“Damn it, Anton. I’m not going to mount her. I am just reacting. I’ve got a pulse. She’s in the most intense stage of heat. I told you I used to live with one of her kind. It’s not her fault that she’s aroused this strongly. It’s got nothing to do with what they planned to do to her. It’s biology. She can’t help what her body is doing. Any touch is going to be hell. Just untie her if you won’t let me do it. She’s going to be supersensitive at the slightest…hell. You don’t know anything about what she’s going through, do you?”

“No,” Anton growled. “I know you want to f**k her.”

“I can’t help reacting to her scent. When Charma was in heat it was the best sex of my life. Inhaling that scent reminds me of what I had. Let me give you the heads-up here. She’s so aroused that just the slightest touch will make her come. She’s in agony now. Take a look at her sex. Isn’t she swollen? Dripping from desire? She’ll stay in that condition while she’s in heat. They aren’t designed the way our women are. Cats are— Hell, I don’t know how to say this without pissing you off more. You need to get her the hell out of here, take her home, and f**k her for a few days. A lot. If they aren’t mated, a few of their males will tend to the females in heat. The female is in so much pain from the need to be f**ked that she can’t stop them or even protest enough to fight. Only mated ones are protected from other males taking advantage of them in this condition. Their mates are possessive as hell and will fight and kill other males to keep them from mounting their women.”

Someone cleared his throat. “If you need any help tending to her, Anton, I’m offering. Damn, she is affecting me too. I thought our women smelled good.”

Anton spun to glare at Rave. “You touch her and I’ll kill you,” he snarled. “And f**k you for getting a boner. She’s mine.”

“She won’t be if we don’t get the hell out of here,” one of the others sighed. “I’m sporting wood too. Don’t yell at me. It’s a physical reaction, Anton. We aren’t going to try to mount her. It’s just that you have to admit she smells good enough to make a man want to drop to his knees and bury his face between her thighs. I can nearly taste her and it makes me drool. We need to leave before the two who escaped return with reinforcements. I’m sure you’d rather f**k her than fight off any more of them who want to take her from you.”

Anton’s hands worked the ropes free. She clenched her teeth not to moan when his fingers brushed her skin. She refused to look at him, humiliated by her body’s reaction, the discussion she’d listened to, and the fact that it seemed that every male in Anton’s family had an erection over her scent. They’d also seen her na**d and spread-eagle.

When he freed her legs, she clamped her thighs together and clutched the torn shirt over her br**sts. She wanted to curl into a ball, hide her body as best she could, and cry. The pain staggered her now—sharp stabs of fire—and she couldn’t manage to get to her feet.

“Shannon?” Anton’s voice softened. “Look at me.”

She refused. She focused on the ground instead. He softly cursed and his hands gripped her hips. The touch made her cry out and she threw herself forward and hit the log hard enough to scrape her skin. She huddled against it.

“You’re such a jerk,” Brand muttered. “They were going to rape her and you think she wanted it just because her body is in heat. Move out of the way and I’ll carry her.”

“You touch her and I’ll tear your head off,” Anton threatened with a snarl.

Someone crouched behind her close enough that she could smell him. It made her whimper. Her body burned and her br**sts tightened until her ni**les throbbed. She pressed tighter against the log, the rough bark better than having one of them touching her.

“I’m sorry,” Anton rasped softly. “I was out of my head, okay? Rave told me what they do to unmated half-breed females, how they use them to carry their young, and I didn’t think I’d reach you in time. I know that you didn’t want them. I’m going to pick you up. We have a van about a mile from here. We need to get you back to pack territory before more of those pride males show up. I can protect you better there.”

“I’ll walk,” she whispered.

“Damn,” he ground out harshly. “You aren’t in any condition to walk. Don’t fight me.”

He jerked her away from the log and scooped her up in his arms. Her back arched and she hissed. His warm body drew her, though, and she turned into him, pressed tightly against him, and buried her face against his skin. The masculine scent of him made her moan and twist within his hold. Her hands gripped his shoulder and chest, her fingers kneading his skin frantically.

“We need to go,” he muttered. “Let’s hurry. If I see anyone staring at her body, it will be the last thing you ever look at.”

The jarring motion of him jogging with her cradled against his body made her writhe in his arms. Sexual desire fogged her brain. She made soft crying sounds she couldn’t stop from passing her lips and sometimes a rumble would vibrate in her chest. It was almost a whining. She hated being out of control and it made it worse that there were witnesses.

“Get the door,” Anton ordered. “Brand, you drive and stay as far from her as you can get.”

“I’m not going to try to f**k her,” the cousin snapped. “It’s just physical. You’re aroused too. We all are.”

He nearly crushed her when he ducked down to move inside the van. He gently placed her on a cool, leather seat and then dropped down next to her. She turned away from him toward the window, huddled on the seat with her knees drawn up, and kept her back to him. She sat on the back bench seat of an extended-travel van with tinted windows. The other guys climbed inside and the van doors slammed closed.

