Captured Boxed Set: 9 Alpha Bad-Boys Who Will Capture Your Heart (94 page)
Read Captured Boxed Set: 9 Alpha Bad-Boys Who Will Capture Your Heart Online
Authors: Pepper Winters S. E. Smith Mandy Rosko Sharon Page Teresa Morgan T. J. Michaels Eve Langlais Cathryn Fox Opal Carew
Tags: #new adult, #pirate, #sheikh, #billionaire, #shapeshifter, #dominant, #alpha, #sensual, #bad boy
This was my cage. Leaves and thorns
and brambles.
And I’m naked.
The moment gravel was replaced by
soft grass below my toes, Jethro tossed me away. I would’ve fallen if I wasn’t
malleable and given up fighting his momentum. I stumbled forward, arms soaring
outward as if I could suddenly leave the world behind and fly. Fly away. Fly
free.
The moment I came to a halt, I spun
to face him.
Jethro was right behind me. He
fisted my hair, twisting my neck.
I whimpered as he raised my head,
higher and higher. My eyes coasted over his crocodile belt, crisp grey shirt,
and locked onto a pair of ferocious eyes.
"Tell me. What did you hope to
achieve in there?"
He didn’t give me a chance to
reply, tugging my hair in a painful jerk. "Did you honestly think before
you opened your mouth? If you had stood there and been silent, it would’ve all
been over. You earned an afternoon on your own in a hot steam bath. A maid to
bring you whatever you wanted to eat." He shook me. "What part of a
gift
for good behaviour did you not understand?"
"I don’t want your charity,"
I spat.
He groaned. "It’s not fucking
charity if you’ve earned it." Lowering his head, his nose pressed against
mine.
I froze, breathing hard.
"You earned it today. You
pleased me by letting those men sample you. You surprised me in a good way."
The softness of his voice disappeared under a torrent of rage. "But then
you fucked it all up by being
you
. And now…" He trailed off, ideas
glowing in his eyes.
Letting me go, I backed away from
him, grabbing my hair and quickly twisting it into a loose braid down my back.
I hated the thickness, the length. It seemed to invite Jethro to use it anyway
he pleased. My scalp had never been so bruised.
The diamond collar sent little
rainbows of light bouncing from the sunlight. I would’ve laughed if I wasn’t so
tense. I was naked but wearing rainbows—I never would’ve thought to combine
magic with fashion.
Ideas for a new design line came
thick and fast. I craved a pencil to sketch before they disappeared.
Jethro placed both hands on his
hips, watching me silently.
I didn’t move. I didn’t say a word.
The fragile ceasefire between us stretched uncomfortably thin. It would either
snap and ricochet onto me with terrible pain or fade away like a feather on a
breeze.
"I see threats don’t work on
you. But perhaps a negotiation might."
Despite myself, curiosity and hope
swelled in my heart. "A negotiation?"
"A one shot offer. You win,
you’re free. I win, you forget about your old life and give in. You say I’ll
never own you. If I win—you willingly give me that right." His lips pulled
into a cold smile. "You sign not only the debt agreement but another—one
that makes me your master until your last breath is taken. You do that, and
I’ll give you this."
"Give me what?" I asked
breathlessly.
"A chance at freedom."
My eyes popped wide.
What?
Cocking his head at the forest
behind me, he murmured, "You wanted to be free—so go. Run. Go seek your
freedom."
I twisted on the spot, looking over
my shoulder. The sun dappled patches of leaf-strewn ground, looking like a
fairy glen, but then it grew darker and thicker and scarier.
The diamond collar rested heavy and
ruinously ominous on my throat. My spine ached from the short time I’d been
made to wear it; the coldness still hadn’t adapted to my skin. How could I run
with such a deterrent?
How can you not?
It was the one chance I’d hoped
for. The one chance I didn’t think I’d get.
Squeezing my eyes, I let Jethro's
ultimatum—his negotiation—seep into my brain. If I ran, I might make it. If I
ran, I might get what I wanted. But if I lost…
Turning to face him again, the golden-light
from the sun cast him with ghostly silhouette, blurring his outline, creating
more than just a man. He looked as if he had one foot in this world and one in
hell. A fallen angel who still burned with fire—yet it wasn’t purity he burned
with but hate.
Jethro raised an eyebrow. "What’s
it going to be?"
"I don’t know what you’re
offering."
"Yes you do."
I did.
I do.
Taking a small step toward me, he
said, "You want to break the contract? You want to keep your brother and
father safe? Fine. I’m giving you a one-time deal. Run. If you make it to the
boundary, you’re free. Your family will never be hunted by the Hawks again. You
make it, and this is all over. Every last debt and ounce of history—disappears."
His voice licked through the sunshine.
A small sparkle from my earlier
orgasm rippled between my legs. "And if I don’t?"
Jethro frowned. "Pardon?"
"If I don’t run…what happens
then?"
"You wouldn’t run? After I
just offered you what you’ve wanted all along?"
I crossed my wrists over the
junction of my thighs, hiding my pussy. "I didn’t say I wanted the chance
to run naked through a thousand hectares. I said I wanted this to be over."
Jethro smirked. "It’s not over
until it’s over." His eyes fell to my collar, glinting with darkness. "And
we both know how it will be over."
