Chapter 2 - Alisha
From Caliente, I struck out east into the woods, having no clear idea where I was going. The only thing on my mind was to keep moving, to stay ahead of Paul at all costs.
I’ve been running for so long, I can’t remember what it feels like to stand still!
The woods get thicker, and around me, steep hills begin to rise. The air is warm and dry, and I start to worry I’m heading straight out into pure, untamed wilderness.
I should have looked at a map. What was I thinking?
Grumbling softly under my breath as a branch whips back to hit me in the face, I know that I wasn’t thinking at all.
I don’t have time to fucking think.
My breath heaving in and out of my lungs begins to burn my throat, and suddenly, it feels like my heart is going to crack right through my breastbone.
I stop partway up the slope to put my hands on my knees and gulp for air.
I know this isn’t all from exertion—my body is practically seizing up with fear.
How long can I keep this up?
Despair joins the panic inside me, swirling my guts into a bubbling potion of pure nausea. The pain in my chest becomes sharper, and tears sting my eyes.
I can’t…I just can’t keep going!
Taking slow breaths, I manage to settle the pain, but I can still barely move. I’ve been on the run for over a month now, and I’ve quickly learned it’s nowhere near as fun as it looks in the movies.
Straightening up, I decide to walk to the top of the bluff and try to get my bearings. As I take small, careful steps through the low bushes and loose rocks, memories of Paul taunt my mind until I’m flooded with fear again.
We met in Vegas, in the crappy bar where I worked.
My heart was bruised, and he was charming as well as cute.
Before I realized what was happening, he’d taken over my life.
Low-level emotional abuse escalated into full-on threats until I told him I was leaving him—and a couple of hours later, he burned my house down.
Even though I try to focus on the horrible, final weeks of our relationship, all I can think about is the early days, when he told me I was beautiful, smart, and special.
His attention was exactly what I needed after coming out of a tough situation, and Paul played loving boyfriend to the hilt.
He held me gently at night, brought me my favorite food, and learned all the things I was passionate about.
I know. It all screams “too good to be true,” but I was hurting, and I just couldn’t see it.
When I awoke to my house in flames, I was shocked to find Paul pulling me out of the burning building.
At first, I thought it was an unfortunate coincidence, until he informed me he did it to force me to come with him.
I managed to get away while he was trying to shove me into the back of his car, and I haven’t stopped running since.
Town after town, I’d stop for a rest, only to get the horrific feeling he was breathing down my neck.
I don’t know exactly what alerted me, but I’d suddenly feel the need to hide.
Not long after, he’d pass through, leaving me frozen like an ice sculpture until I could finally slip away and put some distance between us.
Paul being able to find me isn’t surprising. He’s a wolf, so tracking my scent wouldn’t be a problem for him. The real mystery is how I keep managing to dodge him.
Maybe I’ve got a guardian angel on my side.
The idea makes me chuckle under my breath. Surely, if I had someone watching over me, none of this shit would have happened at all.
I finally make it to the top of the hill, and there is nothing but a sea of thick, dark forest around me, broken by jagged, rocky outcrops. I’ve blundered into some extremely challenging terrain, and I’m not the sort of girl who finds extreme hiking a thrill.
After months of moving through dodgy towns and gross hotels, the wilderness might be a slight step up, though.
Sighing, I turn around slowly, trying to decide which way to go. Behind me is Caliente, the main roads, and civilization. Even though I think it’s going to be easier to hide from Paul amongst humans, I know he’s tracking me, and I can’t go back that way without being caught.
I haven’t got a hope of hiding from him out here. What the fuck am I going to do?
Directly to the south, I can see far-off lights, but they are distant, and separated from me by rugged terrain I know I can’t cover. The East is nothing but desert plains. North, I can see the twinkling lights of little towns.
Pretty sure these aren’t on the map. I wonder who lives there?
Suddenly, my skin runs with tingling, hot waves of needles. Sweat breaks out on my brow, and my guts twist into knots.
Someone’s coming!
My instincts have never failed me, and over the past month, I have relied on them more than ever. I don’t know how I know—but someone is coming, and I don’t have long before they catch up to me.
It’s Paul—it has to be!
