She takes off into the early morning grey before the sun is over the horizon, and I don’t bother counting further. Either she trusts me, and I’ll see it in her eyes when I catch her, or she doesn’t. Playing fair when I made up the rules hardly makes any difference.
I watch her, considering the route through the woods. Will she follow the path we took together yesterday, as I suggested? I hope so. That way is pretty, going first across this tree-scattered grassy landscape, into the dense conifers, with a thick layer of spindly needles on the ground and the air scented with pine sap. Then it passes into rougher woodland with younger trees and undergrowth as soon as you stray from the path. After that, there’s a beech wood, broad and open and clean, the golden leaves crunching underfoot before you emerge to the long gravel drive to the house.
The small figure of Jenna runs away from me in her white silk nightgown, her sneakers slapping the grass. My cock thickens as I watch her bare thighs. I wonder if she’s already wet, anticipating what I’m going to do when I stop her? Is she wearing little white knickers under that nightdress as she flees from me?
I can’t wait to rip them off.
She glances behind, blonde hair whipping, and I imagine I can see her green eyes and her longing. Her invitation.
Catch me. Kiss me.
That’s what her social media said, and I’m going to make all her dirtiest dreams come true.
She’s had long enough.
I take off after her, accelerating to a pace that eats up the distance between us. My feet thud on the grass as I chase, and my lungs fill with the cool, fresh morning air. The movement primes my body, invigorating my muscles.
I keep my prey in sight as she slips into the wood. I’ve gained on her. A hungry wolf is quicker and more powerful than a little rabbit. The white silk tangles around her slim, pale thighs as she turns where the grass leads to a smooth sandy path. The bright fabric rides up and almost—so almost—gives me a view to answer whether she’s wearing knickers.
My cock throbs, bouncing heavily as I run. She looks back again, giving me the sight of her profile. That sweetly upturned nose and open pink lips.
I can’t wait to use her mouth.
She shrieks at how close I am now, and I urge my limbs faster, gaining on her as she scrambles in panic around the curves of the path, skirting the rugged trees that border on each side.
There’s the scent of pine, and it’s so wholesome and filthy, I love it. There’s no one else for miles, just me and the girl I’m going to consume.
I let her run, but not too far. Long enough to stretch her legs, and get warm. To feel the crisp air filling her lungs and to be aware and afraid of the monster behind her.
A glance over her shoulder to check where I am, and I take the invitation. I put on a spurt of speed, and grab her forearm, jerking her to a stop.
Instinctively, she tugs to escape, and I grip her tighter, my thumb making a dent in her arm. She’ll have bruises from this, and I smile at the thought of her being marked as mine.
She trembles as I jerk her closer to me.
“Ready for me to take my first prize?” I croon.
She just licks her lips and looks up at me, chest heaving from her run.
Such pretty tits. I’ll enjoy using those, too. I release her arm to comb the fingers of both my hands into her hair, clenching the silken strands in my fists. Tilting up her face, I regard her with undisguised possessiveness.
“Say my name.”
Surprise flashes in her eyes.
“Rotherhithe,” she breathes.
“Nyet.” Frustration simmers below my surface. “That’s my London territory.”
A single, confused blink. “Voronov.”
I tighten my hold on her hair. “That’s my family name. Say the name you’ll scream as you come for me.”
Her mouth falls open and her little pink wet tongue licks her lips, making them shine enticingly. “Dimitri.”
“Good.” I tug her head back and she whimpers. “Again.”
It’s unhinged how much I like to hear my name in her breathless, sultry voice.
“Dimitri.”
“Again.”
“Dimitri. Dimitri.” She repeats it like a prayer, closing her eyes and tipping her head to and fro, her hair going taut on one side then the other.
She likes that sting, I realise. And I love this. My captured girl, enjoying being in my power.
She trails off, and we stand in silence, the birds singing and the breeze rustling around us.
“Don’t forget it.” We’re barely touching, close but our only contact is my hands in her hair. But this is enough for one item. To give her more of what she needs, I’ll catch her again.
My knuckles crack, such is the effort to release my grip on her. “I want my name tattooed into you. I want it on your lips as you climax, I want it to be the pattern you breathe to. I want every cell in your body to recognise my name, to know who owns you.”
I step backwards, and she looks up at me, confused. Then understanding creeps in, and her eyes brighten in the soft yellow light as the sun inches over the horizon between the trees.
“Now, you have another chance to get away, Jenna.”
She steps backwards, slightly shaky. “Should I run?”
I nod. “Don’t think I’ll be so reasonable in my demands if I catch you again.”
Before she turns and runs, I see anticipation shining on her face.
This time, I don’t wait so long before going after her.
She wants it.
I want her.
I don’t care anymore that she’s too young for me. Her memory is back, and until the word “red” spills from her pretty lips, I will indulge every sordid fantasy.
Including that darkest dream of all of trying to keep her. Of claiming this innocent girl as mine, and never letting her go.
She makes me work for it, though. I appreciate that, and laughter bubbles up from my chest as she doesn’t take the easy route and stay on the path. Nope. She veers off through the trees.
