"FUCK!" Autumn slammed her fist against a tree trunk.The bark splattered under her knuckles.
She didn’t care that her skin tore open. She didn’t care that her body screamed from exhaustion. Rage boiled in her chest like magma, threatening to burn through everything...her fear, her shame, her memory of betrayal.
But just as she gritted her teeth to scream again, a different sound broke through the forest’s hush.A sound that was not her own.
Followed by laughter...low, harsh, and very close.
Her breath caught as she crouched behind a fallen log, heart thudding.
She wasn’t near Blackmoon territory anymore. That much she knew.
But how far she had run in her haze of shifting and heartbreak... She had no clue.
Still...those voices...they told her everything she needed to know.She had lived rough enough to know who they were.
"Shit..." she whispered, stomach turning. "Fucking hell."
She pressed herself lower into the dirt, trying to listen.
Boots scraped across dry leaves.
Someone grunted again...this time accompanied by a mocking snort. "Dumb son of a bitch didn’t even see it coming."
Another laughed. "What did you expect? These outskirters are like lambs. Barely shift straight, and they wanna play king? Ha!Make me laugh, dumbass! "
Autumn’s fingers twitched. She had to leave.
She began to crawl backward...real slow and silent.She looked around and it seemed like the day was already about to end. The rain clouds had gathered in the distance. That meant the light in the forest had dimmed considerably.
She moved back one inch... then another...
A twig broke beneath her foot.
Then a voice cut through the dusk like a whip.
"Well, well. What the fuck was that?"
"Oi! Someone’s sniffing where they shouldn’t!"
"Got yourself lost, sweetheart?"
She didn’t turn around.
Branches tore at her face. Roots grabbed her ankles. Her breath came fast and hard...but of course,those motherfuckers were fasterer... because Autumn wasn’t in her element.
They didn’t come at her in a pack though.
Instead they surrounded her.
By the time she slid into a clearing, skidding to a stop, the first one had already stepped out from behind a tree.
Tall. Mottled coat. Jagged scar down one cheek. His eyes gleamed with that unmistakable rogue hunger.
Another emerged to her right, bare chested, knuckles bloodied, lips twisted into a grin.
A third one whistled. "Fuck me. Ain’t she a pretty little thing."
Autumn bared her fangs and hissed. "Back off."
"Oh ho ho," the first one drawled, stepping closer. "Feisty. You hear that, boys? She’s got some bark."
"Think she’s got a bite?" one jeered.
"She’ll be biting the dirt when we are done," said the third, licking his lips.
Laughter erupted around her... rough, vile... evil.
Autumn’s hands clenched at her sides.
She could fight...but not this many...not in her condition. Not after what her body had already been through. Her wolf was still reeling. Every limb ached from exhaustion.
Still, she stood tall.
"I am warning you," she said, voice like steel scraped over gravel, claws bared. "Touch me, and I will gut you."
The leader just grinned. "Oh sweetheart. You got no idea whose land you are standing on. You are gonna be begging before I am through with you...fret not! I can also be...gentle! " The lot burst into frenzied laughter once more.
Another chimed in, "Let’s see what kind of whimpers she makes when she is on her knees...licking us clean after we are done..."
She kicked the nearest one square in the chest...hard enough to send him crashing into a tree.
Another came at her with a snarl, swinging wide. She ducked, grabbed a broken branch off the ground, and drove it into his thigh.
He screamed, going down with a howl.
But the third grabbed her hair from behind, yanking her backward with a roar.
She twisted, slammed her elbow into his ribs, but he held tight.
Her lungs burned. Her vision blurred.
"No!" she growled. Autumn kicked out wildly, clawing at the rogue’s face as he dragged her back by her hair. Her fingernails scored across his cheek, but he just laughed it off.
"Keep writhing, bitch," he snarled. "I like it when they squirm."
She caught a glimpse of the other two...one limping but upright, the other holding his bleeding thigh and limping towards her with venom in his eyes.
"Fuck her up, Dreck," he spat. "Hang her like the others."
Autumn twisted hard, slammed her head backward into the one holding her, but he only grunted and yanked harder. Her scalp burned like it was being ripped from her skull.
They dragged her toward a tree, the thickest one in the clearing.
She was thrown down in the dirt.
One of them pinned her legs while the third pressed a knee into her back.
"You fuckers are going to die for this," Autumn snarled into the dirt, spitting out blood and grit as they tied her up...rough...brutal. "I swear on the fucking moon..."
A fist smashed into her side.
Pain lanced up her ribs.
"I will make her swear on my cock next," the rogue sneered, laughing as he flipped her over. "Maybe I will get her to beg with those sharp little teeth."
A cord wrapped around her wrists.Another wound around her ankles. She bucked and struggled, snarling, her wolf thrashing against her skin, but her strength was slipping. The shift was too close to the surface...but she was too worn down to hold it or complete it.
They hauled her up by the ropes, grunting as they looped the knot over a low hanging, thick branch.
Blood rushed to her head. Her vision tunneled. The tree bark blurred above her as her hair hung like a curtain around her face.
And still she growled.
Still she refused to cry out.