Surviving Seduction (22 page)

Another crunch came towards her. And another.

Her eyes flew open as she lost her nerve and started running. There was nothing more terrifying than breaking cover to flee before an enemy, especial y one so close, and Selena had never experienced it before. Not like this.

With al her speed, she tore up the hil , dodging trees in the darkness.

The footfal s behind her were now thunderous and undisguised. What was worse, she could hear now that there was more than one person behind her.

Selena was wild with panic as she ran, and wished that she had screamed before she bolted. Now she knew it would be impossible to sustain one for more than a second, and her hunters were gaining on her, one more than the others.

She darted around a tree to rush downhil , throwing al her energy into a sprint. Her quickest chaser benefited more from this than she, and Selena knew she’d gambled and lost. When he was just behind her, she didn’t even try to grab her folding knife from its new place in the back pocket of her jeans. There was no point. She might be able to hurt or even kil one of them, but he was not alone.

It took the man a couple of tries before he caught hold of her, and she tried to scream, but he clamped a rough hand firmly over her mouth, clutching her body against him and breathing hard into her hair.

She struggled and thrashed, but the others had caught up, and now they were pul ing her to the ground.

They ripped her pack off her shoulders, and one of them thrust a gag into her mouth and tied it securely behind her head. She tried to kick him savagely in the face, but the other two held her down.

Their ragged breathing sounded like a death knel to her ears.

She had been overpowered by men whose faces she couldn’t see. They were covered with makeshift bandanas, but their wiry muscles made their origins clear.

They were Grazers. They gave themselves a moment to catch their breath, keeping her down with lazier effort, now that she was prone. They took their time turning her over, and two of them worked together to tie her wrists.

Once she was bound, the man who held her legs began running a hand up the back of her thighs.

Selena screamed furiously, despite her gag, and at the same time, he made his way up to her back pockets, finding the knife that was hidden there. He took it.

“Get up,” one of the others commanded.

She scrambled to her feet and tried to put as much distance as possible between them.

The man who had spoken held the ropes of her wrists tightly, and shoved her forward ahead of him. There was no one else around, so al Selena could do was obey.

As long as they were moving, they couldn’t hurt her, and every moment was precious now.

As she marched in the direction they steered her, she wished desperately that she had been more careful, that she hadn’t just flown haplessly into the woods.

Tears flooded her cheeks. She didn’t think she would live long enough to learn the lesson that, no matter how placid people seemed, letting your guard down for even a moment spel ed disaster. Normal y, she would have said she’d rather die than endure rape, but with the possibility of her death staring her in the face, her bravery col apsed.

She tried her best to calm down and think, knowing that it probably wouldn’t do her much good. Her ability to reason was chaotic, but certain things became clear.

They could have done whatever they wanted as soon as they caught her. Why were they moving, and to where? She found herself too scared even to try to ask them questions through her gag. She had no idea where she was, and didn’t understand how they had any sense of direction, considering they couldn’t know the lay of the land here.

She thought of Dan. For al she knew, he was stil in Josie’s tent. She whimpered softly, which prompted the man behind her to give her another brusque shove.

How long would it take before he realized she was missing? Even if he was looking for her now, it was dark, and there must be hundreds of tracks al over, even around the three tents where he would expect to find her. The Grazers had been camped there for days and days. The ground was disturbed beyond recognition.

He can’t save me
.
He can’t save me and it’s my
fault.

Feelings that had only just recently torn her apart became her last ray of hope. If these men were planning to kil her, and they were taking her to a place where she’d never be found, Dan could live the rest of his life without guilt. If he found out from Jack that she had been eavesdropping, he would probably assume she had let herself be chased away by her rivals, and he may resent her for leaving him so readily, without so much as a goodbye, but if he never found out what had real y happened, he could never blame himself. He could build his new world with a woman that was his equal, or perhaps with Loraine, but he would live. And he would grow stronger.

