Was she losing her mind? Probably.

Willow pulled on her shoes with a big yawn. Damn if the Alpha didn’t like to wake up at the crack of dawn. Hadn’t he ever heard of sleeping in?

“So, where are you taking me?”

Lyonis grimaced as he turned to her. “Actually I’m afraid we’ll have to wait on my plans. I need to run the perimeter and check in on the scouts, see if they found anything.” Willow’s stomach sunk. Right, it was easy to forget that a young girl was missing when her mind still hadn’t started working yet.

“What am I supposed to do? God, you know, I really don’t need to be here for any of this. I don’t need to be here at all.” Lyonis laughed softly at her and knelt in front of her at the bed. His hands grabbed her just above the knee and it took everything in her not to spread her legs open in some kind of offering. His large hands easily swallowed up her thighs as if they were twigs and not round with muscle.

His voice turned serious. “I’m sorry about this; this wasn’t how I envisioned this process going.” Willow smirked at him.

“And just how did you envision it, Oh Great Alpha?” His hands curved inward, grasping her inner thighs over her pajama pants. Willow’s gut tightened reflexively, her new succubus side roaring awake. She hadn’t fed in two days. Two very long days.

“I made promises to you in Germany. Promises I planned to keep.” The sound of his voice made her shiver. “I think I’ll still make good on them, but these new...developments in the pack make things difficult.”

“You can say that again,” she muttered. Again, his laughter trickled over her, and again it felt good to hear the sound. His thumbs rubbed a circular path into her thighs, coaxing a need from deep within her.

“Before I go to work, I suppose you need a reminder of what I’d promised. Of what I still plan to do, my Willow.”

“No, no, that’s all right,” she said quickly. She threw up her hands to push him away but he came over her anyways, pushing her back into the mattress. The weight of him sunk her into the comforter; the heat of him melted her.

His lips trailed over her neck in a light, teasing touch. Willow slammed her eyes shut as her breath caught at the warm silky touch. She felt his warm breath on her a moment before his teeth bit into the cord of her muscle. Reflexively, or on purpose, she didn’t know but she grabbed onto his back and held on for dear life.

The moment he released her, he spoke in low, dark words. “I’m going to master you, Willow. I’m going to take your body in every way I want, whenever I want. I’m going to have you on your knees before me sucking my cock before you lift your beautiful ass for me.”

Willow felt dazed at his words, cocooned in the heat and scent of him. One hand moved under her to cup her ass, and then he was pressing his fingers between her cheeks. The touch was so hot it scalded her.

She gasped. “What are you doing?”

The touch felt good but scandalous. A part of her wanted to push him away while the other, hungrier part, wanted to arch against him.

 “Damn I don’t want to go. I want to stay in bed with you all day. Be a good woman today and go talk with the pack. They’re curious about you.”

“I bet,” she grumbled. He laughed at her then kissed her quick on the mouth. He said one last goodbye then left. If she wasn’t careful this would start to feel like some kind of fucked up relationship.

Willow flung herself back on the bed, ran a hand between her legs, and cursed.

“That son of a bitch gets me revved up on purpose.” Wait, was that what he was doing? Wooing her via her hormones? It wasn’t like she had a choice either. If she wanted to live she needed to feed someway. Growling, Willow scrubbed her hands over tired eyes and got out of bed.

God dammit, if she was going to stay here and do this then she was going to do it her way, not his. He wasn’t going to dominate her. If it were the last thing she did, she wouldn’t submit to him.

Willow grabbed a jacket out of her backpack and left the cabin. Cool air had settled over the town during the night and the dark, cloudy sky hinted that snow would be upon them soon. She’d need to go shopping if she was going to stay here much longer. Her meager backpack items wouldn’t last her a month in this winter. Just to think, if he hadn’t caught her she could be in her new Florida summer home left to her by Papa. Those times almost seemed like ages ago now. Oh God, what was she thinking? She was losing her mind even contemplating this stuff.

Willow kicked a rocked off the road and stomped down towards the pack’s houses. She hesitated for a moment outside of Bitchy Amy’s place. Talk about a woman who couldn’t let go. If a man didn’t want you, then why didn’t she move on already? Aside from her shitty attitude, Willow didn’t see anything wrong with her.

Deciding to check out the town, she skipped the houses and walked the couple of miles into Lyonis’ homemade town. The smell of sweet pastries and fresh made bread teased her senses as she passed next to a bakery. The woman behind the register caught her glance through the glass and waved happily at her. Willow hesitantly stuck up her arm and waved back. The woman almost bounced with joy.

“Weird people,” she muttered and continued on. A clothing store caught her attention next. It was about half the size of the department store she usually used back home, but she needed clothes.

She grunted with approval as she stepped inside the store. She found the winter coat aisle and immediately started grabbing items in her size. She didn’t care much what they looked like—anything simple made her happy. As she stepped in line to pay the cashier smiled wildly at her with a mischievous look in her eye.

“Hello there, I’m Stacy. Everyone calls me Stacy P. because there’s another Stacy too, and we’re only a year apart and we get mixed up a lot. So you’re Willow, huh? Quite the beauty too, and strong. You know I’m not surprised Lyonis was fated with someone like yourself. I always say a strong man needs and even stronger woman to keep him in line, you know what I mean?” She snorted and giggled, never once stopping from ringing up items...or taking a breath.

Willow closed her mouth and tried to think of something to say. How the hell can the woman say so much but she couldn’t think of one thing to say back?

“Um, it’s nice to meet you, Stacy.”

“That’s Stacy P,” she corrected with a wink and a smile. Willow smiled back at her. She couldn’t help it. The woman was probably in her early thirties and she had a hair of curly blood hair that bobbed every time she talked.

She rang up the last item and said, “That’ll be a hundred and four dollars even. Whew, that never happens. You know my momma used to say that was a sign of good luck.” Willow gave her a tight-lipped smile as she patted her back pocket.

“Shit.” She forgot she didn’t have any money. She had a twenty on her and that was it. She swore that ever since she got to this town, it was like she was living in a surreal world. One in which she was captive.

“I’m afraid I made a mistake. I forgot to take more money out of the bank.” Ire rose quick and hot. It was his fault. If she hadn’t been woman-napped from Europe then she’d be free to leave and stop at an ATM and be sunbathing at the ocean right now instead of buying freaking winter clothes.

Stacy P’s eyes lit up even brighter. “Not to worry! I’ll put it on the Alpha Lyonis’ account.” Willow frowned; the thought of owing him money like tar in her gut.

“No, thanks. I think I’ll just wait until I can stop at a bank.” Willow started to leave but the woman stopped her. She held out the bag of clothes to her and lifted her chin high.

“No, I insist. Take them; you’ll need it since the cold weather’s coming in. I promise he won’t mind at all.” She giggled like she just told a joke that only she got.