Page 22 of Brutal Mate

If he so much as tried to touch her, she would scream until her lungs gave out. The look in his dark eyes left her under no illusions as to the nature of what he wanted from her. It wasn't entirely obvious exactly what it was, but it was clearly nothing good.

“Don't be afraid, girl,” he said, taking a half-step back again, and the dark amusement was gone from his tone. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you, you just looked so, so…”

Miley bit her lip.

“Lost.”

Her stomach twisted. “I wasn't lost. I know exactly where I am.”

That wasn’t entirely true. She couldn't have pointed out the place on a map, but she could sure as hell make her way back to town easy enough. It was just a shame she had no intention of doing so.

“I didn't mean physically,” the man said, and the sympathetic tone of his voice made Miley's insides ache. “I feel your pain. I have felt it, too. Being but never belonging, belonging but never being. Always feeling as though you are on the outside looking in or the inside looking out, wishing that you could have all that will never be yours.”

It was a long and convoluted speech, one Miley really couldn't bring herself to fully register in her current state.. And yet, somehow, it spoke to her.

“What if I told you I could give you all you'd ever dreamt of and more?” the man asked, raising one dark eyebrow. He ran his fingers through his dark hair and looked at her with his head tilted to one side.

Now she looked at him a little more closely, he was actually quite attractive, if a little cocky looking.

“What if I told you I could give you your freedom?” the man asked, and his words resonated all too deeply in Miley. “What if I told you nobody would ever be able to lay a hand on you again with the gift I have to offer you?”

Seeing the way his eyes traveled down to her cleavage, where her father had once stubbed out his cigarette and she still had a scar, she grabbed her hoodie's zipper and pulled it up. “Who says I need freedom?”

In a flash, the man moved and came up behind her, plucking up the rucksack on her back by the strap. If he pulled it any higher, he'd be hanging her from it.

“Who wanders the woods this late at night with nothing but a rucksack?”

“I…I’m headed to meet my friends at our usual bonfire place for a drink,” Miley said, gulping hard.

“Don't lie to me,” the man snarled, and his tone bordered on animalistic. “I can smell lies.”

He sniffed, and suddenly, he was close to her, breathing her in as if he could smell everything about her. It was almost like being scented by a giant black Labrador, though it was far less adorable.

“Get off me!” Miley insisted, yanking herself free of his grip. “Whatever you’re selling, I don't want it.”

“What if I told you that you'd be safe? Far from Nightstar and Blackwell and his men and everyone else in town?” the man asked, releasing her. “What if I told you I could rid you of all those who had hurt you?”

For a second, Miley imagined her parents gone. An odd mixture of happiness, regret and loneliness swirled within her.

She almost accepted the man's offer, but her willingness lasted only as long as it took her to properly think about it.

“I, umm…maybe I'll think about it,” Miley said, turning on her heels to back away from him. Something about the man left her unable to even blink. She feared if she did, she might lose sight of him, and he would grab hold of her all over again. “I…I'm just going to go, and maybe I'll come and—”

She didn't get the chance to finish.

“You aren't going anywhere,” the man snarled at her. “You belong to us now! Nobody will miss you.”

And then, with a click of the man's fingers, two wolves came hurtling out of the trees.

Miley screamed. She screamed like she never had before and turned to run.

Why she ever thought she could be faster than a wolf, let alone two, she didn't know. But when she felt fangs meet in her forearm, she knew the truth. She was done for.

She hadn't made it out of Nightstar, but she was certain never to see her parents again.

The forepaws of the second wolf jabbed her in the small of her back, sending her flying forward even as the first dragged her to the ground by her arm.

And it was as the first came down on top of her, pinning her to the forest floor, that she knew she was going to die.

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