‘I love rock and roll so put another coin in the jukebox baby.’ Meryn turned up the volume to her iPod and jammed along with the B52’s. She had woken up to an overwhelming need to go exploring. So she had shoved her laptop into her backpack and jumped in her car. Thirty minutes later she parked on the side of an old country road and head out on foot. She was now staring at a high, very official looking chain link fence. Her inborn sense of curiosity which had gotten her into more than one scrape in the past coupled with the strange feeling to go forward, was pushing her to scale the fence and see what lay beyond. Shrugging she started to climb. She quickly came to the conclusion that climbing fences was much harder than it looked on TV. She cleared the top, climbed down a few feet and then jumped the full length of the fence down. Bopping her head to the music she looked around and began to walk forward.
It was October and the crisp autumn air that smelled of leaves and earth made it a perfect day for hiking and exploring. She zipped her hoodie closed when a cloud passed over the sun lowering the afternoon temperature. She always wore her hoodies three sizes too large which made them comfortable and snuggly like a blanket. She had been waiting for fall weather all summer so she could begin wearing her hoodies again.
The only thing she didn’t like about wearing them was that they usually covered up her favorite tee-shirts. Today she was sporting a vintage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle tee she had found at the thrift store. She had layered that over a white thermal and was happy with the result. Graphic tees were her weakness.
As the wind picked up she started to second guess cutting her hair. She ran a hand over the short, pixie cut and grinned. She loved how easy it was to take care of, and it was a fun, sassy look. But damn if the back of her neck wasn’t getting cold. Note to self. Buy more scarves! She was about to continue with her walk when movement out of the corner of her eye had her freezing mid-step. She turned to see a tall, blond man with green eyes staring at her with an amused look as he leaned against a… was that an assault rifle? She pulled her earbuds out of her ears.
‘Um, hello.’
‘Hello little one. Did you know you’re on private property?’
‘Really? I had no idea.’ Meryn fudged.
He raised an eyebrow. ‘The ten foot fence right behind you didn’t give it away?’
Meryn turned to look at the fence.
‘How’d that get there?’ She pretended to be shocked.
‘You’re funny. But not funny enough to avoid trouble.’ He took a step forward and she took a step back.
‘I was just curious about what was back here.’
More men began to pour out of the woods on all sides. Panicked she turned and ran for the fence. Large hands grabbed at her and pulled her backward.
‘Put me down you asshole!’ She screamed as the men looked at each other in shock.
‘Quit squirming. Ow! Stop trying to kick me in the balls!’ The blond man yelled as Meryn flailed uselessly.
‘This is assault and battery!’
‘You’re the one assaulting me, you crazy female! I think you broke my nose!’ Finally, he gained control and held her out in front of him, grasping her upper arms.
Meryn looked around helplessly as she dangled in his grasp. Her hopes for escape plummeted when she saw that they were now completely surrounded by no less than twelve huge men all carrying weapons.
‘Okay, I saw this movie and I didn’t like it. Can I just go home now?’ She took in their military gear and closed her eyes. ‘I didn’t see anything I swear.’
‘Who sent you?’ Meryn opened her eyes to see another blond man stepping forward. At first she thought he might be related to the guy holding her, but this man had amber colored eyes, not green. He also had higher cheekbones and fuller lips. It was a gorgeous combination.
‘No one.’
‘So you just decided to climb a random fence, just to see what was on the other side?’ There was no hiding the sarcasm in that question.
She nodded frantically. ‘Actually, yeah. I just moved to town and today when I woke up, I had this overwhelming urge to go exploring. It pushed me here.’ She noticed how the men gave each other meaningful looks.
‘So are you guys like paramilitary? Secret CIA training base? That would be cool.’ Meryn asked.
All eyes turned back to her. She flinched and closed her eyes again.
‘I mean, I see nothing, I hear nothing and I most definitely won’t say shit.’
The man behind her snorted as the sound of men approaching had her opening her eyes again. Out of the woods two more men appeared. One looked like he glided over the fallen leaves; the other trampled through them recklessly his deep blue eyes hard. He looked like he was the type of man who wore a perpetual scowl.
The angry one looked her over. ‘What’s your name?’
‘These are not the droids you are looking for.’ She said. The smaller auburn haired man to her left cracked up. The hulking man glared at him.
‘Quiet Keelan.’ He turned his gaze back to her.
‘Come on, that’s Star Wars.’ Keelan explained.
‘She fights star type wars?’ He asked concerned.
She looked up at him. ‘Seriously?’
He opened his mouth to answer and froze. He closed his eyes and dropped his head back. His muscled chest expanded as he took a deep breath. His entire body shuddered. His head snapped back and when he looked her up and down he had a stunned expression on his face.
‘You cut your hair.’ He whispered.
She nodded, then froze. How in the hell did he know that? Meryn began to struggle to get down. Something freaky was going on and she had to get out of there.
