Callie's Captors [Mountain Men of Montana 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (2 page)

When at last she made it to the other side of the clearing, she broke out of the strange barrier and stumbled forward, thrown off balance by the sudden lack of resistance against her. Her backpack and camera went flying and, just as she started to pick them up, the buck appeared. With no other choice, she left her possessions and darted into the underbrush, not caring where she was going, only that she had to get away. The buck was only a few feet behind her, the steady rhythm of his hooves striking the dirt. With her breath catching in her throat and a stitch aching in her side, she kept going.

All at once, she was falling, tumbling in a downward spiral. She screamed and reached out for anything to break her fall, but could find nothing. She tumbled, fast and hard, until she landed on her back. The air rushed out of her, depriving her lungs and clenching the muscles in her chest. An ache barreled through the rest of her body, bulleting it with pain as she squinted her eyes closed. She hurt everywhere, and yet, at the same time, she was aware enough to realize that nothing was broken.

The buck’s snort made her open her eyes, and when she did, she found herself gazing up at him. She was in a deep hole, a pit, but at least she was safe from the animal.

Callie lay still, letting her heart slow down and her breath even out. The buck pranced at the edge of the pit and stared down at her. His dark eyes met hers and blinked.

Groaning, she pulled her aching body into a sitting position and waited for any fresh pain to come. When none did, she glared at the animal, then pushed her body into a standing position. But standing proved harder than she thought and she had to rest against the dirt wall to keep on her feet.

The buck lowered his head then raked his hoof along the edge sending a powder of dirt drifting down on top of her. She yelped and moved out of the way.

“Get away from me. You’re the reason I’m in this mess.”

The buck blinked again, then continued to stare at her. Was he trying to understand her, or had her imagination gone as wild as her run?

“You’re losing it, girl,” she whispered.

She pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket and held it up, inspecting it for damage. “Please don’t let it be broken.” Yet, although the phone was intact and the home screen came on as it always did, she couldn’t get any reception. She held it higher but still no bars.

“Damn it all.” She paced to the other wall and ignored the animal when he started circling the hole. If she didn’t get a call out, who knew how long she’d be trapped?

The buck snorted and shook his head.

“What is with you anyway? Why are you still here?” She really studied the animal then. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you ran me into this pit on purpose.”

But that didn’t make sense. Why would an animal that was known to be as docile as a deer suddenly want to hurt a human? Had her camera spooked him?

He snorted again and shook his head several times. After checking one more time, she shoved her phone back into her pocket then found a flat spot to sit on. The sun was heading westward and soon it would get dark. Although she’d prepared for every imaginable situation—or so she’d thought—she hadn’t planned on falling into a hole. Especially after getting chased by a huge buck and without her backpack filled with necessary supplies.

“I don’t suppose telling you to go for help would work.” She let out a rueful chuckle. “Yeah, right. Like you’re some kind of woodland Lassie.”

She hugged her knees to her chest. One rule she’d never followed while hiking was to tell someone where she was headed. Besides, who was she supposed to tell when she had no one in her life?

A sudden rush of tears welled in her eyes. She wasn’t a crier by nature, but if any time was a good time to cry, it was now. Letting go of her usually controlled emotions, she let the tears slide down her face. Sobs racked her body as she crossed her arms over her bent knees, laid her forehead on her arms, and gave in to her dismay. She stayed that way, huddled in the hole for an indeterminate amount of time.

The shadows of evening fell over her, drawing her attention upward. The buck was gone, and, although she knew it wasn’t rational, she couldn’t help but feel lonely. Now she really was alone. She waited for a while, hoping that maybe the buck would return, but when he didn’t, she pulled herself together.

At least the moon’s still there.

She could always count on the moon.

She was in a tough spot, but she’d been in tough spots before. After surviving an abusive foster mother who had then sent her packing to the next foster home and straight into the arms of a foster father who’d tried to rape her, getting caught in a hole seemed almost laughable. And not something that could beat her.

