Chapter 3 Rescued And Tempted

Elena's POV

The rain hammered down harder, drumming against the shelter as if it knew I was trapped.

The three men spread out slowly around me, blocking the light and the air. Their eyes moved over me with mischief, and my heart pounded hard.

Oh God, I need help! I prayed.

"Well now, what do we have here?" one drawled without any trace of kindness in his smile. "All by yourself in this little hideaway."

The second chuckled, a low, ugly sound. "And dressed like that. A bit obvious, don't you think?"

My fingers clenched around the jacket as I pressed myself harder against the concrete wall.

"Stay back," I warned, forcing steel into my voice despite the tremor threatening to betray me. "I don't want any trouble."

They exchanged glances, amusement flickering in their eyes.

"Trouble?" The first one scoffed. "Who said anything about trouble? We're just here to keep you company."

My heart kept pounding so loud I was sure they could hear it. I glanced around, searching for an opening, any way out. There was none. Yet I decided to push through.

The moment I tried to run past them, one of them stepped in front of me, fast and effortless. "Not so quick," he said.

I turned the other way but was locked again. My breath came in sharp gasps as panic set in. Then a pair of hands grabbed the jacket.

"Let go!" I shrieked, but they yanked it away, the fabric slipping from my grasp. Cold air hit my rain-soaked skin. The sleeveless dress clung to me like a second skin, translucent and obscenely revealing.

"Damn," the first man breathed, his gaze raking over me with naked hunger. "Look at you. Playing hard to get in that?"

The second laughed outright, his eyes crawling over every curve. "Wandering around dressed like a wet dream, and you expect us to believe you're innocent?"

Shame scalded me, hotter than any fear. I wrapped my arms around myself, trembling violently. "It's not what you think!" I snapped. "Stay away from me!"

They didn't stay away. They advanced.

I swung wildly, trying to connect with anything-a face, a throat, anything to fight back. But I was human, and they were wolves. I never stood a chance.

One caught my wrist, twisting it behind my back with brutal efficiency. Pain shot through my shoulder.

"Let me go!" I screamed, thrashing.

The second stepped in, grabbing my waist, his fingers digging into my skin. "Relax," he murmured against my ear. "We're just having a little fun."

I kicked. I fought. I threw everything I had into breaking free. It was useless. I was shaking, soaked, weak.

"Help!" I screamed again, my voice cracking with terror. "Someone help me!"

Their laughter echoed. "Who's listening?" one mocked. "Everyone's at that big wedding ceremony."

Tears streamed down my face, mixing with the rain. Fear crushed my chest, making it impossible to breathe. I squeezed my eyes shut, praying-begging-for something, anyone to save me.

One of them reached for my thigh.

Then-

"Get your hands off her. Now."

The next few moments blurred into chaos.

One rogue was hurled aside as if he weighed nothing. Another screamed as he hit the ground with a sickening crunch. The third didn't even have time to flee. Eric moved with lethal precision-no wasted motion, no mercy-only raw, devastating power. When it was over, the rogues groaned and scrambled away, crawling into the rain like the vermin they were.

Then he turned to me.

The fury in his eyes banked slightly as they found mine.

And my legs gave out.

Strong arms caught me before I hit the ground, pulling me against a solid chest. I clutched his coat without thinking, my fingers digging in as my body shook.

"I've got you," he said quietly.

I couldn't stop trembling. The cold had seeped into my bones, and my head felt light. His hand brushed my forehead, his touch suddenly urgent.

"You're burning up," he muttered. "Damn it."

He lifted me easily, holding me close as if I weighed nothing at all.

I buried my face against his chest, drawing in his warmth. His scent surrounded me and made everything else fade away.

"Keep your eyes open, Elena," he said with quiet force.

I managed a weak nod, holding onto him like he was my only lifeline. He carried me toward the car with steady strides.

"Closest hospital," he told the driver. "Move fast."

The door slammed shut, sealing out the storm. I was still shaking-violently, uncontrollably. Ice ran through my veins while my head throbbed with feverish heat.

"Stop moving," he instructed.

I tried to obey, I really did. But my body had its own agenda. My fingers found him again, fisting in the fabric of his shirt, pulling myself closer to the furnace of his body.

"I'm so cold." The whisper escaped me, pathetic and small.

His breath caught. Then he was stripping off his jacket, draping it over me, his hands lingering a heartbeat longer than necessary as he tucked it around my shoulders.

"There," he breathed. "That'll warm you."

But the jacket wasn't enough. It only made me want to burrow deeper, closer. My grip on his shirt tightened, and I pressed myself against him, seeking more of that heat.

His jaw clenched. "You're not helping matters."

For reasons I couldn't begin to explain, his scent wrapped around me like an incantation, a spell I had no power to break. Eric's jacket had chased away the cold, but it had done something far more dangerous-it had scrambled my senses entirely. I craved more warmth. More of him.

Before I knew what I was doing, I was moving closer, climbing into his lap, straddling him as if it were the most natural thing in the world. As if my body recognized something my mind refused to accept.

"Elena." His voice was a warning-low, rough, strained to breaking. "Don't."

I barely heard him. The world had shrunk to the rhythm of his breathing, the thunder of his heart beneath my palm, the overwhelming presence of him filling every corner of my consciousness.

When my lips found his, something snapped.

He cursed-a raw, guttural sound-and then the privacy divider was sliding up, sealing us in a cocoon of darkness and heat. His pheromones flooded the space, thick and intoxicating, making my head spin and my bones ache with a sweet, unfamiliar longing. My kiss was clumsy, desperate, but it triggered something primal in him.

Every last thread of his control unraveled.

He hauled me closer, devouring my mouth with a hunger that spoke of years of restraint finally shattered. A moan escaped me-shameful, wanton-and my body responded in ways I'd never experienced. Pleasure rippled through me, sharp and overwhelming. Even with Mark, I'd never felt this-never this wild, this consuming, this utterly lost in another person.

I arched against him, grinding down, drunk on the heat building between us.

Eric matched my fervor, deepening the kiss as his hands explored, finding every place that made me weak, made me ache. His fingers slid between my thighs, parting me, finding the evidence of my arousal through the impossibly thin scrap of fabric that passed for underwear. A low growl rumbled in his chest as he hooked a finger beneath the delicate material, tugging-

The car stopped.

"Sir." The driver's voice filtered through, oblivious. "We've arrived."

The spell shattered.

Eric went rigid beneath me, every muscle locking as if doused in ice water. Then he was pulling back, his expression shuttering so completely it was as if a door had slammed shut between us.

"That should not have happened," he said, his voice rough gravel.

I wanted to ask why. I wanted to understand how we'd gone from that-from fire-to this frozen distance in the span of a heartbeat.

But the world was tilting, my vision blurring at the edges...

And then everything went dark.