Page 28 of Hungry Like a Wolf
Her heart roiled and her stomach clenched. A gasp caught in her throat. Taking a moment to look over her shoulder, she saw Ravn racing up behind her with a look of such fierce determination, she knew her chances of escape had just been drastically reduced.
“Stay away from me!” she shouted, taking a sharp left and choosing a different route into the forest. She felt like a deer being hunted and trying to outmaneuver teeth and claws and arrows and spears.
Panic twisted her guts and a new speed gave her legs energy.
But then he was behind her. His heavy breaths and the stomp of his feet on the earth thudding in her ears.
“No!” she wailed as his arm came around her waist, pulling her to his hard body.
Then she was flying through the air, a moment of suspension. She braced, waiting for impact.
It came, but not as hard as expected because she landed on top of Ravn, her body sprawled over his. Her hair filled her face and her legs were akimbo.
He grunted on his collision with the earth then wrapped his other arm around her, holding her close as though not trusting her not to jump up and run away again.
“Get off me!” She wriggled and shoved at him.
“In the name of Odin… woman… would you just stop?” He was breathless and his arms like vises around her.
She could feel the entire length of his body against hers. “How dare you? God sees this and His wrath will rain down.”
“You will feel my wrath in a minute and—”
She jabbed her knee into his groin.
His sudden long groan was deep and guttural. For a moment, his grip on her slackened as his face twisted in agony.
Making the most of it, she pushed to the right, rolling off him.
But she didn’t get far because suddenly, he was over her, pinning her to the ground, her arms either side of her head and his weight as binding as any ball and chain.
“You brutish monster,” she hissed up at him. “How dare you?”
“I dare.” Furrowed lines plowed over his brow. “Because you are a brat, my little princess. You are a brat.”
She squirmed, thrusting her hips and legs. It was no use. She couldn’t shake him off. “Do not speak to me that way.” She was breathing hard. “You have no idea who I am.”
“And you have no idea who I am.” His grip on her tightened and he lowered his face so his nose was bumping up against hers. “You have absolutely no idea what I am capable of, so quit this nonsense.”
“Urgh!” She twisted harder, but to no avail.
He sucked in a breath, his eyes flashed, and his grip on her forearms tightened.
She’d never felt so trapped, not even when Orm had carried her from the battlefield and cuffed her ankles.
“Let me go.”
“You are coming with me to the northlands.”
“I am not.”
“You are. Say it.”
“No!”
“You are coming with me and you will behave and you will be a mother to my son. Say it.”
“Why on God’s earth would you want that? Any of it?”