These thoughts began to bring some peace to Selena. The last time her life had been in danger, Dan had been the real target, and he’d come so close to death. Now that she marched on in the darkness toward an unknown fate, she managed to take solace in his safety, and was thankful that she had something to be grateful for.

“Where’d you leave ‘em?” grunted the man behind her.

“Two more ridges,” another answered.

They trudged on while Selena wondered what was waiting for her. The suspense was exhausting, but soon enough, she could make out the shape of three horses tethered to a large fal en tree trunk when they were almost to the bottom of the ridge. They led her to it, tossed her pack on the ground and roughly shoved her to a sitting position on the trunk before tying her wrists to one of the branches.

“Behave, Pretty,” one of them warned as he came at her with another rope.

When he got down low to tie her legs, she jerked them away. One of the other men quickly restrained her as his comrade bound her ankles to another stumpy branch along the ground. When he was finished, he reached up to brush her hair from her face. She jerked away, but he grabbed her jaw violently and yanked her face within an inch of his, staring at her with greasy excitement.

“Even better up close,” he grunted, his breath pungent and suffocating, even with the bandana covering his mouth. “I wish it was light out.”

The man reached down to clamp his hands on her waist, hard. She tried not to give him the satisfaction of a struggle, but couldn’t suppress a strangled squeak at the pain. She panted desperately, feeling her control slip.

This isn’t happening
.
This isn’t happening
. Her mind repeated the words over and over. His hand began to make its way up her shirt.

“Too bad you can’t stop me,” his voice slithered.

Selena tried again to keep stil , but as his groping hand neared her breast, her body jerked and a sudden rage overwhelmed her.

“I’l kil you,” she raved through her muffling gag. “Untie me and I’l kil you!”

He might not have understood her, but she had managed to jar him away.

“Aren’t you tough?” he said, pausing in surprise, but even in the darkness, she could see in his eyes that his resolve had been horribly magnified. Her ire fel apart before terror as he lurched against her wildly.

“Let’s see how you like this,” he hissed maniacal y, squeezing her thighs and sliding a hand up between her knees. She clamped them shut and screamed as he unbuttoned her jeans and yanked them open. His rough hand scrambled against her skin as he thrust it under the tight fabric. She doubled over as much as she could, trying futilely to make the material taut as his violating hand made its way down.

“Victor!” one of the other men barked, knocking him aside.

“What?” her attacker shouted angrily, struggling to right himself.

“That’s not happening right now.”

“I don’t see why we —”

“Use your head,” the other warned in a low, authoritative voice. “Now we’ve got a hel of a long day authoritative voice. “Now we’ve got a hel of a long day tomorrow,” he finished, pul ing the bedrol s from their mounts and tossing them on the ground.

“Fine. Like to see what I’m doing anyhow,” the man grumbled, breathing heavily. “Especial y with this one. Hey!

You said my name, you idiot! Who’s using their head now?

Should I tel her yours, too?”

“If you want a knife in your throat,” the other threatened in earnest. “You know what? You do what the hel you like but you’re not getting me mixed up in this. Your fun, your funeral.”

Selena’s throat was so tight with panic she was choking. The air rasped in and out of her lungs with dizzying slowness. She hardly heard their cryptic conversation.

In the darkness, she watched the men col apse on their bedrol s in front of her. Victor grudgingly lay down close to her, and reached a hand out languidly to grab her ankle. She tried to yank it away, but it had been tied too tightly and she could hardly move it at al . He clamped his hand down like a vice until she stopped struggling. Then he sighed, got more comfortable, and rubbed the skin under her pant leg.

She bit down on her gag with furious disgust, writhing at the feel of his hand, how close he had gotten, and the fact that he was stil touching her skin. Nausea battered her stomach, and she had to fight with al her wil to keep it under control as angry tears streamed down her face.

