Heart of the Woolf (Woolf Series) (13 page)

“Yes,” Paul chimed in, his hands soothing as he massaged her
scalp.

Adrienne felt something brush over her lips, repeatedly,
insistently. She knew it was Paul’s cock. Her heart cried and shed tears of
blood. She didn’t want Paul’s cock. She wanted Jake. She wanted Jake to hold
her and tell her that she was wrong about him, that he had never deceived her,
that his feelings for her were true and genuine.

“C’mon baby, open your mouth,” Paul cajoled.

“N--”

A fat cock shoved into her mouth. She choked.

“What the hell’s going on here?!”

Jake.
Her heart clenched with pain. She couldn’t let
Jake see that she knew about his treachery. She couldn’t let him win the game.
She had to keep David and herself safe from him.

She sucked on Paul’s cock, although she felt like gagging.
She took her time, giving it a final kiss when she took it out of her mouth
before she faced Jake. She almost lost her resolve when she saw the devastated
expression on his face. God, what a good actor he was!

She turned on the bed and propped her head up on her upraised
palm. She threaded her fingers through Lucien’s hair as he leaned over her
breast. He enveloped her nipple with his mouth and sucked. She gasped. She
hoped it was realistic enough. She raised an eyebrow at the man standing at the
doorway. “Jake, what a surprise! Wanna join us?”

He swayed, clutching the doorsill for support. “Join you?” An
expression of disbelief crossed his face. Then, he shook his head, and his
expression changed in the next second to a feral look that blazed from his
eyes, turning them golden yellow and glowing. A low growl rumbled in his
throat. His hands knotted into fists, cracking as they did so. “I’ll teach you
to mess with my woman --”

In a flash, he reached them, grabbed hold of Paul’s arms,
pinning them close to his body. Jake drew Paul up to face level and snarled,
“Your cock does not belong in her face, asshole!” So saying, Jake threw Paul
across the room. Paul crashed against the wall, groaning.

Adrienne scrambled up on her knees. Jake seemed blinded by
rage, and she feared for him. She didn’t want him ending up in jail because of
her, no matter that his betrayal ran so deep.

Jake turned toward the bed, howling his fury. He stalked
forward, reached out a hand toward Lucien, who had turned rigid above her, his
eyes wide with fear as he stared at Jake in morbid fascination.

Heart thudding with desperate urgency, Adrienne placed
herself in between the two men. “Jake, stop! Stop it!”

His throat rumbled with some menacing sound. He picked her up
and placed her gently to the side before whirling around with threatening
intent toward Lucien.

Adrienne rushed to the bed, grabbing Jake’s arm as his
fingers closed around Lucien’s throat. Lucien’s eyes bulged and pitiful noises
scratched out of his throat. His hands clawed with desperation at Jake’s
fingers.

“Jake, Jake! Let go of him!” She scraped at his fingers,
trying to get them to loosen from around Lucien’s throat. “This has nothing to
do with them. It’s all my idea! Jake!”

He looked at her, shock registering on his face. His fingers
slackened.

Lucien fell onto the bed, gasping for breath.

“Adri! What is the meaning of this?”

She laughed, a light, trifling sound. “What does it look
like?” She threw him a sensual look. “I had an itch that needed scratching and
since you weren’t around ...” She drew a caressing hand down his cheek and
fiddled with the buttons on his shirt. “But you’re welcome to join us. I could
always use another man.”

“But -- but --” he sputtered. “I thought they were
raping you!”

“Rape? Good heavens, no! I enjoy sex more with two
men --” She deliberately licked her lips. “-- or three.”

“But you and I --” He shook his head and straightened.
Adrienne’s heart shattered at the cold look in his eyes. His face stretched
taut with tension. He continued bitterly, “I guess there was never ‘you and I.’
My mistake.”

