“What!” She barely had the words out before his guards grabbed her, overpowering. Big, strong motherfuckers.

They wrapped a heavy length of thick ochre rope around her waist and arms. They used enough that even with her vampire strength she wouldn’t be able to break it. At least, not any time soon. She’d have to work at it. Maybe with enough struggling she could loosen it.

Zeke stepped in front of her, his stance wide, grin almost contagious. Felicity glared at him.

He threw up his hands. “Hey now, save the death glare for someone else. I’m leaving you with the phone. Now you might have to use it one handed but I think you’ll find a way.” He gave a low, sweeping bow then lifted his head to wink at her, chunks of blonde hair swept over his tanned brow. “Until next time, darlin’.”

Zeke let out a howl that lifted the hairs on the back of her neck. It wasn’t human. In the next instant, they morphed. It was the only way she could describe it. The alpha transformed the fastest, his face elongating into a muzzle, arms growing longer, heavier with dark muscles and black talon-like nails. They were two-legged creatures, the weres, but ran fastest on all fours. They each stood over six feet tall, shaking from the transition like a wet dog getting water out of their fur. Their furs matched the color of their hair. Zeke had a golden yellow fur with brown tips around his face and black paws.

With another softer howl, the team dropped to all fours making the earth shudder then took off into the night.

This was it. She only had herself right now, and she needed to make things right. Her heart beat like a kid pounding on a drum. It was awkward handling the phone with one hand but she managed to turn it so the screen faced her. She read the last message he sent, then her stomach bottomed out like she’d drifted down a steep slope on a roller coaster.

Just get home.

Not the words she was hoping for. She let her head fall back against the tree. What did she expect that he’d accept her apology with a quick laugh and a smile and move on? She knew how much he’d wanted to win. As of right now she didn’t know what he was more angry at, the fact that she left him at the ceremony, that she’d lied on her stupid résumé which got her the initial interview, or that she’d cost him the election.

Her thumb jabbed over the phone in an unsteady rhythm. Wasn’t easy trying to text one handed.

Lefft alone, forrest. hatach in grounnd. help, pleese!!!

Nothing came. No beeps. Only the night sounds accompanied her.

She didn’t know how much time had passed, but she’d stopped staring at the phone and had the layout of the trees around her mapped. So when the phone in her hand started to ring, she jumped, her hand jerking and out lurched the phone. It landed a good foot to right of her tied hand. Shit.

She moved into action. This was her chance. She reached, stretching her fingers towards the phone. but she didn’t get farther than stretching out her fingers. She wiggled her arm trying to find some give in the ropes but they’d tied her too tight.

Riiing, riiiing, riiiing.

“Dammit!”

Seething, she tried to maneuver her foot to kick the phone closer but her body just didn’t bend that way. With a frustrated howl, she slammed her head back into the tree, lost, alone, and with her only means of escape ringing right next to her.

Wait a second. Her eyes flew to the phone again, then her gaze darted out across the forest, heart hammering.

The call ended but then started ringing again and again. It was him! She knew it. He was using the phone to find her. He was going to find her.

Oh shit.

She frowned, nerves twisting in her belly. He was coming for her. She squirmed against the tree, bark biting into her back but nothing she did could let her escape from Dominic Blackmoore’s clutches.

No sound but a sense of movement brought Felicity’s attention to a corner of the trees. She tensed. A man was coming; tall, lean. Breath caught in her lungs. Dom. It was now or never. She had to face him. Tied to a tree, it wasn’t like she had much of a choice or any place to go.

But the man who stepped through the canopied brush was not Dominic Blackmoore. Leaves rustled, the only sound she heard. The man stooped under another low hanging branch then headed to her flipping his phone shut. The ringing on her phone stopped.

It wasn’t Dom. He hadn’t come for her.

The man squatted a few feet from her. He wore a worn brown leather jacket with wrinkles in the leather. He had on jeans and black shoes that might have held a shine but now mud and chunks of grass stuck to them. Dark shadows hovered under his reddened eyes. He looked like he hadn’t slept in months not just a few days. The lines in his forehead, around his eyes, and mouth hung down low as if gravity pulled on them harder than everything else. Still, he had undeniable Blackmoore features. Those dark golden brown eyes with the green center, dark hair, and the same sinewy build.

He ran a hand over the fuzz of hair on his head. He cleared his throat, never looking at her. “Ready to go?”

Pain like a heavy weight settled over her chest making it difficult to breathe. Dom had sent someone to get her. He hadn’t come for her himself. That hurt worse than she would have thought and she found herself blinking to keep tears from falling.

“Yeah,” she said, her voice hoarse.

He cut the ropes from her, held his hand out to help her up. “Think you can run?”

She nodded. “Who are you?” One of his brothers she hadn’t met.

He dark grey eyes flicked over her face for a moment. “Grayson.”

“He sent you to get me.” She knew this yet found herself saying the words aloud anyway. Why did it hurt so badly? She deserved this. She knew that. That didn’t help to alleviate the pain though.

“Yeah, come on now.”

She ran a few feet behind him. Branches slapped her face, she stumbled when her foot stuck in mud, and she fell three times landing harder each time. At the last fall, she didn’t bother getting up. Tears flowed silently down her dirty cheeks.

Grayson grabbed her hand and tugged. “Come on, we’re close to the road now.”

She pulled her hand back, curling it protectively around her chest. “Just leave me here.” He hates me. That one horrifying thought would not get out of her head. Dom hated her. “Why does he even want me to come back?” To hurt or humiliate her?

“He wants you to come back because he loves you.”

She looked up at the ragged, tired looking man who so much resembled Dom. “Did he say that?”

He shook his head—negative. “No, but I know it when I see it. Doesn’t matter what you did, or how bad you fucked up. None of that shit matters because he’ll still feel about you how he does. Nothing you could do could make that go away.”

Her tears stopped. “But I cost him the election.”

He shook his head. “He lost because he didn’t move fast enough with the times, but Zeke did. And he lost because the media spun wild with a story that had nothing to do with him or why he’d do well to serve the people. It’s all shit.”

“Is that what he thinks?” She found herself moving, coming to a stand, a newfound hope growing.

“No.”

She blinked. “But you just said...”

“Yeah, I know what I said.” He pulled a pack of smokes out of his jacket and lit one up. The red glow at the tip was bright in the night light. “What I said was true too but that’s not how he sees it right now. Right now he’s pissed off, really pissed off, and hurting. He’s gonna need to take some time to lick his wounds then the logic will kick over and he’ll analyze it down to what I said. Got that?”

She’d hurt him. He was angry with her. Did that make her eager to want to race back and see him—no. But she had to fix this, had to do the right thing.