Page 26 of The Warrior's Captive

“Says the girl who hid away from the world like a coward her whole life.”

Her nails bit in a little harder. There would probably be bruises. Maybe even blood. He wanted to pull that car over and take her right there, hammering inside of her sweet, tight cunt until he lost himself again.

That just proved how far he’d ruined everything. How much control he’d lost over himself.

“I’m going to hold on, Castor.” She kept saying his name. Different now. With ownership behind it. It made him instantly hard, her fight to keep him.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

“I’ll keep fighting for you when it has nothing to do with our packs.”

More than anything, that made him realize how he needed to wrest control of the situation back. She had a head full of dreams. This woman had been raised that way. She still felt warm and effervescent with hope. She didn’t want to see the reality of the situation. His holding her all night and letting her mark him in the morning like he belonged to her and she to him only inflated that dream of a future.

He needed to find the right words to wound her so badly that she’d see that he was the last kind of person ever capable of living that out. His brain refused to cooperate. That would be poison. He needed to set her free, but he’d never wanted to hold on to anything so hard in his life.

Pop, pop, pop, pop.

“Oh my god!” Briar May screamed and hunkered down in the passenger seat. She threw her hands over her head, turning herself into a tiny little ball on instinct. “What is that? Castor!”

His heart thundered as he hammered his foot down on the accelerator and checked the rearview mirror. Pure warrior’s instinct taking over. A black SUV was behind them, then it swerved out into the left lane. The freeway was pretty much empty around them. How long had they been followed? He’d been so distracted that he didn’t even see them? They’d waited until there were no witnesses. Damn it!

The noises came again, he drove the car in an erratic zigzag as the bullets slamming through the trunk and into the back behind him.

“They’re shooting at us!” Briar May wailed, still tucked in a tight ball. That was good. She needed to stay down, just like that.

“They’ll want me alive.” He tried to sound confident, but honestly, he wasn’t so sure. He pushed the pedal down the rest of the way and the car surged forward, but he knew he’d never lose them.

The SUV fishtailed as the driver jerked the wheel hard to the right. He only managed to avoid getting plowed into because he’d seen the maneuver coming and slammed on the brakes.

Briar May’s scream of terror filled the car. He cursed, speeding up immediately, redlining the piece of shit little engine. He thought he could get there. He thought he’d be able to return Briar May to her family. He thought he could stay hidden in plain sight, trusting that he wasn’t being followed because he hadn’t seen or heard anything. He’d been right in the city. There was a good chance they’d been waiting for them out here, knowing somehow that he’d come back.

“Those are yours?” She cowered up against the door, her eyes wide and terror filled. Her teeth chattered. Seeing her so scared brought on something dark and violent inside him. He didn’t know if the people in the car were from his own pack, but he nodded, as it was clear they weren’t vigilantes from hers.

The terrain had changed long ago. There were fewer open fields and more wooded areas.

He couldn’t shake off anyone in this car, and if they didn’t want to take him alive, he was going to catch a bullet and crash going at crazy speeds. Briar May would be hurt, that’s if she even survived. Shifters could take a lot, but a car crash at a hundred miles an hour was a long shot. He was already scanning the area up ahead, looking for just the right place.

“Do you know your way back home from here? Could you find it?”

“Y-yes.” Her teeth chattered. “Yes, especially if I shift.”

“Hold on.” He saw what he was waiting for—a turn off for a side exit. He made like he was going to keep heading straight while the SUV tailed them, just about right on their bumper. They wanted him to pull over. He was ninety percent sure those shots were just warnings, unspoken instructions to get him to stop. They could have shot him if they wanted to. Those bullets never reached him in the driver’s seat.

He waited until the last possible second and took the exit so hard and fast that he nearly ripped off the driver’s side mirror with the steel meant to corral vehicles. He held his breath, hoping against hope.

“They didn’t take it!” Briar May shot up and he pressed her back down, gunning the car along the exit, heading for the backroads that shot through more heavily wooded country.

The engine screamed, but Briar May didn’t make a sound. She just sat there in her seat, shaking. Jesus, he’d brought hell straight to her doorstep. He’d plunged her into the thick of it. This was what life with him would be. They’d never be safe. It would be one tragedy after another. Horror. Terror.

She would never be safe.

He stroked her hair, so fine and near white. Her face was bloodless when he jerked the wheel and the car careened to the right. He sped down the side road, past houses that flashed by.

“They’ll double back soon enough. We need to shift. Run. Don’t stop. I’ll be at your back to keep you safe, and no matter what you see happen to me, you need to keep going. Get to your family. Do you understand me?”

“Y-yes.”

“They might be out even now, still looking for you. If you howl, would they answer?”

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