it would be halfhearted at best.
“I don’t understand.” She felt cold. Big emotions tended to do that to her, and she shivered.
“I know, which is why I wanted to start from the beginning, but it’s okay. We’ll get there eventually.” He reached out like he was going to pat her shoulder or something, but then stopped and pulled his hand back.
For some reason the aborted gesture made her angry. “You don’t have to comfort me. You’re not my father,” she snapped.
One eyebrow went up as he looked at her. “Sweetheart, your father is the last thing I’m interested in being. Now, your Daddy on the other hand, that I could do. Is a Daddy what you’re looking for, Ellie?”
Did he just—was he talking about… It knocked the breath right out of her.
Daddies were a secret fantasy of hers. A fantasy she never intended to explore, but one she kept in her most private thoughts.
She could actually see him as a protector, a caretaker, and already there’d been flashes of a sterner dominant type under the patience.
It was a comfortable image, which did nothing to decrease her upset.
“No! Of course not, and even if I was it wouldn’t be some weirdo in the woods who thinks he’s Moth-freaking-man.
This is all insane and I want to go home.
” The words came in an angry rush, and it frustrated her to know it was all lies.
Ellie tugged the blanket over and wrapped herself in it, hoping it would help her get warm, because the shivering had grown more pronounced.
He frowned. “You’re cold?”
“Yeah.”
“It gets a lot cooler out here. I’ll get some wood and start a fire.” He stood up, half-turned, and then stopped and looked back at her huddled form. “Stay right there, Ellie. I won’t be long.”
She burrowed deeper into the blanket and her eyes followed him as he went out the door. He closed it behind him, but she didn’t hear any kind of a lock. This was her chance to make a run for it, but the seconds ticked by and she didn’t move.
It couldn’t take long to gather wood. He probably had a pile of it already chopped and ready to go, so she needed every second to get away. Why wasn’t she moving? Why wasn’t she getting up and running out the door while she still had time?
Because she didn’t want to leave. Lium’s story was compelling. It couldn’t be true, of course it couldn’t, but she wanted it to be. The idea that there was someone meant for her and only her? That was every woman’s fantasy, wasn’t it?
Ellie eased herself forward until she was perched on the edge of the couch, while an internal debate went on. That there was any need for a debate at all confused her. When someone was kidnapped, they shouldn’t need to think about escaping when they had the chance. They should just do it.
Maybe she was suffering from Stockholm syndrome, although she couldn’t see how there had been enough time for that. You’re not going to be one of those women who fall for their kidnapper, she told herself firmly. She stood up and inched her way to the door and slowly lifted the old-fashioned latch.
It creaked as she pulled it open and stuck her head outside for a quick look.
She didn’t see him, but that wasn’t a shock since the only light was the oil lamp in the cabin behind her, and it didn’t reach very far.
The sliver of moon that had been out earlier, was either gone or was completely hidden in the canopy.
It left her with another issue: how was she going to escape when she couldn’t see where she was going?
And then she realized… she could take the lamp with her!
It was portable after all. She snatched it off the table, bundled the quilt up tighter so she wouldn’t trip over it, and stepped out of the cabin.
When she lifted the lamp high the soft glow of yellow light illuminated a small clearing in the trees.
There was no sign of red eyes, or her captor.
It wouldn’t take him long to return. Trees were everywhere so firewood couldn’t be hard to find.
She moved around to the side of the cabin, and to her surprise there was a battered old jeep, with an open top.
But although she searched frantically, there were no keys to be found, so she reluctantly gave up on the idea of driving herself out.
Luck hadn’t entirely abandoned her though. In the backseat she discovered a pair of men’s sneakers. Dirty, old, and far too big for her, but they were still better than going barefoot through the woods. She slipped them on and tied the laces as tight as she could.
Ellie hesitated a moment longer, torn. She knew she had to get moving, but part of her really didn’t want to go.
There were so many reasons to be scared of making her way through the woods, not the least of which was the fact that the lamp barely made a dent in the thick darkness.