“We’ll dress later,” someone announced. “I know I can’t put my jeans on in this state. My zipper might catch skin even if I could shove my dick inside enough to attempt to get them closed. Roll down the windows, Brand. Turn on the air-conditioning too. Now I can taste her. Why the hell didn’t anyone ever tell me that’s how they smelled in heat? I would have hooked up with one long ago.”

Anton snarled. “Silence, Braden. Someone toss me a shirt to cover her with. She’s trembling.”

The van engine started and the vehicle rolled forward. Shannon slid into a big, warm Anton when Brand made a sharp U-turn on the narrow, two-lane road. Just brushing up against Anton made her hotter. She fought the urge to stay there. She tried to pull away but then he wrapped an arm around her waist to secure her at his side.

“Here’s a shirt. Let’s put this on you.”

She moaned. The heavy weight of his arm just under her br**sts made her arch and her hand gripped his bare leg, rubbed it frantically, and then clutched his inner thigh. Anton groaned in response, yanked his arm from her, and shoved the shirt over her head to pull it down her body.

“Damn,” Anton rasped. “You’re on fire, aren’t you, kitten?”

She nodded and tears filled her eyes. She wanted him now, needed him, and knew if she followed her instincts she’d beg him to take her inside a van with his family watching. She’d never recover from the horror of it. She wasn’t the type. She’d known women who had sex in public and hadn’t ever understood why they’d do something that awful. She’d never been in heat before though. She turned her head and met his concerned gaze. “Not in front of them. Please? Don’t let me. I¯” She choked on a sob. “Please?”

Anton had never felt so helpless in his entire life or like such a complete ass**le. He’d screwed up big time when he’d accused her of wanting to be f**ked by the pride males who’d kidnapped her. He’d been shocked and then enraged when he’d realized how sexually excited she’d been while tied to that log. Seeing her restrained and her body displayed, totally exposed to all the males who’d stared at her pu**y, had sent him into a jealous rage. Brand had set him straight.

He knew mating heat affected his kind, made a male mindless to f**k at times, but it seemed cats ended up with a worse deal. A female werewolf would only want the male who’d marked her. She’d fight to the death if another male tried to mount her. The touch of another male wouldn’t feel good. It would grate on her nerves to the point of pain. Shannon wasn’t a werewolf.

The hand on his leg tightened and tears spilled down her face. It assured him of the hellish situation she experienced. He could smell her lust, see the desperation in her gaze, and understood what she’d tried to say to him. She was losing control, the heat overtaking her ability to think, but she would be mortified later if he took her in front of others.

“As soon as we hit our territory, pull over,” Anton demanded loudly. “How far?”

“Ten miles.” Brand cursed. “Is she going to make it? Charma used to just about lose her mind. If she even started to scent of going into heat I’d stay home with her. I was always terrified she’d go into heat when I wasn’t there. It would get so bad that she probably would have attacked any male she came in contact with. The mailman would have been in for a hell of a surprise. I would have murdered the bastard if that ever happened.”

Shannon cried more, a look of pure horror on her features at hearing that news. It pissed him off.

“Shut up, Brand.”

“Sorry.” The engine grew louder when he punched the gas. “I’m breaking every speed limit.”

Anton groaned when Shannon leaned into him, rubbed up against his chest, and his dick turned to stone. The smell of her drove his mating heat into full-blown lust. He wanted to shove her flat on the seat and drive into her, balls-deep. His hands gripped her hips, locked her into place where she sat, and then she started to purr. She nipped at his chest wall with her teeth. It sent a jolt straight to his cock.

Rave turned his head to gawk at Anton. “The sound of her purring is really sexy.”

“Turn around, damn it. How are we doing, Brand?” He glared at his brother until he followed his order.

“I’m doing seventy. It would be really bad if a cop pulled us over. I doubt he’d understand why five guys are na**d with a chick who is in her condition.”

“Just take her,” Von urged, turning in his seat. “How can you not? I want to climb back there and do her if you won’t. It’s torture hearing her agony.”

Anton made a vicious sound. “Turn around.”

Von muttered an oath but faced the front. Anton watched his brothers to make sure they didn’t glance at Shannon and tried to fight the urge to f**k her, regardless of where they were. He knew it would make her hate him. He needed to be strong for both of them. That became more difficult when she clutched at his arms, kneading his skin, and whimpered.

“Please,” she begged. “It hurts so much.”

“We’re almost there. Just hold on to me.”

She tried to move, her intention to straddle him clear, and he snarled at her. He hoped her instincts would make fear override her lust. Her head jerked up to peer at him, her lovely eyes filled with such pain that he felt like an even bigger bastard.

“Almost there. Just a few more minutes.”

She lowered her face and pressed it back against his chest. Her teeth and tongue tormented him as she spread desperate, wet kisses over his skin. She purred louder, her entire body vibrated, and frantically stroked her body against his where they touched. His balls drew up tight and his c**k pulsated painfully. If she kept it up, combined with her scent, he feared he’d embarrass himself by coming without ever entering her.

“Almost there,” Brand promised.

“Just pull off the road so no one can see the van and then take a hike. Guard us from a distance.” He had to take a breath to calm down enough so they could understand his words. Talking became difficult. “Backs to the van. Understand me?”