Panic tightens my chest as I turn to jog down the slope as fast as I can. I’m not good at this at all, and if I fall and break my leg, it’s all over. My skin floods with chills as I imagine what he’d do to me if I were utterly helpless and at his mercy.
Please, God, no. Anything but that!
Before I run into the lower part of the forest, I pause to listen, and can’t hear any sign of anyone behind me. I know that doesn’t mean much, because a wolf could be tailing me in complete silence, and I’d never know it until he was on top of me.
Still, that strange sense of instinct seems to be shrouding me, wrapped around me like a thick, invisible cloak. I feel like it has something to do with how I’ve kept away from Paul for so long, so I don’t question it.
Mind over matter. If I believe I can get away from him, I will!
Despite everything, a soft chuckle echoes in my throat as I turn into the trees and keep running. I’ve never believed in any of that stuff, and I’m not about to start now.
The ground flattens out a bit, but I’m still dodging bushes, trees, and rocks that slow me down. I start to get that sense of danger again, as if someone is close by, and I just can’t see them. The feeling gives me a fresh burst of energy, and I pick up my pace, not even knowing where I’m going.
Suddenly, I hear a light scrabble of claws behind me, and it’s way too close. I don’t even have time to realize how fucked I am when something hits me between the shoulder blades, and I tumble forward, rolling over and landing on my ass.
I look up, seeing a massive wolf in my path. I’m so terrified that at first the details don’t register. I’m just sure that Paul has found me.
But he doesn’t spring towards me. The wolf slowly comes out of his crouch, lips lowering over his fangs as the snarl dies in his throat. I scramble back a bit, grazing my hands on the hard, bare earth and small, sharp rocks. I mutter something—a hopeless plea I know he won’t heed.
The wolf takes a step forward out of the shadows, and the pale starlight falls across his face. Electric blue eyes fix on me, as intense as lasers, and all the air is slowly squeezed out of my lungs.
It can’t be!
He takes another step forward, his ears pricked up and bushy tail practically pointed at the sky. I don’t recognize anything except those incredibly bright eyes, but it’s enough.
Only one creature on this earth has eyes like that!
“Brad,” the whisper rises in my throat, caressing my lips but barely making a sound.
Still, I know he heard it with his wolf hearing. In a flow of shadow and color, he shifts, and suddenly, the man himself is standing before me.
I jolt a little, as if I’ve had an electric shock. Part of me wants to hurl myself into his arms, wrap myself around him, and feel the warm, comforting press of his body against mine.
I never felt as safe as I did in his arms.
My heart twists in my chest, wrung by love lost and missed opportunities. A weary loneliness that has been with me my whole life—one that turned into a gnawing ache after Brad disappeared—rushes through me, begging me to run to him.
The rest of me is screaming in blind rage.
I can never forgive what you did to me, you asshole!
The silence stretches out between us, beginning to hum with tension like the strings of a violin right between jabs of the bow. I can feel that tension zinging in my veins, energizing me, but in spite of that, I can’t move.
Oh, God. Why does he have to be so pretty?
I can’t help myself as my eyes roam slowly across his body—broad, well-developed shoulders, bulky arms, and a wide chest. His waist tapers down to smooth, tight abs and V-shaped hip bones, framed right above his toned ass and muscular legs.
Can’t see his ass from this angle, but I remember it well enough…and I better not look at…
I snap my eyes back to his face, instantly stunned by his sharp cheekbones, strong jaw, and curved red lips. His pale blond hair is longer than I remember, brushing against his shoulders in a shimmer of bright gold.
“Alisha?” he asks, very softly.
His deep, resonant voice breaks through my paralysis, and I shake my head like I’m coming out of a dream.
“Brad,” I snap. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Me?” he shoots back. “I fucking live here. What are you doing here?”
I raise my eyebrows. “You live right here? In the middle of the fucking woods?”
“No,” he sighs, shaking his head. “In a town very close to here. It’s a werewolf town, supposed to be out of reach to humans unless they’re invited. How the hell did you get out here?”
“I was…ah, running.”
“A fun run?” he says. “A marathon? Come on, Alisha, you’re going to have to do better than that.”