My Jenna is fast and agile, weaving through the undergrowth and bounding over dips. But it’s still dark, shadowy despite the sunshine peeking through the foliage. I crash behind her, using my greater weight and height to roll through the places that she skirts around. When she stumbles, my heart does the same. But she catches herself with a hand on a branch, and propels forwards.
I must let out a sound of relief, because it’s only a couple more steps when she glances over her shoulder to check where I am. I see it almost in slow motion.
Her distraction. The unexpected root that trips her. The way she topples, helpless and off-balance.
Feral impulses shoot through me, vivid and sharp.
I’m not close enough and I roar with annoyance as she falls.
The root snags on her shoe, and she tugs it, panicking, and instead of coming loose, it comes off. Now free, she’s rising to her feet—one bare—as I grab her up and scoop her to me by the waist.
In a second, I’ve pinned her to the nearest tree. When she tries to tug away, I shove my leg between hers and catch her flailing arms, holding her wrists above her head in both of mine.
I stare down at her, enjoying the pink in her cheeks and the heave of her whole torso from running. I grind my erection into her belly and let my thudding heart rate begin to settle.
Seeing her hurt—or even at risk of being injured—does something to me. It brings out a protective, territorial beast who must protect his mate.
“What do you want?” she pants out.
There’s trepidation in her words and in every line of her body. I bet adrenaline is coursing through her blood, potent as it is in mine. I’ve been a perfect gentleman. So far.
She expects that will end.
And fuck, I’d like it to. I’d slap her to the ground right now, and take her, my hand at her throat.
But that’s not what I do.
It’s so much simpler, this little torture. It’s what she’s most afraid of.
“Say you want me.”
And I swear her breath, already laboured from her run, speeds up. A panic that I’ve gone for the jugular in a manner she didn’t expect.
“If it’s true, say it,” I insist. I don’t kiss her, or let her go. I stroke my thumb over the soft, warm, rapid movement of her pulse at her wrist. So small and fragile. Just little bones I could snap and bright blood beneath her skin.
But that’s not the way I want to break my zayka.
“I don’t—”
“Liar.”
“I don’t know why.” She shakes her head, and those forest-green eyes are full of confusion. “Why do you want that?”
I lean in, crowding her, and dip my head to her ear.
“Because I love this game.” And her. “But predator as I am, I only devour willing prey.”
She swallows audibly.
“You had better be ready. You’ll have to be wet and desperate and panting, because I’ll take what I’m owed.”
Her flinch back isn’t feigned. It’s the instinctive response of a creature intimidated and about to be rigid with terror. I want her to be just a little concerned that I’d do it, as I threaten, because that’s part of the appeal for her and me. I’ve considered every word she’s written from all angles, and she wants to be scared.
And I’m only too happy to rip off my mask of civility and show her all the brutal parts of myself that are from her most seductive nightmares.
“This time, little prey, I’m going to steal a kiss.”
Her throat bobs as she swallows. Those green eyes of hers have gone dark as the trees behind her.
“Steal?”
“Yes.” I crowd closer. “I’m going to take your kiss for myself. I will kiss you so thoroughly that you’ll never again be able to touch your lips without them tingling with need and the memory.”
I bring my face close to hers, so she can feel my hot breath on her lips.
Jenna makes a little moan from the back of her throat and arches into me as she strains at where I’m holding her hands. Fuck, does she have any idea how arousing she is? How she’s luring me?
Yes.
Yes, she does. Innocent as she is, my girl is a temptress. She’s a siren.
I’ve thought about all the ways I want to kiss her as I’ve stroked my cock night after night. I’ve thought about devouring her.
Unlike that first kiss, I don’t start slow. I kiss her hard, with all the pent-up aggression and need of the past few months of stalking her. With the frustration I felt at how young and off-limits she is. This is a kiss that tells her how I’ve wanted her, how goddamn jealous I was when I followed her to that hotel, and for a second I thought she was going to go to a room with that prick. How I burned with fury and envy as she had dinner, the food I ordered ash in my mouth.
And my reward is to rip this kiss from her.
No softness this time. No concession to her innocence. I’ve done that. I’ve been a gentleman.
Now she gets the animal. A beast with strict rules.
I said I’d take one thing, and I meant it. So even as she melts temptingly and my body demands that I fuck her here, against that tree, I don’t.
A nibble. A tightening of my fingers on hers, then she pushes her tits into my chest and my erection into the softness of her belly, desperate for more, begging me with her sweetness.
I pull back. Snatching up her little shoe, I kneel and grip her calf as I push it roughly onto her foot.
Then I straighten and wrap my hand around her neck, squeezing gently. Enough to make her feel my strength, and how serious I am. This part is not a game.
“Stay on the path, zayka.” I won’t have her hurting herself in the brambles, or ripping up her feet because she loses her shoes again. She’s mine to care for, and that includes no pain that I don’t deliberately inflict. “Understand?”
“Yes.” Her voice is high and breathless.
I release her and step back.
“Run.”
