Hunted by the Feral Alpha Read online

  At that point, escape was too big of a risk to attempt.

  The shower stuttered on when she turned the handle of the faucet. She expected crappy water pressure, but she was still surprised when only a small stream of water trickled out. When she turned the handle all the way to the hot side, the water barely got more than lukewarm.

  Still, it was the first shower she’d had in almost seventy-two hours. It felt pretty damn good.

  Sophia washed quickly and used the rest of the shampoo on her hair. Bending her neck, she put her head directly underneath the spray. She stood there for a long time even though she knew the stain on her wouldn’t ever wash away completely.

  A loud knock on the door startled her.

  “Hurry the hell up.” Hunt’s voice was muffled by the door, but still clear enough for her to hear the frustration in it.

  It was a still a surprise that he let her shower at all, instead of handcuffing her directly to the radiator the moment they entered the room. He was being nicer than he needed to be, more considerate, even though they both knew that eventually he would kill her. So what was the point of it all?

  He wanted her, she could see it in his eyes. Even if he hated her father, even if he hated everything she represented—Hunt still wanted her. She had to take advantage of that small weakness because she had run out of options. Even if it made her hate herself.

  This was it, she realized.

  Her knees went weak and she slowly collapsed to the floor of the tub. Fear and doubt gnawed at the pit of her stomach. She didn’t know what she was doing, but doing nothing was no longer an option.

  She had to save herself.

  Sophia turned the shower off with a loud squeak of the faucet. Her clothes still hung over the back of the toilet, so wet that tiny puddles of water gathered under them on the tile. Two thin towels hung on a bar above the toilet. She used one to make a turban around her soaking-wet hair and then wrapped the other around her body. The towel was so small that the edges barely met at the front of her body, creating a gap just above the juncture of her thighs.

  It was now or never.

  She took a deep breath and opened the bathroom door.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Hunt heard the door of the bathroom door open, but didn’t initially look up from the burner phone in his hand. There were a handful of status updates from Chase, nothing important, just letting him know that they hadn’t run into any trouble. There was no reason for them to run into trouble. He was the one carting around the stolen girl.

  “It’s about damn—” He cut himself off as soon as he got a good look at her.

  Sophia stood in the open doorway of the bathroom, steam billowing out around her. And she wasn’t wearing anything except the tiniest towel that he’d ever seen.

  Water sluiced off strands of hair falling from the towel wrapped around her head. Wetness coated her arms and upper chest so she seemed to shine faintly under the light. She looked like something out of a dream—Venus rising or some shit like that.

  Something out of a fantasy.

  A surge of desire burned through him. The coiled beast that was only ever partially kept at bay shifted like a predator awakening from slumber. This had to be what it felt like to be tested by God. No matter how much he resolved to do the right thing, the universe kept placing temptation so close that he might as well be tripping right over it.

  “Where are your fucking clothes?”

  Her hands tightened on the edge of the towel, but then she just shrugged. “It’s been like three days and I had to wash them. They need to dry out.”

  Getting her some more clothes just moved to the top of his to-do list. “Yeah, okay.”

  “Do you have something that I can wear?” She looked up at him through a fringe of eyelashes still wet from the shower. “Like a T-shirt or something?”

  Without another word, Hunt dug in the duffel bag sitting open on the bed and tossed her one of the shirts that was neatly rolled up inside. He still had the habit of folding his shirts into round tubes that were exactly four inches across. It was a leftover from his military days.

  When she reached out with one hand to grab the shirt, the towel gaped in the middle and exposed a tantalizing line of creamy flesh.

  “Thank you.” Her gaze rose to meet his and a flash of heat passed between them.

  Manipulative little bitch. As if he didn’t know exactly what she was trying to do. She wanted to cozy up to him with this schoolgirl seduction act. The girl was so transparent that he could see right through her.

  But raging desire ran through him at the thought of seeing what was underneath that towel. Part of him definitely wanted this to be more than just a ploy. And that part of him was practically standing at attention.

  He knew that she was just trying to manipulate him, maybe hoping he would get complacent and give her a chance to escape. But that didn’t mean he was immune to the display. It did make him wonder how far she was willing to go to manipulate him.

  A terrible idea formed in his head, one that was almost too awful to put into words.

  “I should probably shower, too.” Hunt raised an eyebrow at her. “Did you leave any towels for me?”

  A red blush suffused her features and moved down her chest. “There were only these two.”

  “Hand one over, then.” He held out his hand with an expectant look.

  Her mouth fell open slightly, but she raised her free hand to unwind the towel from her head.

  “Not that one. It’s all wet from your hair.” He shook his head. “Let me have the other one.”

  The look on her face was priceless. “Are you serious?”

  “Nothing that I haven’t seen before.”

  Sophia stared at him for a long moment. He could almost see the wheels turning in her head. How far was too far?

  Anger and frustration sparked in her eyes. She was not in a good position: scared, confused, and always one step behind.

  And it wasn’t like he actually expected her to do it. But he liked teasing her and pushing her a little. A much darker part of him wanted to make sure she understood that he would always be willing to go further than she wanted to go.