But under it all she knew that wasn’t what was keeping her from going.
She did feel some connection to Lium. No matter how crazy he was, or what stories he invented, there was something there.
If the circumstances had been different…
but they weren’t, and she had to go. It took a real effort to start walking down the dirt road, leaving the cabin behind her, but the further away she got, the easier it was to keep moving.
The lamp swung with each step, casting wildly moving shadows all around her, her feelings about Lium were quickly buried beneath an ominous dread—a fear of the woods themselves.
Her back kept twitching with a sense of being watched.
Rumor had it that there were still bobcats and black bears in the woods, and in that moment every sound was a predator about to attack.
She went from walking slowly to jogging down the road.
She wanted to go faster, but the oversized shoes and an uneven ground kept tripping her up and she knew she’d fall if she tried to run.
Oddly enough getting dragged back to the cabin by Lium—no, by her captor.
She needed to keep reminding herself of what he was—was the least of her concerns.
Something swooped down over her head, low enough to blow her hair forward.
She screamed and ducked. She thought of bats, and the leathery flapping sound seemed to back it up, but whatever it was had passed, so she straightened slowly.
She turned in a circle, lamp held high, straining to see into the darkness.
It was hopeless. The light pooled around her like a protective circle, but it didn’t spread far enough to make her feel safe.
She cocked her head, listening intently.
Something was wrong. It took her nearly a minute to realize that the night life had gone silent.
All the chirping and clicking had stopped.
She swallowed hard, willing her heart to slow down so she could hear over the thumping.
It could have been her, with the lamp, that had scared them into silence, but she didn’t think it was.
It was such a vulnerable feeling. Alone, not being able to see what was out there in the dark, she wished she’d never left the cabin.
At least she could see what was happening there and maybe she could have fought him off.
It was too late to go back. Who knew what he’d do to her for running away? Someone who was crazy enough to kidnap her from her home in the middle of the night might do just about anything. And yet… she really couldn’t talk herself into fearing him.
His comment about being her Daddy came back to her with an embarrassing heat. She knew what Daddies did to people who disobeyed them. She’d had plenty of fantasies about it, and somehow, she had no trouble believing he’d follow through. She could even picture it in her mind if she…
There was a rush of wind again, to her left this time. She spun to face that direction. “Who-who’s there?” she demanded, in a shaky voice. There was no answer, but she hadn’t expected one.
Ellie started moving again, with slow deliberate steps, senses on alert. She hadn’t taken more than a few when she felt something glide by close enough to brush her face. It was too much to bear. She took off running, without any sense of self preservation.
The sneakers flapped as she hurtled down the road, but she didn’t manage to get far before she tripped and fell.
As she went down, the oil lamp flew out of her hand, smashing on the ground a few feet in front of her.
She screamed as she hit the dirt with the blanket tangled around her, and fire began to spread in her direction with a terrifying quickness.
One corner of the quilt landed in the oil and suddenly burst into flames. She thrashed, trying to pull free. Raw, hoarse shouts of panic filled the air, and she only distantly realized they were coming out of her mouth.
And then a large black shape landed in front of her, cutting off the sight of the spreading fire.
She was snatched off the ground before she could manage more than a gasp, and then she was in the air and moving rapidly away from the disaster.
But the quilt, still half-wrapped around her body, trailed fire along with them.
They didn’t go far before a dizzy whooshing feeling in her stomach told her they were descending fast. There was a jarring thud as they landed.
Ellie didn’t really understand what was happening; it was all moving too quickly.
But in the next moment she was unceremoniously dumped on the ground, to be rolled back and forth with teeth-clattering vigor.
“Stop! What are you doing? Let me go!” she shouted, nearly biting her tongue as she was jerked forward and back.
“Hold on. Fire’s almost out.” It was Lium. A second later he was pulling her to her feet and spinning her around as he yanked the quilt away.
She could only stare at him with wide eyes. Too much chaos in a short amount of time had left her speechless. Which was fine, because Lium had more than enough words for both of them.