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“Dammit!” I bite my lip to will back tears of despair. It’s gonna be fine. One of my neighbors will have a spare set of fuses. I just need to—
My thoughts come to an abrupt halt when a floorboard creaks behind me, and that familiar-yet-unfamiliar scent hits my nostrils with far more insistence, overpowering everything else.
Every hair on my body rises as absolute terror hits the pit of my gut.
Oh, God. Oh God, no.
Idorecognize that smell.
I don’t make it more than one step forward before a strong arm wraps around my stomach and yanks me back into a hard chest. Before I can scream, a large hand covers my mouth.
“Shh,” a deep voice purrs into my ear. “There’s no reason to run, my sweet. I’ve been waiting for you.”
His smell is all around me now, deep and rich and overwhelminglymale—the animalic scent of alpha in rut.
And there is only one possible reason he’s been waiting in the shadows for me.
FOUR
PRETTY SILK RIBBONS
I’m going to be raped.
The thought pounds in my temples and runs through my veins like acid. I shriek into his palm and flail for something, anything, to save me. My fingertips connect with the shelf by the light switch, and I manage to grab a book before he pulls me deeper into the hallway. I use it to slam as hard as I can up and back.
The alpha grunts at the impact, but I can tell I didn’t hit his face like I intended.
“Feisty.” He sounds more amused than anything else and plucks the book from me as easily as if I’d been a child. Before I can scratch at him, he wraps both arms around my body, securing me against his bulk. “You don’t need to fight me, Eve. You won’t come to any harm in my hands.”
He knows my name.Jesus Christ, does that mean the psycho’s been stalking me?
I suck in a lungful of air, but before I can let out a scream, he puts one hand over my mouth again while keeping my body immobilized with his other arm.
“I’m sorry you’re scared,” he murmurs against my hair. And then he nuzzles at it affectionately, as if we’re longtime lovers. Rubs his cheek against my scalp and squeezes my body as if to soothe my trembling. “But I promise you’ll be okay.”
Super comforting, coming from the psychopath who’s broken into my home. I don’t wait for him to say anything else—I smack my head back and right into his face.
His grunt is slightly more pained this time, but my efforts do nothing to loosen his grip. When I aim a kick at his shins, he only sighs, easily moving his leg out of range.
I scream into his hand again, frustration mixing with the terror and blind panic. I twist, strain, claw, stomp, andscream—anything to hurt him, anything to get even the smallest moment to escape—but it’s all for nothing.
I fight for nearly half an hour, until I have nothing left to give and the last vestiges of adrenaline are burned out of my system.
Only when I sag against him with a defeated whine does he finally loosen his hold ever-so slightly.
“Are you done?” He’s not even out of breath.
The tears come then, on the heels of the undeniable understanding that there is nothing I can do to escape this. He will have me, and I can’t stop him.
“Shh, don’t cry,” he murmurs, his deep rumble softening as he releases his hold on my mouth to wipe a stray tear from my cheek. “I don’t want you to cry.”
“Don’t hurt me.” It comes out in a pitiful blubber.
“I won’t harm you, Eve. You have my word,” he says, and I desperately try to find some solace in the absolute sincerity in his voice, even if the distinction he makes doesn’t go unnoticed. I’ve never been with an alpha, but I know enough about their anatomy to realize that what he wants from me, even if I walk away unharmed… itwillhurt.
At my renewed crying, the intruder spins me around to rest my face against his chest, cradling the back of my head with a large hand. But instead of more meaningless words of reassurance, he purrs.
“Oh.”I blink into his black sweater, confusion muddling my thoughts. It’s a low, rich rumble that seems to emanate from all around me and penetrate deep into my bones, and I’ve never heard anything like it. Sure, I’ve seen a few movies with a purring alpha, but nothing—nothing—can compare to this.