  And then she dropped the towel.

  Sophia’s body was perfect, from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. Every piece of her was exactly how he imagined it, or better.

  Her expression was haughty when his gaze finally rose to her face.

  “You better put that shirt on before things get out of hand.”

  Except she didn’t move, and instead just stared at him like she was waiting to see what he would do. What the fuck? He was here trying to be the good guy and she was doing everything in her power to push him over the edge. She had to know this wasn’t a game that ended up with her as the winner.

  The T-shirt fells from her fingers to the floor as she continued to glare at him. The look in her eyes was part come-on and part challenge.

  She didn’t really want this, he knew that. But if she kept trying to play games with her, he was going to be past caring. And his beast wanted to fall on her like an animal and tear her apart in every way imaginable.

  Sophia glared at him. “I’m not scared of you.”

  Fuck it.

  “You should be.”

  Hunt grabbed both of her arms and pulled her toward him. Her skin was still hot and damp from the shower. It just made the fire inside of him burn even hotter.

  His mouth pressed against her neck. “Is this what you want, baby? You think if you make real nice that I won’t hurt you?”

  Her eyes seem overly large and wide in her thin face when she pulled back to look at him.

  “Does that really matter to you?”

  It really didn’t. At least not in the moment, when it felt like he’d rather die than spend another moment without his hands on her.

  His mood suddenly shifted without warning and he was inexplicably angry. Maybe it was because he knew that she was trying to wrest control
of the situation from him and succeeding. Maybe on some level he wanted to hold someone responsible for what her father had done, and she was the only convenient target. All he knew was that he very much wanted to hurt her. Not just his monster, but him as well.

  Without hesitation, his hands moved up her body. And then he was shoving her down onto the bed before his conscious mind caught up with the movement. The look of fear that crossed her face was genuine as she landed hard on her back. The little “oh” of surprise that shaped her mouth wrung a mocking laugh from him.

  Hunt climbed over her naked body, his gaze roving across each hill and valley that was just waiting to be explored. She started to fight a little and he collapsed his lower body down onto hers, trapping her legs. His hands wrapped securely around her wrists and brought them up over her head, the movement fluid despite how she thrashed beneath him.

  “Stop,” she gasped.

  “Stop? We’ve come way too far for that, baby.” He licked the fragile skin of her neck. The tang of soap hit his tongue first, but then he tasted something darker and more distinctly feminine. She was like a dessert that he wanted to gobble up in one bite. “Keep fighting, though. I like a challenge.”

  It was impossible to know how much of it was him and how much were the dark urges that always threatened at the edge of his consciousness. He wanted to teach her a lesson, or maybe that was just the excuse he gave himself to silence any hint of rationality.

  “I’ll scream, I swear.” The high-pitched and reedy quality of her voice took any edge out of her threat.

  “Then I’ll just have to gag you.” His beast liked that idea. The grip he had on her wrists shifted so he could wrap them both with one hand. He’d always thought it was a little unfair that God created women to be so much smaller and weaker than men, but that didn’t mean he was above taking advantage.

  Sophia tried to pull her hands away, but she might as well have had the strength a dragonfly did in its wings for all that she was able to resist him. The handcuffs were still in his back pocket. He used one hand to fish them out and then secured her to the headboard. And he couldn’t help but wonder if it had been designed for that exact purpose, the bars perfectly spaced apart for handcuffs to be attached to them.

  When Hunt shifted back, she frantically pulled at the restraints. The sound of metal clanging against metal was loud in the small room, but the handcuffs held tight.

  The lamp on the nightstand was cheap and only produced a small circle of light, but he clicked it on anyway. Sitting back on his heels between her spread legs, he took a minute to just look at her.

  Her body was amazingly formed, all smooth skin and perfect curves. There were fading bruises here and there, left over from her captivity. He did that, he realized. The thought should make him feel guilty but it didn’t.

  A fine tremble coursed through her as she watched him with hooded, fearful eyes. He bent down to rummage in the duffel bag at the foot of the bed. Eventually, he pulled out a roll of duct tape and held it up.

  “Are you going to make me use this?” he asked.

  She shook her head back and forth, the movement a little frantic.

  His palms lightly gripped her calves and she jumped at his touch. He heard the dark clank of metal as her hands pulled against the shackles.

  “Is this what you wanted?” Hunt asked. Even he could hear the anger in his voice. “That awkward play at seducing me was supposed to end up here, right?”

  “No—”

  “Don’t lie to me.” His hands moved up to tickle the inside of her knees. He could feel the little jolts of movement as she tried not to react. “Tell me what you thought I was going to do.”

  She didn’t respond. She just glared at him with eyes that were narrowed in anger but also wet with unshed tears. “I don’t know.”

  “But you do.” He squeezed his hands on her thighs, hard enough that it would probably leave a mark. He only stopped when she made a small gasp of pain. “Tell me. Now.”