Drawing in a big breath, she went around the interior of the hole, checking for any indentations that she could use as a handhold. She’d rock climbed before, and although she’d had the necessary equipment for those treks, she had to believe that she could climb out of the hole, too.

“You can do this. No problem.”

She took hold of a rock that jutted out from the wall and stuck the tip of her shoes into a smaller crevice below. Pulling her body up, she skimmed her hand along the surface, but couldn’t find another rock to grab on to. Instead, she held on with one hand and started digging.

But the wall was harder than it looked. Instead of working her fingers into what she’d hoped was dirt, she could only swipe away a thin layer that covered a wall of rock. She tried another spot and found more rock. Groaning, she dropped back to the floor.

She couldn’t dig handholds into that rock. Not without tools. But she didn’t even have the right kind of tools in her pack. And her pack? She didn’t even want to think about that.

She cried out as her backpack landed on the dirt beside her. A few inches closer and it would’ve hit her. She gaped at it, then twisted around to gawk at was above her. What she saw sent her stumbling backward.

“Holy hell.”

A creature leaned on all fours, peering over the rim of the wall, perilously close to falling off. He had no fur covering his bone-thin black body. Bloodred eyes peered at her from a narrow oval face with two holes bored into the flesh that served as nostrils and a long, thin jaw. His front arms hung in front of him like a gorilla’s did when walking. A diamond-shaped spot of white brightened his forehead.

It tilted its head as though trying to figure out what she was and why she was there. But when its mouth stretched wide to expose dagger-sharp fangs, she couldn’t hold back a gasp. It wrinkled its forehead, giving its face a scrunched-up appearance and opening his nostrils wider. He reminded her of the drawings of aliens with their huge eyes and expressionless faces combined with the distorted combination body of a wolf mixed with a human.

Had it thrown her backpack to her? Or, more likely, dropped it? But why did it have her belongings anyway? She swallowed and waited for whatever would happen next.

Scrunch, as she suddenly named the creature, lifted his front paw in what, from a human, would’ve looked like a wave. Whether or not he was male was obvious when he lifted onto his back legs and exposed his erect cock. She widened her eyes then looked away. Would she encourage him by looking at it?

Damn, I hope not. I am not playing Jane to some alien-ape thing.

“Gwegun.”

She jerked her head up again. “What? Did you say something?”

He tilted his head again, reminding her of the way a dog would when trying to understand its master. But was Scrunch the master or was she?

“Gwegun bles.”

Curiosity made a fast track in overtaking her fear. “You did. You spoke.” She took a step toward that side of the pit. “But I don’t understand.”

He pointed at her backpack and grunted several times. The lines of verbal communication were deteriorating. She squatted next to the bag. “Yeah. This is mine. Thanks for bringing it.”

Rummaging through it relieved her anxiety a bit. Nothing was gone except for a couple of granola bars and her water bottle. Even her camera had been tucked securely inside it.

“I guess a couple of snack bars are a good price to pay to get my stuff back.” She searched again, although she was sure she wouldn’t find her water. “But you could’ve left me a little to drink considering I’m stuck down here.”

She stood and he started hopping up and down on his front feet, his excitement brightening his red eyes. “Unless, of course, you can help me get out of here.” But if he did, would she be safe with him? Or safer in the hole? Still, what choice did she have?

“Listen, Scrunch, can you help me out of this mess?” She smiled and was surprised to see him copy her gesture. At least she hoped it was a smile. “If you help me, I’ll buy you a whole carton of granola bars. Even the gooey, bad-for-you chocolate ones. How about it?”

He scrunched up his face even more, giving him a strangely wizened expression. After a couple more grunts, however, she was sure he wasn’t going to give her any help.

“Okay, so don’t help. I’ve done just fine on my own.” Until now.

She plopped down on the ground and resisted the urge to cry again. Scrunch lay down by the edge and stared at her. They stayed that way for a while as the moon floated across the sky.

Suddenly, he stiffened and jerked his head up. His gaze scanned the horizon on the other side of the hole. Every part of his body was ready to spring into action.