“That’s okay, Jake,” she said gaily. “It’s so easy to
misunderstand. But now, you know that one man is not enough to satisfy me. If
you can’t deal with that, then ...” She shrugged. She stretched out on the
bed, her head propped on one hand. She drew Lucien down beside her and nudged
his head toward her nipple. Lucien resisted, glancing at Jake with fear in his
eyes. She caressed Lucien’s cheek, looped her arm around his neck, and tried to
draw his neck down, but Lucien slipped his head out from within the circle of
her arm to back away from the bed, stumbling as he went. His eyes and his
trembling form betrayed his fear. Mouth thinning, Adrienne glanced across at
Paul, but Paul stayed where he was against the wall, groaning as he clutched
his aching body. She looked up at Jake and shrugged again. “It looks like you’ve
terrified my lovers out of their libido. Would you like to take their
place --”

“What a fool I was!” Jake towered over her, his rage ice-cold
in its intensity, his fingers clenched into tight fists. “And
when
were
you planning to tell me, Adrienne? Or did you even
plan
to tell me?”

He threw her earlier words back at her, which stabbed
straight into her deepest part. Her soul was stripped naked, for she’d never
even
thought
of telling him, preferring to maintain the status quo
until, if ever, the third in their trio came along. She opened her mouth to
give a scathing reply, but was halted midway by the strangest thing. She seemed
to be seeing double images, a large gray werewolf superimposed over Jake’s
figure. She blinked. Only Jake was standing in front of her.

Contempt flashed from his eyes. “And to think, I had rushed
over here, worrying you were badly hurt from the accident. I can see that it
didn’t interfere with your orgy.”

Her eyes saw his proud bearing. Her heart recognized that she
had hurt him by hitting him at his weakest: his ego.
You can never be enough
for me.

Her heart wept.

Her werewolf, her lover, her man.

She drove the stake deeper. “As I said, you can always join
us.” She stretched out, brushing her foot over the bulge in his trousers.

He jerked back as though burned. The double images came back,
the wolf form intensifying in strength, its face contorting with pain into a
most fearsome visage.

Her heart was shattering, breaking into a million tiny pieces
with no hope for redemption.

He wrestled for control; it was there in the hard gritting of
his teeth, the resolute determination of his jaw, the way the image of the wolf
faded in and out as he sought to get the upper hand over his animal instincts.
In the end, he regained his human face, threw her a disgusted look and left,
slamming the door behind him.

No!
The crashing door brought home the finality of his
actions, and in that split second while the sound of the bang was still
reverberating in the room, she knew a moment’s panic.

“Wait!” Adrienne jumped up. Ignoring Lucien and Paul, she ran
into the living room and threw open the door. “Jake!”

He was nowhere in sight. From the staircase, she heard the
swift thud of leather shoes against the marble stairs.

“Jake.” She wanted to cry and rage and rail against fate for
the terrible joke it had played on her.

Lucien’s hand tugged on her arm. “Come back in, baby. We
haven’t finished playing yet.”

She wiped away the tears with the back of her hand. “Go away.
Both of you, pack up and leave.” When Paul touched her other arm, she screamed
at them, “I don’t want to have sex!”

A heavy object knocked into her from behind.

She fell, boneless, to the floor.

Darkness.

* * * * *

Adrienne slowly regained consciousness. Her mouth was dry,
and her tongue felt thick. She tried to move, but ... she couldn’t. As her
senses came back to her, she realized she was lying on the hard floor on her
left side and she was tied up like a trussed pig from her shoulders to her
legs, with her hands behind her.

Something had awakened her, some sound that had jogged her
from her unconscious state. She opened her eyes slowly. It was semi-dark. By
the fading sunlight filtering in through the boarded-up windows, she could make
out a cramped bed to one side and a table with two chairs. A small chest of
drawers stood next to the bed. There was a door on the far side of the room
that led to freedom. If she could get up.

She tried, but her legs wouldn’t obey her. They seemed to be
numb. And she couldn’t get purchase to move her body upright, tightly bound as
she was.

The most recent events flooded into her mind. She recalled
with mounting horror the incident that had led to her captivity. Lucien and
Paul had kidnapped her!

Were all the people around her out to get her?

She glanced down, noting with relief that they had at least
put some clothes on her, even if it was her oldest shirt and a mismatched
skirt.

There it was again, that rhythmic sound that must have
awakened her from her unconscious state. Adrienne held her breath, trying to
identify the noise and pinpoint its location. She frowned. It sounded like
someone sobbing, with slight hitching breaths, and it seemed to be coming from
the direction of the door, toward the far corner where the gloom was deeper
than in the rest of the room. She wasn’t alone.

