Chapter 5 #2
She finally slowed, gasping for breath, gripping a tree to try to help her stay upright.
Had she gotten far enough away? She'd been turned around at some point, so she didn't know how far she'd gone or how deeply she'd traveled into the woods.
She could be lost there forever, but it didn't matter. At least she was free. Wasn't she?
Just as she thought it, she heard the muffled crunch of a footstep on the damp foliage that carpeted the forest floor.
Then another. Then another. They were getting closer, and Briana had no doubt as to whom they belonged.
A shiver ran down her body and she darted behind the tree, knowing that there was no way that she could outrun her pursuer in this state.
Her breath came heavy, and she felt as though her lungs were betraying her, each heavy gasp another hint to where she hid.
Please let him go past without noticin' me, she silently begged. Please dinnae notice me. Please.
The footsteps suddenly stopped and Briana held her breath, the pounding of her pulse in her ears so loud she was sure that Theon must be able to hear her.
She leaned against the tree with her eyes closed, trying to steady herself.
Where had he gone? Had he turned away? Was he still coming? Why couldn't she hear him any more?
She stood there, hidden, for two minutes. Five minutes. Close to ten. As the time passed, she began to relax. He'd missed her. She'd escaped. She silently counted down from ten then readied herself to peer around the tree, just a peek to see if there was any sign of her would-be captor.
But just as she turned, a hand suddenly gripped her arm.
She yelped in alarm, but he was already dragging her back, one arm wrapping tight around her waist, the other releasing her arm only to cover her mouth.
She breathed shakily against his warm skin, fighting the urge to bite again.
She could still see the marks from where she had hurt him the day before.
He crushed her against his hard chest, holding her closer than she ever remembered being to another person, and the heat of him against her back sent a strange surge of something through her own skin.
She was desperate to run, but another, darker part of her wished to close the distance even further.
He released her mouth after a moment, but his hand settled lightly on her collarbone, his fingers only a breath from her neck.
The message was clear—struggle, and he could kill her in an instant.
She went still as a deer before a wolf, her mind clouded by the way he was pinning her against him and how close her escape had been.
Her whole body prickled with warmth and something pooled in her lower stomach and between her legs, inflamed by the frustration she felt at him holding her life in his hands.
Theon leaned down and whispered in a low voice, his breath warm and tickling her ear.
"Where were ye gonnae go, Briana?" he asked in a cruelly gentle whisper.
"Would ye run tae yer father? Yer brother?
Or would ye flee tae the side of yer betrothed?
Either way, nae doubt ye'd lead them here and destroy me wee family. Is that nae right?"
She wouldn't want to admit it, but he was right. Where would she go? Disturbing, poisonous depression twisted in her stomach and cut through the tension that was lighting up her body at every point she pressed against him.
How stupid she had been to dream of freedom! Even if she had escaped these woods without being caught, her only choices had been the ones that Theon had just mentioned, and what would either of them matter? Both were cages, just as much of a prison as any other. There was no freedom for Briana.
She would not let him see her sorrow. She tried to respond with her usual sharp wit, but her breath caught in her throat as his grip tightened on her waist and his fingers pressed harder into her collarbone.
A dangerous thrill flooded through her and she almost unconsciously pressed against his chest in response.
"It doesnae matter what yer answer is. There's somethin' ye need tae understand," Theon continued in that same low, dangerous voice.
She was hyper-conscious of the way his hand now splayed on her stomach, so close to areas where none had ever gone, but the desire fought with horror at the implicit threat in his tone.
"I want—I need me clan back. Me brothers need their lives back.
And I intend tae get them, nae matter what the cost. Ye're the key, Briana Cameron.
The key I've waited ten long years for. And until one of them gives me back what I need, ye are mine. "
"I…" she stammered, her head suddenly spinning.
"Mine," he whispered even more quietly in her ear. "Mine tae keep. Mine tae protect. And mine tae destroy. If need be." His fingers trailed down her neck. "A shame tae remove somethin' so bonny from the world, but I'll do what I have tae. Do ye understand?"
Fear eclipsed every part of Briana, but she could not bring herself to try to pull away. Something dark coiled within her, and she knew she had no choice. She was powerless to him, at least for now. Unable to speak, she gave a tiny nod.
Theon leaned back. "Say it," he growled. "Say it so I ken I can trust ye."
There in the woods, far from home, pressed tight against the body of the enemy who had haunted her dreams, with no choices ahead of her and no freedom behind, there was only one way that Briana could respond.
And so, breathily, faintly, she whispered, "I'm yers."