“What is it? What do you see?”

Scrunch brought out his fangs and hunkered down, digging long claws into the dirt. Saliva dripped from his teeth and any idea she’d had that he was docile was gone. She had no doubt he could tear her apart if he wanted.

She pivoted toward the direction of his attention even though it put her back to him. But the hole was too deep for her to see anything.

Another deeper, meaner growl rolled out of Scrunch. She glanced up just in time to see him dart away, moving faster than she’d have thought possible.

“Scrunch! No, don’t leave. No one knows I’m here.”

Did she expect him to call for help? It was a ridiculous idea, but, like when the buck had stood over her, having him around had made her feel better. She stared at the place where he’d been and wished for him to return.

Another growl had her spinning toward the sound. She gasped and flattened her body against the wall.

“Oh, holy hell. I am so screwed.”

Three huge wolves, their gazes hard and steellike, stared down at her. She hurried to her backpack and rummaged through it, hunting her knife. It wouldn’t do much good if all three attacked her, but at least she’d go down with a fight. She found the knife then backed toward the side of the pit that was farthest from them.

Even though her heart pounded in her ears, she couldn’t help but admire them. One was a golden color with shades of light brown covering his haunches. A white streak ran down his face to the end of his nose and tipped the ends of his ears. He stood like the other two, large paws planted apart as he swished his tail.

The one standing next to him had dark hair with lighter brown covering parts of his body then blending back into black before lightening again. He lacked the white accents and he was bigger, his chest wider than the first wolf’s.

The third broke apart from the trio to pace a few feet away. His fur was coal black with no variation in his coloring, making him a striking contrast to the other two wolves.

They were beautiful and majestic, a sight anyone would appreciate. But it was their eyes, locked so intently on her, that took her breath away. The amber in them shone in the darkness, but it wasn’t the color that had her gasping. Instead, it was the way they looked at her.

As she would’ve imagined, their eyes held a hunger. But she couldn’t help but think their hunger was not born from a lack of physical nourishment. No, the hunger was one of longing, like a child’s gaze when he presses his nose against a toy shop window and yearns for the bright, shiny toy beyond his reach.

The first wolf paced the other way and took a position at her back. Surrounded, she moved into the middle of the pit but again recognized the futility of any attempt to win if they decided to take her.

“Get out of here!” She held her knife up in what she hoped the animals would take as a threatening gesture. “Go on. Get! I’ll cut you if you try to hurt me.”

Were they grinning at her? She squinted, trying to see better even though a full moon spread its glow over the land.

Almost as if in challenge to her threat, the first wolf hunched down, then leapt across the hole to land next to his pack mate. She yelped, then hated herself for letting him scare her. Wasn’t it a good sign that he hadn’t jumped into the pit?

Her breathing hurt her throat as she dragged in air. She’d run across wild animals before and had either scared them off or gotten away from them. But this was different. She was vulnerable and caught in a trap with nowhere to run.

Still, she was surprised when the black wolf leapt into the hole and landed a few short feet away. Startled, she moved backward and stumbled over her backpack. She scrambled to her feet, taking her pack with her to hold in front of her.

For the first time ever, she wished she had a gun. But she’d never been able to stand the idea of shooting an animal.

The black wolf tilted his head at her as Scrunch had done. In fact, there were many similarities between Scrunch and the wolves. Almost bone-thin to the point of emaciation, Scrunch had resembled a wolf, albeit with a more human-like face. She shook her head, surprised that she could think of the strange creature while an attack was imminent. She prepared herself for the pain that would come with the first bite.

“Stay back.”
Yeah, uh-huh. Like he’ll do what I tell him to do
.

Instead, he lowered his head and inched forward. She clutched her pack to her chest and held out her knife. The wolf shook his head. Was he answering her threat?

When he sat down on his haunches, she was left speechless. In a matter of seconds, he’d transformed from a wild beast to a friendly animal. She lowered her hand, but she still clutched the knife.