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“That isn’t happening,” he insisted.

She struggled to get her uninjured foot beneath her. “Then I’ll go.” Delaney made it halfway upright before dizziness crashed into her. The trees spun, her ankle gave out, and she fell back with a cry. Mayhem surged forward. She swung the branch at him, and he caught it inches before the jagged point reached his face.

“Don’t touch me!” she screamed.

He released the branch and stepped back. “I won’t.” Delaney dragged herself away from him. Mayhem raised both hands. “I won’t touch you unless you ask me to.”

“Men lie all the time. Why should I believe you?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I know that men lie, but I’m giving you my word.”

“You expect me to trust you?” she asked.

“No.” His answer came without hesitation. Delaney stared at him, and Mayhem slowly lowered his hands. “You don’t know me. Trusting me would be stupid.”

“That’s reassuring,” she grumbled.

“I’m not trying to reassure you. I’m telling you the truth,” he said. A distant engine shattered the uneasy silence, and Delaney’s blood went cold. Mayhem looked toward the road as headlights appeared around the curve. There wasn’t just one vehicle, but two. The first was a black SUV. Delaney scrambled backward until her spine hit a tree. Panic closed around her throat, strangling her scream.

Mayhem turned toward her. “Is that who you’re running from?”

She couldn’t answer. “Delaney!” a man shouted from the SUV. His voice carried through the darkness, and her entire body began shaking.

Mayhem’s gaze sharpened. “They know your name.” She nodded, still not able to speak. “How many are there?” he asked.

“Three men took me.” Delaney could barely force out the words. “But there were others at the house.” The SUV stopped beside the stolen car. A pickup pulled in behind it, and all the doors opened. Male voices drifted toward them.

“Why did they take you?” Mayhem asked.

“I don’t know,” she admitted.

“You don’t know, or you don’t want to tell me?” he challenged.

“I don’t know.” Her voice cracked. “They thought I was someone else. At first, they kept asking me about a shipment and ledger. When I couldn’t answer them, they decided I was lying.”

Mayhem’s gaze traveled over her bruised face and torn clothes, and something monstrous awakened in his expression. “Did they⁠—”

“No.” Delaney knew what he was asking. “They didn’t get that far.” The savage tension in his shoulders eased only slightly.

“Delaney!” the voice shouted again. “Come out, and we’ll make this easy on you!” She wrapped both arms around herself, and Mayhem reached beneath his vest. Delaney thought about lifting the branch again, but he pulled out a gun and turned away from her.

“I need to get you out of here,” he said.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she hissed.

“Those men are searching the woods,” he pointed out. “You really want to go back with them and let them finish what they started?”

Her choices were not giving her the warm fuzzies. She could go with the men who beat her senseless or with a complete stranger who might do worse to her. “You might be worse than they are,” she challenged.

“I might be.” He looked back at her, his face hard and his dark eyes steady. “But right now, I’m not the one who beat you.”

Flashlight beams swept across the road. “Boss is going to kill that bitch,” one of the men called.

Mayhem’s mouth curved into a smile that held no amusement. “They seem nice.” Delaney couldn’t breathe, and Mayhem crouched again, keeping several feet between them. “I have a clubhouse ten minutes from here. There are people there who can help you.”

“More bikers?” she asked.

“Yes,” he admitted.