I pick myself up, dusting my hands on my pants. “Am I not supposed to be here?” I ask, my tone even and just a bit challenging. “Do you have some sort of secret business out in the desert?”
His eyes widen, and he looks so shocked, he actually takes a step back. My curiosity shoots up a notch.
I struck a nerve!
He recovers quickly, stepping towards me again with a stern look on his face. I let my gaze linger too long on his eyes and his mouth, feeling a faint throb of desire inside as I let myself think about kissing him.
My body responds, and a faint ripple of heat tingles through me, reminding me of the amazing nights I shared with him, and how I came alive in a way I never had before. This man unlocked me as if he alone held the key to my desire, and in his arms, I did things I never thought I’d do.
And then you abandoned me, you fucking bastard!
“Alisha,” Brad says sternly. “I mean it, it’s not safe out here. You shouldn’t be wandering around alone in the woods—any woods—but this place is…volatile.”
“Oh, Jesus,” I mutter, folding my arms across my chest. “Could you be any more cryptic? Is this actual danger, or just your way of saying I’m about to stumble over your wife and kids?”
He laughs softly. “Is that what you think of me?”
I scoff. “Well, clearly, you’re a player.”
Brad raises his face to mine, that intense blue gaze focused on my eyes. “I am not a player. I don’t fuck random women.”
I want to make a quip, but he looks so serious, so I hold back. Something about his tone makes me feel like he really isn’t joking, and maybe he had a good reason for leaving me.
I don’t fucking care. There is no excuse for what he did! How dare you stand there, alive and well, when for all I knew, you were dead in a fucking ditch somewhere!
“Look, I need you to get out of my way,” I say. “I have to get out of here. It’s been nice catching up, but—”
“Alisha! No fucking way am I letting you out of my sight. I said this place is dangerous, and I meant it. Tell me how the hell you got here, and where you’re trying to go.”
“Well.” I scratch my arm idly, looking away from him. “I’m not sure.”
“You’re not sure where you’re going?” he asks, giving me a sideways look. “How did you end up out here?”
“There’s this guy. Kind of my ex, I guess?” I look down at the ground, wondering how to tell the story without actually telling the story. “He’s been tailing me, and I just took off from Caliente, not really knowing where I was going.”
“A guy?” he says, his voice low and dangerous. “What do you mean? What guy?”
“I went out with him for a little while. He was nice at first, but then things got weird.”
“A girl doesn’t find herself out in the wilderness because a guy ‘got weird.’ Tell me what the fuck is going on, right now.”
The pressure in my chest comes out in a great, heaving sigh, and tears gather in my eyes as I look Brad directly in the face.
He doesn’t deserve to know, but I just can’t hold this in any longer…I’ve been alone for so long…
“He’s dangerous. I think…he wants to hurt me.” It’s such a relief to say the words out loud, to tell someone, my knees get weak, and I almost fall down.
“What?” Brad almost yells. “Hurt you? What the fuck?”
“He kind of, well…ah…he set fire to my house.”
“Jesus fuck! While you were inside it?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry, he rescued me from it, too.”
“So, he could chain you up?”
“Ah…probably.”
“That’s it,” Brad says. “You’re coming with me, right fucking now.”
“Excuse me?” I reply, stress flooding my bones. All the relief I just felt is quickly replaced by singing notes of fear.
“You’re coming with me, back to my pack. I can keep you safe there.”
“No fucking way, Brad!” I yell. “I can take care of myself.”
“The fuck you can. That’s why you’re out here, in extremely dangerous territory, all by yourself, lost and with no supplies?”
Looking away from him, I scowl in frustration.
He’s got a point.
“Alisha,” he says, taking a step towards me. “Come with me, right now.”
I look up at him, my heart pounding up into my throat, and my mouth brick-dry. I can feel the heat rising from his naked body, and again, I have the urge to press myself up against him.
I wouldn’t mind this protective attitude under different circumstances.
“I can’t come with you, Brad,” I whisper. “I just can’t. Now, if you’ll excuse me—”
I turn to walk away, and feel his strong arm wrap around my waist so hard, the breath blasts out of my lungs.
“Sorry, Alisha,” Brad says, slinging me over his shoulder. “I can’t just let you walk away. You’re coming home with me.”