For a long time, she couldn’t think, but eventual y, she got just enough of a grip to test her bonds. It was clear they were too strong to work out of, but she tried anyway. It was no good. The rope was so tight that she had lost a great deal of feeling in her hands.

Selena growled despite herself, unable to sit stil while he was touching her.

“Shut up or we won’t wait for tomorrow!” one of the other men threatened.

Her ire melted again, this time into despair, and she surrendered to her tears quietly, leaning back against the branch she’d been tied to and staring up through the treetops at the clear night sky. The stars twinkled blithely above her, and she thought of al the people who slept safely with their families tonight.

She remembered thinking recently how she had as many choices as there were stars in the sky. Her choices led her here.
Why can’t I choose right?
she wondered in anguish. Wherever she went and whatever she did, there was hel at every turn. She wished now that it would al be over, regardless of how it ended.

Her captors’ breathing grew steadier and steadier, and the horrible hand fel away from her skin. At long last, she could breathe easier, but she was stil too scared and miserable to think clearly. And she was tired. There was no way she could sleep so uncomfortably, but she closed her eyes and tried to rest nonetheless.

She had lost al feeling in her hands and feet by the time she saw the shadow move. Her heart leapt, and she stared hard into the darkness. A coyote padded by, pausing curiously to turn its face her way for a moment before wandering off. Selena closed her eyes and gave up the last of her hope.

What felt like hours later, she heard the leaves rustle again. This time, she knew it was another animal, and perhaps something more menacing than the last. One of the horses fidgeted as the strange shape moved towards them. She couldn’t make it out, but it was big.

Two of the men were snoring loudly, and she could barely hear the sound of movement on the ground. The conifers surrounding them made the forest floor particularly soft and quiet with their needles, but now the thing climbed onto the far end of the tree to which she was bound.

As it reached the horses, they didn’t spook, and Selena knew it had to be a person. Her heart hammered in her chest.

The figure seemed to be doing something with the horses’ reins. Several moments ticked by before it began creeping toward her.

Selena understood why the figure had confused her.

His hat had obscured the shape of his shadow. It was Jack.

She tried to keep her breathing slow as he crept closer, but she couldn’t help squirming against the ropes with frantic impatience. Now that a chance at escape had entered the realm of possibility, she felt she couldn’t stand her restraints even a moment longer, and fought off waves of hysteria.

Soon, Jack was beside her.

“Hold stil ,” he barely whispered in her ear.

He felt around the ropes that tied her legs for what seemed like forever. When he had found the right length to sever, he worked at it with agonizing slowness.

Selena felt slack in the ropes, final y, and he careful y moved them from her without al owing them to touch the hand that lay beside her feet.

The men snored on, and Selena wasn’t surprised.

Jack was being so careful she could hardly hear him herself. She winced as the feeling of a thousand needles began assaulting her feet. The blood was beginning to circulate again, and though the feeling was awful and about circulate again, and though the feeling was awful and about to get much worse, she welcomed it like a starving person eating a burning hot meal.

Now Jack turned to her wrists. Again he moved his hands over the knots, careful y feeling for the one he should cut. This time, his blade came close to her skin, and he slid it back and forth slowly.

Final y, her arms came loose. She went for her gag immediately, but found she couldn’t feel her hands, and they banged against her face limply. Jack untied it for her. At the same time, she tried to stand, but nearly fel on her most enthusiastic captor. Jack clutched his arms around her middle. To Selena’s surprise, he squatted down low to lift her into his arms and, with painstaking effort, turned to carry her toward the horses. She nearly broke into sobs as he held her, and she wrapped her arms clumsily around his shoulders, clutching him pitiful y with no sense of pride to maintain her emotional distance from him any longer. She buried her face in his blond hair and drank in his warmth and the unexpected safety she’d found in him. She tried to grab his shoulders to take some of her weight off, but she couldn’t even feel them. What she
could
feel was the effort it took to balance on the tree trunk in the dark while carrying her, how his tense muscles compensated for her weight.