  She closed her eyes. A light blush picked up on her neck and moved slowly downward until her chest was the same shade of pink as her pert little nipples. “I thought you would kiss me.”

  “Kiss you?” A mocking smile spread slowly across his face. “Where did you think I’d kiss you?”

  She blinked in confusion. “What do you mean, where?”

  “You really are innocent, aren’t you?” His hands stroked higher up her thighs until the tips of his fingers just barely skimmed the little dips that make up the curve of her hips. His beast urged him to press harder until his nails pierced skin and allowed blood to flow. He ignored those thoughts with an effort.

  When she tried to kick out at him with her legs, he was ready for the movement. It took less than a second to subdue her, but he liked to see that she still had some fight left.

  Even when the fight was hopeless.

  His hands moved closer to the apex of her thighs. She bucked underneath the weight of his legs covering hers, but the movement did little more than shift him a bit from side to side. She wasn’t strong enough to throw him off.

  “What do you think I’m going to find here?” he asked, voice almost teasing.

  Touching her was a biological imperative. It didn’t matter if she hated him for doing this. It didn’t matter if this was the final sin that pushed him beyond the point of redemption.

  His fingers stroked through the neat patch of hair between her thighs, catching slightly on the damp little curls. One finger moved down through her folds until he reached the pulsing heat at her center.

  Hunt didn’t quite know what he expected to find, but the lush wetness of her shocked him.

  “Oh, Sophia,” he murmured as she panted for breath underneath him.

  She wanted this, he realized with a stunning clarity. Maybe not enough to overcome the nature of their situation, but the reaction of her body was something that couldn’t be faked. The girl was wet and ready, whether she wanted admit it to herself or not.

  And to his surprise, the monster inside of him had gone quiet. It seemed as sated as he was by the wondrous thing they had discovered. It had been too long since a woman had willingly come into his arms, even if it was only as a manipulation.

  He pushed one finger inside of her, gratified when she responded with a low moan. Her legs shifted underneath him, but not like she was still fighting to get away. The movements were frantic and uncontrolled, like she just couldn’t help herself.

  That thought brought a tiny smile to his face.

  Her walls clenched tight around his finger as he worked it gently in and out, and she gasped when he added a second. She was small, his beast noted with satisfaction—it would be too easy to tear her apart. With each stroke, he felt the slight barrier inside of her that impeded his progress.

  He’d known she was a virgin, but somehow that fact still floored him a little. How could a girl this beautiful stay untouched for so long? The thought should bother him, the knowledge that he could be the one to push her past that point of no return, but it did just the opposite. Taking her virginity might just be a moment worth dying for.

  Her little moans and sighs were like music to his ears.

  Once she was relaxed enough, he added a third finger. Her hips bucked up against him hard enough that it almost toppled him off of her. He had to take harsh breaths to calm the beast that wanted to transform those probing fingers into something more like claws meant to tear and destroy. That was always how his beast responded to a fight.

  Hunt probably should have tied her legs down with something, but he wasn’t stopping to do it now. She was so responsive, he could hardly take it.

  “You like that?”

  “Please.” Wild eyes flew up to meet his and her voice trembled. Not just with fear, he realized, but with something more. Unwilling desire. Desperate wanting that must have terrified her. He knew, because he felt the same way. “Just tell me what you’re going to do.”

  His smile was full of darkness. �
�I’m going to give you that kiss.”

  “Wait—”

  But his hands were already forcing her thighs apart. His head descended between her legs until his mouth was barely an inch away from tantalizing flesh.

  Sophia wasn’t trying to pull away anymore. He couldn’t tell if the decision was conscious or if her body had finally taken control from her mind.

  His mouth descended over her overheated center. His fingers moved to spread the lips of her labia as his tongue swept across her in a thick stroke. She writhed underneath him. At first he thought she was fighting him again, but then he realized she was struggling to get closer.

  High-pitched noises were ripped from deep in her throat, tiny shrieks and moans that matched the rhythm of his tongue.

  “Oh, God,” she gasped.

  He looked up the long line of her body to her face, where the expression of sweet surrender struck him directly in the heart that he’d thought dead a long time ago.

  “Hunt works just fine.”

  She didn’t reply to that because his mouth was already back on her. She used whatever breath she had left to let out a low groan. He pulled her clit in between his lips and sucked hard on it. Then he set his teeth against her, just enough to cause the smallest amount of pain. She responded with a noise that sounded barely human.

  Sophia’s hands pulled at the shackles. He wanted to release her, if just to see what it was she’d do. Would she try to push him away or did she truly want him closer?

  When he backed away slightly, she made a desperate keening sound. Hunt watched her face, waiting until her breathing slowed to something closer to a normal rate. She stared up at him, eyes full of terror and desire.

  He did owe her one, Hunt reminded himself. So he refocused on her soaked pussy like he was mounting an attack. Heavy tongue and probing fingers had her moving and grinding underneath him. He used one finger to probe near the tiny bud of her asshole and that finally sent her over the edge. The handcuffs sounded like a thunderstorm against the headboard as she quivered through the orgasm that he’d forced on her.