‘So, what do we do with her?’ Her captor asked, shaking her small frame as if she were a rag doll. The large man’s eyes turned solid black and a low rumble emanated from his throat. Growling he stepped forward and pulled her from the blond man’s hands and into the curve of his body. He snapped and snarled at the other men.
‘Get back, that woman is his mate! Back off, that’s an order Colton!’ A dark haired man yelled. Meryn felt the huge man rub his cheek on the top of her head almost as if he were trying to get his scent on her. She felt a rush of panic when the men began to move away. They looked normal. They weren’t snarling and growling. She reached a hand out to the blond man.
‘Please! Don’t let him take me!’
The blond man looked torn. ‘Aiden she’s scared! Calm down!’ He yelled.
A roar from the man holding her nearly burst her eardrums. He slung her over his shoulder and she thrashed to get down. Her stomach was killing her from where his shoulder kept squashing her insides as he ran. Grabbing his waist she bit his back over his kidney. Roaring he flipped her around cradling her in his arms. His pace quickened as he turned and darted through the trees.
‘Neanderthal! Put me down! Put me down now!’ Her tiny fists beat on his chest and head. He ignored her efforts. When a large house came into view, she struggled more, knowing that if he got her inside she would never be able to leave. It had zero effect on the man. He kicked the door in.
The downstairs became a blur as he moved through the house. He ran up the stairs and down a long hallway. Too soon he was opening a door. He quickly closed it behind him before setting her down. He stood back smiling down at her. He was still smiling when her fist connected with his nose. He shook his head looking like he was trying to focus.
‘Let me go!’ Her foot connected with his shin and he let out an undignified yelp.
‘Woman, quit hitting me!’ He bellowed.
‘This is kidnapping and false imprisonment!’ She slung her backpack forward and pulled out her phone. He plucked it from her hand. He grabbed her backpack to take it from her, but she held on tight with both hands.
Frustrated, he lifted it over her head but she still didn’t let go she simply dangled from the straps. He shook it and finally she lost her grip and fell to the floor. She scowled up at him from a sitting position.
‘You’re the soft, feminine woman from my dreams? My delicate innocent? You, with your short hair, dirty sneakers and preadolescent male clothing?’ He sounded confused. He leaned forward and inhaled again.
‘Why are you sniffing me?’ She scooted away, crabwalking backwards on her hands and feet.
‘Oh God, is this like Silence of the Lambs?’ Tears flowed down her face. ‘I don’t want to go down the hole! I won’t put lotion on the skin! Look at me, you won’t be able to wear my skin, I won’t cover your huge ass!’ She wailed.
He took a careful step backward.
‘I’ll be back.’ He turned and fled from the room. She heard the sound of a small metal click as the door was locked. She then heard something that had her brain working overtime.
‘My mate is fucking nuts!’
*****
Meryn jumped up when the door shut and tried to open it. Dammit, she was locked in. Mate? What did he mean by mate? She ran to the window and looked down. She was at least three stories up, so jumping out was impossible. She was about to turn back to the room when she saw the man who had grabbed her from the fence run into the backyard. The huge one Aiden had called the blond man Colton. She watched as Colton began to strip out of his clothing. She tilted her head to admire the view. He had a great ass. A moment later she started to think that one of the military guys had slipped her some hallucinogens, because one second Colton was a man with a fine ass, the next he was a huge dog running into the woods.
She stumbled back from the window, tripped over an expensive looking rug and fell flat on her butt. She was in a world of shit now. Fact one: the big guy that growled and brought her back here had to be one of the sexiest men she had ever seen in her life. Actually, all of the men were gorgeous, but there was something about that hulking brute that just made her want to snuggle up and take a nap…after a long afternoon of hot sex. Fact two: at least one guy here turned into a dog. Fact three: no one seemed all that concerned that she had been taken, so help was probably not on its way. She was on her own. Why did all the crazy stuff happen to her? Did she just attract crazy shit?
She heard the door open and the big guy walked in slowly before shutting the door behind him. She stood and backed up until she hit the wall. He held up his hands.
‘Your name is Aiden right?’ She asked. Somehow giving him a name made him slightly less scary and more likely to be reasoned with.
He nodded. ‘I’m not going to hurt you.’
His deep, sexy voice should be outlawed.
‘I’m sure that’s what all the serial killers say to their victims.’ She eyed the lamp on the nightstand.
‘I just want to talk.’ His words were careful and he spoke in gentle tones.
‘I suppose you want to talk about your dog people.’ She edged closer to the nightstand.
‘Dog people? Oh, you saw Colton. Right. How do I explain this?’ He rubbed the back of his neck, his face taking on a sheepish expression. If he weren’t her abductor, she would say he looked adorable.
‘Start with the dog thing.’ She suggested.
‘Colton is one of the men in the unit that I serve with. Each man in the unit is a little … different than most people. Colton happens to be a shifter. He can turn into a wolf.’
Meryn blinked. Then blinked again. Without looking away from him she ran her fingers over the heavy looking lamp base.
