Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 42861 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 171(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42861 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 171(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
“What’s wrong?”
Billy looks at me with panicked eyes. “I can smell another buck.”
“Don’t worry. That’s Gruff. He’s cool.”
“He might accept you as a female, but no buck has ever been cool with me,” Billy says, forlorn.
“Well. Okay. Here’s what we are going to do. You’re going to hide hereabouts. I don’t think other wild bucks like to come near Gruff’s place, for the same reason you don’t want to, so you should be safe. I’ll sneak in, get you what you need, and bring it out to you.”
He looks uncertain, and frankly I’m scared he’s going to run away as soon as I turn my back on him. I guess that’s a risk I’ll have to take. If I am going to be able to trust him to lead me to the city, he has to show me some trust too.
“This will be where we meet,” I tell him. “I’m going to go in there and bring you what you need. Deal?”
“Deal,” he says, though it doesn’t really sound like one.
I go on through the woods. I do need a guide to the city. As much as I want to do this all on my own, there’s only so much I can do without any real knowledge of the planet.
“What are you doing? And where have you been?”
I sneaked back into the house without being caught, which I thought was pretty good. Unfortunately, that’s where my luck runs out. I am elbow deep in Gruff’s drawers when those questions are fired at me, both equally hard to answer.
I look over my shoulder and see that Gruff is looming over me, his nose working in what would be an adorable way if I didn’t know he was scenting…
“You come back here smelling of another buck!”
There it is. Billy was right. Gruff does look mad. He looks instantly taller. I don’t know if that’s actually possible, but the perception of it definitely is.
Billy stinks, so of course Gruff can smell him on me.
“What’s it to you? You don’t own me,” I smirk at him. I could just tell him about Billy, but I really don’t know how he would react, and I don’t want Billy hurt. Better Gruff thinks I’m a forest slut going off and getting mated than hurting Billy.
Gruff emits a low growl, a sound of such primal male displeasure I feel it right in the core of me. He takes a step toward me and reaches for me. I dip under his arm, laughing. Laughing is probably a bad idea, but I am nervous, and I have never been good with being in trouble. That’s half the reason I ended up here. I pissed everybody I was in trouble with right the fuck off.
“Get back here,” he growls, catching me by the rifle strap. He pulls me up off my feet, puts his nose to my neck and inhales deeply, sniffing me like the animal he is. I feel a charge of excitement rush through me as I feel the way he handles me so fucking easily. It’s as though I weigh absolutely nothing.
“Let me go!” I make the command stridently. Gruff ignores it.
“You know you’re mine. And I know you better than to think you ran off and mated with another buck. So. Why do you smell like one, and where have you been?”
“Nowhere. I went back to look at my dome again. I wanted to see if I could salvage some more parts and things.”
“And you smell like buck because…”
“Because everything smells like buck.”
I am so very pleased with that lie. It makes total sense. It’s coherent, and it explains away everything. He’s got to believe me. To not believe me would be utter madness…
Next thing I know, he has me pinned on the bed and is tearing my clothing off the lower half of my body.
“You’re such a little liar,” he growls, though he’s not angry. I don’t feel anger, or even jealousy. He seems firm and determined, though I’m not sure what about because obviously he has no idea what I have been doing. He doesn’t even know I planned to leave.
His palm meets my ass in a harsh slap, flooding me with sting and heat. I gasp and swear. That was a lot harder than I expected it to be.
“You think I am stupid, little human? I saw what you were trying to take. I know you were running away. I was about to come after you when I heard you rustling around here, saving me the trouble of hunting you down.” He leans down and growls in my ear. “And I will always hunt you down, Jem. You are mine.”
He emphasizes that with a flurry of slaps designed to link the message to the pain. I know I deserve this, but… wait. Do I deserve this? Does he truly own me? Of course not. And yet, I feel the biological truth of his possession. I belong to him because he has claimed me and will keep me at all costs. I belong to him in the way any possession is owned, not only against my will, but with a complete disregard for it.