TwistedRevenge by Mia Bishop Page A

of the morning and all that.”
    “Don’t worry, I’ve come prepared.” He uncurled his clenched
hand to reveal a small pile of what looked to be sand.
    “What the—” Wide eyed, Rowan tried to take a step back as
Ulric blew the sand into her face. She coughed and blinked as a heaviness
entered her body. “What did you do to me?”
    “Don’t worry about it. We will have our fun later. For now
you will sleep.”
    * * * * *
    One minute Rowan was standing on the bridge and the next
minute she was tied up in a small cave. Ulric was pacing in front of her. “Now
where do we start?”
    “Why don’t you just kill me and get it over with?”
    “I like to play with my food before they stop twitching.”
    Her stomach knotted up. “You’re a sick bastard.”
    Ulric smiled. “You have no idea.” Moving closer, he ran his
hand down her cheek, “You see, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.” He
leaned in and ran his nose against her neck, inhaling deeply. “We are going to
have some fun.”
    “Oh God, just kill me now. Isn’t it bad enough that your son
manipulated me?”
    He laughed. “Not even close. My son at least gave you a
choice. Here in this place, I make the rules and I take what I want and you
will only die when I give you permission.”
    He stood back and brought his hand down, connecting with her
cheek. She cried out at the unfamiliar sensation of pain. She’d thought her
knee hurt when she defended herself against Luc but the sting of the backhand
from Ulric brought tears to her eyes. Rowan fought the urge to beg for mercy,
she knew he would enjoy it too much. She steeled herself, gathering up every
ounce of willpower. “Do your worst.”
    “I plan on it.” His hand gripped her throat, pushing hard
against her windpipe as he brought his other hand up so she could watch as his
nails transformed into claws. She gasped for air and in fear of what the beast
was going to do next. He didn’t make her wait long. As soon as his claws were
fully extended, he ran one of them down her chest. She hissed against the pain
of his claw cutting a line from below the hollow of her throat to her cleavage.
It burned but she refused to open her mouth for fear that she would give in and
beg. She could feel the blood trickling down her chest.
    “Hurts, doesn’t it? Just think of how much worse it will be
when I tear the flesh from your bones.” Both hands moved to the cut he’d made.
His claws dug in at the wound as if he were going to tear her open.
    She took a deep breath. There was no getting ready for this
pain. She prayed that somehow she’d lose consciousness before he got too far.
She could feel the tips of his claws digging in more but he stopped. Tilting
his head to the side, he looked as if he was listening to something. Several
minutes passed as she sat in the cave shaking with fear, but Ulric didn’t move.
    The wooden door to the cave opened and Ulric launched
himself at the intruder. Snarls and yelps rang out. It sounded like a dogfight
only much louder. Rowan took action. She wiggled and struggled against her
bindings. It didn’t matter who was out there, this was her opportunity to run
and she was going to take it. She launched herself backward, landing with a
grunt on the floor near the jagged wall. Squirming back until she could feel a
sharp rock jutting out, she worked her ropes up and down until the rock cut
through them. With her hands free, she untied her legs. The wolves were still
fighting outside. She could escape if they stayed distracted.
    She crawled to the exit and froze. She’d assumed the ones
fighting would be in wolf form but instead Luc was attacking his father. He
straddled the older man, gripping Ulric by his hair and slamming his head into
the ground. Her eyes were as wide as saucers. It made no sense. Luc’s head
snapped up, he locked eyes with her and nodded his head toward the trail. Her
heart drummed in her ears. Was he helping her? But he’d betrayed her.