His other hand fisted in my hair, holding my head still while he took his time with my mouth like he had all the time in the world and he intended to use every second of it.
I hated him, I tried to remind myself.
He made a low sound against my mouth and dragged his lips across my jaw, down the curve of my throat. Kissing. Tasting. The scrape of his teeth against my pulse made my breath come out wrecked and uneven, and I felt him smile against my skin, and I hated him much more for that.
"Fuck." His voice came out rough. His nose dragged along the column of my throat. "You smell so good. You have no idea–"
The sharp press of his canines against the base of my neck, right there, exactly where a mark would go hit me like cold water.
I shoved him off and jerked up my knee between his legs.
He howled, crumpling to his knees, red-faced. "Bitch," he swore, but I was already running along the hall, my heart thudding rapidly in my chest. I didn't know where I was running, but I knew I had to.
I found myself minutes later in the acres of untouched greenery stretching away from the lodgings. I ran until I was gasping for air. Until I could no longer feel the pull or the heat burning my skin or the pulsing ache between my legs. Until the tears that ran down my cheeks dried in the cold. Until I twisted my ankle and slammed down hard into the muddy earth.
Tears tracked my skin as I pulled myself into a sitting position and inspected my ankle–
Something moved in the trees to my left, rustling it. My head jerked in that direction, my senses perking up at the slightest sound, but there was nothing but trees and thickets. I glanced around me for the first time and realized I didn't know where I was.
I was lost.
In the middle of goddess knew where–
A guttural roar shook the forest and my heart leaped into my throat as three more answered back in different directions, north, east and west of me. Rarely did things stalk the woods in Ashbourne, but when they did, they came in packs.
Rogues.
I scrambled to my feet, cursing myself internally for being stupid enough to run into the wilds without realizing it. I winced, hoping on my good leg to try to get my bearings but another roar ricocheted in the dark night, much closer this time.
A pair of red eyes flashed in the dark in front of me and I screamed, breaking into a run. The pain in my leg felt like an electric shock and my eyes watered from the pain.
Branches whipped across my face, roots catching my feet, the ground uneven beneath me.
Roars echoed all around me, so close, I could feel the trees around me shudder.
I was being surrounded. Herded.
I sobbed and pushed harder, lungs burning, legs burning. My ragged breaths echoed in the darkness, the canopy of trees refusing to let the moonlight through. I couldn't see—couldn't see a thing—
Something moved in my peripheral vision, a blur of something massive, sliding between the trees so fast, my eyes couldn't catch. Something else whizzed past me and I felt claws graze my skin. But it was gone before I could scream.
I could almost taste my fear in the air. It was pungent.
They were toying with me. Four of them. At least four.
The realization hit me at the same time something breathed against the back of my neck—hot and close—and I felt canines on my pulse.
I didn't think. Couldn't think. There was nothing left in me but the most basic, animal instruction—run, run, run—and I obeyed it completely, crashing through undergrowth, ankle shrieking, tears streaming down my face and mixing with the cold and mud, but all I could feel, hear, were the sounds behind me growing louder—
Closer—
Closer—
I cut left and the ground dropped without warning and I was stumbling, pitching forward and something clamped around my ankle.
No.
Something bit my ankle.
The pain was catastrophic. It robbed me of my vision, of hearing. I might have been screaming, but I couldn't tell. My body was in panic mode, trying to drag itself forward on pure instinct, and none mattered because the grip was absolute and immovable and I couldn't breathe.
I felt the darkness rush in from every edge. The pain was so total there was almost nothing else.
In the last moment before everything went dark, something warm pressed close against my ear. Something that smelled like pine and danger and something that sent my wolf into a terrified, confused frenzy even as my consciousness slipped.
A voice, deep, smooth and unhurried. Amused.
"Tag," it murmured. "You're it."
Then nothing.