‘So you’re a wolf?’ She asked, not really wanting to know the answer.
He looked offended. ‘Of course not.’
She let out a relieved breath.
‘I’m a bear.’
She closed her eyes. ‘Why me? Why does this shit always happen to me?’ When she opened her eyes he had moved a little closer. She tensed. He leaned in and sniffed her hair.
‘Are you sniffing me?’ She asked incredulously.
‘I want to be sure. Let me ask you something, are you drawn to me?’ His eyebrows were bunched together as he frowned down at her.
‘Do you mean do I want to have hot, sweaty sex with you?’ She asked.
‘No! Wait. Do you?’
‘Not answering that.’
‘Do you know about animals?’
‘I guess I know what most people know.’
‘Do you know that wolves mate for life?’
‘So do swans.’ She had seen that on National Geographic. He looked surprised.
‘They do? Really?’
‘Yup.’ She nodded.
‘I never knew that.’
‘What was your point?’
‘Sorry, got distracted. The point is that people like me and Colton, we get one mate in life, like wolves in the wild. You are my mate.’ He smiled down at her.
Oh God, he wanted to mate with her!
She grabbed the lamp and pulled the wire from the socket.
‘Is this some freaky ass cult?’ She threw the lamp as hard as she could at him. She smiled in satisfaction when it bounced off his head. The satisfaction was short lived when he turned his irritated gaze her way. She jumped on the bed and kept going until she backed into the corner with the second nightstand at her back and the king size mattress between them.
‘I won’t become part of the collective. I refuse to have your babies. Resistance isn’t futile!’ She screamed and picked up the second lamp. He turned and fled the room. Breathing hard, she put the lamp down with shaking hands. He seemed to run from objects thrown at him. She decided she needed to search the room and bathroom for more projectile objects. Feeling better now that she had even a small plan she got to work.
*****
Aiden sat downstairs with his men around him. He let Lorcan’s unit set up patrols in case any other women decided to scale their perimeter fences. How could one tiny woman cause so much damn trouble?
‘She’s lively.’ Darian said consolingly.
‘I have no idea what she is saying half the time.’ Aiden groaned.
‘She’s female of course you don’t.’ Keelan said.
‘Let her calm down. She’s been up there for the past of couple hours, she should be getting hungry. Maybe by providing food, you can show her that you mean to take care of her and be a good mate.’ Gavriel suggested.
‘That’s not a bad idea. I know food always makes me feel better.’ Aiden nodded. Maybe a nice quiet dinner where they could get to know one another was just the thing they needed.
‘Do we have any food here?’
‘Leftovers from that Italian place we went to the other day, it should still be good.’ Keelan reminded him.
‘Okay. I’m going to try to feed her and get her to listen.’ Aiden stood with a renewed sense of purpose. His men on the other hand, looked worried.
‘I’m sure everything will be okay.’ He smiled, feeling more and more confident. He could after all handle one small human female.
*****
She heard him at the door and jumped up. Grabbing the heavy porcelain toilet back she ran over and climbed up on the long dresser next to the door. She held her breath when the door inched open. He had only taken a single step inside the room when she brought the toilet back down on his head as hard as she could. He fell to his knees with a loud crash. Two styrofoam containers dropped out of his hands and landed on the floor. He floundered around on all fours before falling forward. Shaking, she dropped the toilet back, hopped down and ran out of the room. She sprinted through the hallway and down the stairs. If she could just get outside, she could make her way back to the fence and find her car. She was about to open the front door when she was grabbed from behind. The blond man, Colton held her again.
‘Let me go!’
‘No way small fry.’ A pain filled roar echoed from upstairs.
‘Okay, I know I pissed him off, please let me go.’
‘What did you do?’
‘Hit him over the head with the back of the toilet.’ She whispered.
‘Seriously?’ Colton began to shake with laughter, never loosening his grip. She twisted and turned in an effort to get away. Loud footsteps had her looking up. Aiden, looking furious stomped down the stairs cursing and rubbing the back of his head. Not stopping, he grabbed her by the arm, swung open the front door and dragged outside.
‘What are you doing Aiden?’ Colton asked, jogging behind them.
Aiden was taking such large strides he was literally dragging her along. They didn’t stop until they came to a car. He opened the back and threw her in. He got in the driver’s seat and she began to kick at the back of his head. When her sneaker bounced off for the second time he got out, opened the door and grabbed her again. When she saw where he was about to put her she began crying.
‘Please, don’t!’ He tossed her in the trunk and slammed it shut. Darkness began to close in on all sides.
‘Dammit! She’s human Aiden, you can’t drive around with her in the trunk.’ She heard Colton yell.
‘I’m not going far.’
‘Where are we going?’ The voices were getting further away.
‘My parents’ house.’ The two car doors shutting vibrated the frame of the car. Seconds later the engine started and she could feel them moving. Crying softly in fear and frustration she prayed he wouldn’t kill her.
