She bent, pretending to examine her leg. It was bleeding pretty badly and she couldn’t do anything about it. She scooped up a handful of tiny rocks and dirt, fisting them in her hand. Craig screamed his rage, still pacing the trees in front of her. He glared at her every few seconds.

“What’s wrong?” She tried to hold back the tears the pain in her leg caused. “Too hairy to squeeze in here to get me? So lose the hair, asshole.”

He stopped pacing and watched her. She had a sinking feeling he planned to pass time until the sun disappeared. She’d be in the dark, blind, and wouldn’t see him coming after her then. Would she pass out from blood loss? She couldn’t afford for either of those things to happen.

“Are you scared of a puny human chick? What’s your name? Ball-less?” she goaded. “No wonder my grandfather chose you to be his pack mule. You probably don’t even know how to fight.”

He lay down, watching her with those evil eyes. It became obvious that he did plan to wait until she couldn’t see or had passed out. She looked away from him, not able to keep staring into that horrific black gaze. She glanced around at the ground, saw a sharp-looking rock the size of her palm, and knew she’d found an effective weapon if she could just use it on the jerk. She needed to draw him to her first, surprise him with it, and hope she could take him out.

What would Bat do? Her sister had a serious talent for driving men into rages when she opened her mouth. It made her a very effective attorney. She could send prosecutors or witnesses against her clients into full-blown rants inside a courtroom that discredited them in front of both judges and juries. Bat had made so many enemies with that winning stunt it was yet another reason why she needed the around-the-clock security her law firm provided.

Dusti took a deep breath and lifted her gaze to the asshole still staring at her. A plan formed. Bat always said the best tactic to anger a man would be to accuse him of something he wouldn’t do. They had the urge to defend themselves every time. The more outrageous the accusation, the stronger the response.

A forced smile curved her lips while she watched his eyes carefully to gauge for any kind of response. “Wow, are you going to be in seriously deep shit.” She twisted her injured leg to show him the damaged he’d caused. “Do you know why my grandfather wants you to bring me to him? He’s going to give me to Aveoth. Take a good look at what you did to me. That’s going to leave a scar—and make the GarLycan leader very unhappy. I mean, what guy wants to see that on his woman?”

The beast’s entire body tensed and his eyes flickered with something akin to fear.

Got you, asshole, she thought.

“He’s really going to flip when I tell him how you tried to touch me in bad places.” She batted her eyelashes at him. “I’m going to assure Aveoth that I only ran from you because you tried to get under my skirt. Sarong. Whatever.” She lifted her hand and shook a finger at him. “Tsk! Tsk! Shame on you. From what I hear, GarLycans are pretty vicious guys and Aveoth is the worst. Do you think he’ll just beat you or tear your limbs off one at a time?”

The beast lifted to his feet and snarled.

“What was that? I don’t speak growl.”

He crept closer and the threat of retribution showed clearly in his furious black gaze.

“I’m going to cry and cling to this Aveoth.” She inwardly winced at that image. “And as his future lover, I’ll ask him nicely to please hurt you really bad before he kills you.”

He pushed against two trees hard but his broad, hairy chest still wouldn’t fit. He squeezed until some of his body became trapped and he had to jerk back when he realized the pointlessness of it. Another snarl tore from him.

“What was that? I still can’t understand a thing you say. If you want to talk me out of my brilliant payback plan for tearing up my leg then you better change into skin so you have a voice, asshole. I’m willing to make a deal,” she lied. “I don’t want to be taken and you don’t want Aveoth to tear you apart.”

He just watched her.

“I’m going to lie my ass off to make sure this Aveoth guy wants you dead,” she promised softly. “Understand? Change into a person and let’s make a deal.”

His black glaze seemed to glisten with pure rage before he started to change. Hair receded and the squishy noises they made as they transformed was sickening. The good news is, she thought, the planned worked. The bad news is, now those trees probably won’t prevent him from reaching me.

The second his head lowered, she bent and grabbed the rock in her palm, hiding it behind her sarong skirt. She straightened and maneuvered it in her hand, cupping it until the sharpest part ended up in the open space between fingers and wrist. Her heart hammered from terror and uncertainty.

She may have to kill someone, beast guy or not. Anxiety had her stomach rolling with nausea as she realized it had come down to survival.

Em's EORD

Chapter Ten

Craig rose to his feet to glare at her with dark brown eyes. He didn’t appear very friendly with the sneer plastered across his thin lips. In skin, he stood about five feet nine, had a wiry but average-sized body. She put his age in his early twenties.

“I’ll kill you before I allow you to tell those lies about me.” He had a rough voice, deep and raspy. “I didn’t try to fuck you.”

“You wouldn’t survive if you killed me,” she bluffed. “My grandfather is an asshole. He assigned you to complete a task and he won’t be a happy camper if you fail to bring me back breathing. We both know he doesn’t tolerate that kind of shit. I’m worth too much to him.”

He took a step forward.

“Freeze. Don’t come any closer.”

The guy glared at her but stopped advancing. “You don’t tell me what to do, you little bitch.”

“I can’t shift to gain a tail so I’m assuming you don’t mean that term in a doggy way. My feelings are hurt by that insult, really.” She hoped he could pick up on her sarcasm.

He snarled. It only sounded a smidgen less frightening when he made that noise looking human. “What do you want? I can’t free you. You know your grandfather will kill me if I don’t follow his orders. The team he sent knows I have possession of you.”

“Fine,” she lied. “You’re right. I’m reasonable. I’m not opposed to going with you but I don’t want to be strapped across your back as though I’m a side of beef. I’ll walk.”