Moving closer, he said quietly, "There
is no other option here, Ms. Weaver. I’m not giving you the choice to run. I’m
telling
you to run. You wanted it. You got it. One chance to save your family as well
as your own life. One chance. You do not want to fuck it up by testing my
patience."
My mind stumbled with everything
that’d happened. There was no denying chemistry flew between us—but Jethro
didn’t respond. He was only interested in the chase. The hunt. The
sport.
He stood so close, every time he
breathed, his chest almost touched my naked nipples. He didn’t seem to care I
was naked or offer clothing for this one and only chance I had at freedom. He
would make me run unprotected through a forest full of brambles, predators, and
trip-worthy roots.
His arm raised and I clamped every
muscle from cringing as he cupped my cheek. His heady scent of woods and
leather settled over me. Tracing the pad of his thumb over my cheekbone, he bowed
his head. "Run, Ms. Weaver. Run. But one thing you should know before you
go."
Do not play his games. Do not
rise to the bait.
My lips stayed pinched together. I
stiffened in his hold.
His mouth tickled the soft skin
below my ear. "While you’re running, I’ll be hunting. You not only have to
get to the boundary but you have to do it before I catch you."
The tingle and horrible promise of
hope evaporated. Cruel. Vicious. Evil.
I’m to be hunted.
There wouldn’t be freedom. There
would only be blood. Just like he said in the dining room.
Energy left my limbs. Who was I
kidding? I hadn’t eaten since I was stolen. I’d barely had a decent sleep. I
existed like a junkie on adrenaline and fear. It was no combination for a long
distance run through thickets and bush.
Jethro pulled away, dropping his
hands. He smiled. "Your head start begins now, Ms. Weaver. I’d leave if I
were you."
Now?
I backpeddled, heart bursting with
terror. "How—how long do I have?"
Jethro carefully raised his cuff,
looking sedately at the diamond and black watch on his wrist. "I’m a
seasoned hunter. I have no doubt I’ll find you. And when I do…what those men
did to you will be nothing." Cocking his head, he said, "I think
forty-five minutes is rather sporting, don’t you?"
My mind was no longer there. It was
leaping and flying over leaves and dodging ancient trunks.
Run. Go. Run.
"Make it and you’re no longer
mine…."
Freedom taunted me, making me
believe I had a chance. A slim, barely non-existent chance—but still a chance.
The muscles in my legs reacted, already poised to take off. I had to trust my
body. It knew how to flee.
I could make it. If I did, I would
no longer be his pet to torture. But if I didn’t….
Don’t ask. Don’t ask.
"And if I don’t?"
Jethro lowered his head, glaring at
me beneath his brow. His eyes were tight and dark, glinting with excitement at
the upcoming hunt. "Don’t and the debt I’ll make you repay will make you
wish you
had
made it to the boundary." He stepped from the sun’s
glare, his teeth sparkling like diamonds. "Now…run."
…
…
I ran.
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About Pepper Winters
Pepper Winters is a NYT and USA
Today International Bestseller. She wears many roles. Some of them include
writer, reader, sometimes wife. She loves dark, taboo stories that twist with
your head. The more tortured the hero, the better, and she constantly thinks up
ways to break and fix her characters. Oh, and sex... her books have sex.
She
loves to travel and has an amazing, fabulous hubby who puts up with her love
affair with her book boyfriends. She's also honoured to wear the IndieReader
Badge for being a Top 10 Indie Bestsellers, best BDSM series voted by the
SmutClub, and recently signed a two book deal with Grand Central. Her books are
currently being translated into numerous languages and will be in bookstores in
the near future.
Other Books by Pepper Winters
Her Dark
Romance books include:
Tears of Tess
(Monsters in the Dark #1)
Quintessentially
Q (Monsters in the Dark #2)
Twisted
Together (Monsters in the Dark #3)
Her Grey
Romance books include:
Upcoming
releases are:
First Debt
(Indebted Series #2)
Ruin & Rule (Pure Corruption
MC)
Je
Suis a Toi (Monsters in the Dark Novella)
Trespass
& Triumph (Pure Corruption MC Prequel)
Upcoming Sequel to Debt Inheritance
FIRST DEBT
,
the sequel to DEBT INHERITANCE, will be released in late 2014. Here is a brief
description...
First Debt
(Indebted #2)
Pepper
Winters
"You say I’ll never own you. If I win—you willingly give me
that right. You sign not only the debt agreement, but another—one that makes me
your master until your last breath is taken. You do that, and I’ll give you
this."
Nila Weaver’s family is indebted. Stolen, taken, and bound not by
monsters but by an agreement written over six hundred years ago, she has no way
out.
She belongs to Jethro as much as she denies it.
Jethro Hawk’s patience is running out. His inheritance gift tests,
challenges, and surprises him—and not in good ways. He hasn’t leashed her but
he thinks he might’ve found a way to bind her forever.
Debts are mounting. Payment waiting.
# # #
S.E. Smith
Things take a turn for
the worse when Riley St. Claire is kidnapped by aliens and forced to choose a
mate. The problem is, it would have been better, and safer, for the aliens if
they had left Riley back on Earth.
Copyright 2014 S. E. Smith
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