Should she speak up? Maybe it was a fellow victim, and they
could devise an escape plan together. But what if it was a ruse to catch her
off guard?

She decided to risk it. “He-hello? Is anyone there?”

There was a slight catching of breath, then silence. Even the
sobs died away.

The door thrust open and the overhead light flared.

She flinched from the sudden brightness.

“Ah, our captive is awake!”

Adrienne shivered. She recognized that voice. The same voice
that had haunted her days and nights. She opened her eyes.

She didn’t recognize him, and his kindly features were
incongruent with the evil voice on the phone. Then she saw the maniacal glint
in his eyes.

He smiled.

It shouldn’t have scared her, but it did.

He strode across the room toward her, his gait excited and
sure. His fingers caught hold of her chin. He turned her face to the right and
then to the left, as if examining a pig bought for slaughter. She resisted, but
he was too strong for her. “You’re even prettier up close. I think I would
enjoy having you. I did say so the last time, didn’t I?”

She spat in his face.

His smile slid away. His face turned cold and hard. He took a
handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped her spit away. “You’ll pay for that
later.” He stood up and went to the darkened corner, hauling up a small body
like a sack of rice. He hurled it toward the two men standing at the doorway,
who stooped down as one to catch it. A high-pitched scream emitted from the
body the men had caught. “You did a good job, boys. Take her and go.”

They had been hiding in the shadows, but Adrienne saw them
when they moved. “Lucien, you bastard!” she shouted as much as her hoarse voice
would allow. “Why did you do this to me?”

Lucien’s handsome face showed his anguish. “I’m sorry,
Adrienne, but he took Lissa --”

“Enough!” The evil man thrust a gun in the men’s direction.
“Shut her up! You’ve done your job. Now go!”

Lucien clutched the small, wriggling girl to his chest,
muffling her screams against his chest. “Yes, sir, we’re going. We’re going.
Thank you, thank you, sir!”

Adrienne felt sick.

Lucien and Paul turned to leave.

Her eyes widened in horror as the trio hit the floor and lay
still. She turned her disbelieving gaze on her captor, looking at the gun in
his hand. “How could you kill them after they’ve done your dirty work for you?
And how could you kill that little girl? She was innocent in all this!”
Adrienne wanted to throw up at the thought of all the lives that had been lost
because of her.

The evil man chuckled as he blew at his smoking gun. “Very
easily.” He patted the gun and placed it on the table. “Very useful things,
these silencers.” He turned to her. “Now, as for you --”

There was one burning answer she needed, though it hurt her
to even voice the question. “Is Jake in your pay as well?”

He laughed, loud and hysterical. “Jake? Is that your lover’s
name? I’m afraid not. It was so funny to see you drive him out earlier. It
cleared the way for the boys to take you.”

A wild joy bloomed.
Jake didn’t betray her; Jake didn’t
betray her.
The chant went on and on in her head as a few tears of remorse
slid down her cheeks. Adrienne regretted being suspicious of Jake, for not
trusting in her instincts. She felt a pang of shame at her hurtful words.

Jake, Jake, Jake ... I’m sorry, sorry for doubting
you ...

She stuck her chin out, defiant. “What do you want?”

He went down on his haunches before her. He trailed one
finger over her chin. She shook her head, dislodging his finger. He grabbed her
chin. “Such a fierce slut. You’ve fucked with everyone, haven’t you?” His lips
ground down on hers, biting and drawing blood. “Your lover, your
masseurs ... Well, my cock will be the last to fill you before you meet
your end.”

“I’ll die first!”

“We’ll see.” His cold eyes looked at her contemplatively. He
stood up and rummaged in the drawers.

Adrienne closed her eyes.
Jake, Jake, if you can hear me,
please, I’m sorry.

“Now tell me: Where is David?”

Adrienne opened her eyes. Her captor once again stood over
her, and he had a wicked-looking pair of scissors in his hand. “What are you
going to do with those?”

A cruel smile came to his lips. “I’m going to cut you up,
piece by piece, until you spill out the answer.”