Page 10 of Prodigal Son

Damn it. She really wanted to get the kid’s name right. “Regardless, I’m trying to help them.”

“All you’ve done is interfere.”

“I—”

“Enough! I need to concentrate.”

She snapped her mouth shut as he once again closed his eyes. Massaging his temples, his frown deepened. He whispered something, but his voice was too low to hear. A mantra or a name, perhaps. Then she remembered the name he cried out in the woods the second she shot him.

There was no doubt she shot him. She just couldn’t figure out how he wasn’t injured.

Her mind replayed the events on a loop of hazy memories. Chased by that thing in the woods. Her back was clawed open and she fell. Then he was there—approaching—and she pulled the trigger on the crossbow. He collapsed to his knees and hissed a name.

“Who’s Anna?”

Her head slammed into the cave floor as he lunged. The weight of his body crushed her, knocking the breath from her lungs as his thumb pressed hard into the soft flesh below her jaw, cutting off her airway. She never saw him move.

“What do you know of Anna?” he growled, eyes flashing silver.

Thunder rumbled with a crashing bang over the trees, rolling closer as a gust of wind cut into the cave, sending sparks dashing from the flames and skittering up the stone wall. Tears sprung to her eyes as her wounds tore open and her shoulders rammed into the unforgiving floor.

Terror took hold as his pupils dilated. He bared his teeth, her eyes widening, as his grip tightened around her throat.

“Wh-what…are you?” she wheezed.

Saliva strung from his sharp teeth as his jaw unhinged, opening wide.

“Wait,” she blurted, covering her face.

He stilled and cocked his head, a slight frown crimping his brow. His face lowered to her neck, and he breathed in her scent like some sort of deranged animal. “Relax.”

If it were only that easy. “Please don’t hurt me.”

His weight sank deeper into her, his hard body settling over hers as he pulled her wrists apart and lowered her clenched fists to her side. His body was a wall of heavy muscle. He held her immobile, glaring into her eyes, pinning her to the earth.

“I could snap your neck if it pleased me.”

“Please don’t.” Her back burned and the base of her skull throbbed. There was no relief with his body crushing hers the way it was.

“Stay quiet.” His hips rocked forward and he growled.

Her eyes closed, tears soaking her lashes. “Just don’t hurt me.”

His nose pressed to the slope of her shoulder, nuzzling away her loose hair as a low purr rumbled from his chest. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t catch her breath. Fear paralyzed her, and tension locked every muscle.

He gripped her hair, angling her head back as his tongue licked over her pulse. Her whimper broke the silence.

“Stay quiet and still and I won’t hurt you.”

“I…” She didn’t know what he was doing, but she had an idea where this was going. “Please…I can pay you. I have money.”

“Silence,” he snapped, his fist bunching in her shirt and yanking her closer. His hips shifted and there was no disguising his arousal as it pressed against her.

“I’m sorry. I’ll stop talking. You’re right. I’m just a stupid girl. A selfish reporter. P-please, don’t hurt me. I just want to go home—”

Her words cut off as his strong hand cuffed her throat, squeezing so that no oxygen could pass to or from her lungs. “Stop talking, or I will make it so you can’t speak.” He shoved her away and snarled, “You’re breathing because I allowed it.”

She nodded tightly, tears welling in her eyes, as she gasped and choked.

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