Tara's Fate

Chapter 6

Tara heard the key turn in the door and quickly stepped away from the door. She was covered in a fresh layer of sweat and panted heavily. She had exhausted herself banging on the door and screaming at the top of her lungs, even though she had known at the back of her mind that it was pointless.

He opened the door but didn’t step into the room. Martin looked at her up and down before he settled his eyes on her face. Her heart was beating so hard he could hear it from where he stood.

The room was now saturated with the scent of her sweat and rage. Martin did not dare step into the room. That would have been daring the devil. No, he stood just outside the room where the air still held enough hint of books and pack to give him a semblance of control.

“I guess we have exhausted your good manners,” he murmured softly.

“How dare you?” she asked, enraged. Tara took a shaky step forward towards him with her hand raised and her forefinger pointing at him in accusation. “I don’t deserve to be treated like some unruly animal. You can’t just lock me up like this.”

Martin took in her unsteady movements and guessed the woman was probably hungry, thirsty, and tired. That was not taking into account the fact that she was also very pissed.

“Ms. Winslow, calm down before you hurt yourself.”

His words stopped her in her tracks. She lowered her hand and regarded him suspiciously. “You… you know who I am?”

“Only in name.”

Tara took a step back, creating a larger distance between them. “Who are you?”

Martin looked at her for a moment. He moved forward and leaned his body against the door frame in a deceptively relaxed manner. “I thought we already covered that… my name is Martin.”

A moment passed in silence. Tara looked at the man leaning against the door frame. Martin, she repeated in her mind. He had mentioned it earlier, but she had been too focused on the locked door to give it much thought.

Now she looked at Martin and acknowledged the man fit his name. Tara decided to reason with the man. “Martin, I think there has been an enormous misunderstanding. I don’t know what you think is going on, but I have nothing to do with it. Please, just let me go. I won’t even tell anyone about you or this place, I promise.”

Martin’s eyes narrowed. He fought the impulse to allow them to glow with his wolf. “And who exactly were you planning to tell about this place?”

“No one. Please… I just need to leave this place.”

He heard the sincere tone of pleading in her voice. It gave him a pause and his anger went down a few degrees. He tilted his head to the side and regarded her for a moment.

Tara looked on and said a silent prayer that the man would feel pity for her and let her go. Her heart was beating so hard she could hear every beat in her ears. It was quickly turning into white noise. She clenched her hands, then released them again as she tried to calm down and she waited for the man to respond. Hoping it would be a positive response.

But when he finally spoke, Tara’s heart fell. “Answer the one question I have asked you more than twice already. What were you doing in the forest?”

Tara bit her lip hard enough to bleed. It was all she could do in an effort to stop herself from screaming in frustration. Her sister was the only family she had left in the world. She was not going to mention her sister and risk exposing her to danger until she was sure it was safe. And Martin did not inspire confidence in her. Not with the look on his face or the treatment he had given her so far.

Honest good men did not walk around the forest naked and abduct lost women. They also did not live in mysterious small communities in the middle of nowhere. The man was handsome enough to feature in wet dreams, but that did not mean she could trust him.

Tara took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. She realized the problem with telling a lie was once you told it; you had to stick with it. She could tell him her car had broken down and she had been walking to the next town. That was the truth without mentioning why she had been traveling in the first place. But she had already told him she had been exploring and Tara suspected changing the version would create more problems than actually solving some.

“I was out exploring and I lost my way,” she told him quietly, sticking to her story, come rain or storm.

Martin remained calm and neutral. Outwardly nothing changed, but inside he was disappointed and angry. She had lied, and he knew it. He gave her a tight smile. “It was a good thing I found you then. You were definitely ill equipped for a day of exploration in the forest. I mean… without a map or GPS device. Not even enough water, first aid kit or any other safety gear.”

Tara blinked and stared as the man stepped forward, closing the distance between them. “You can’t keep me here,” she told him quietly.

“I agree,” the man replied before he swiftly lifted her off the floor and threw her over his shoulder, and stormed out of the back room.

For the second time in a space of mere hours, Tara was once again breathless, speechless, and disoriented as the man carried her over his shoulder like she weighed next to nothing.

This time his chest was covered by the t-shirt, but that did not mean she did not try to inflict as much hurt on him as she could as soon as rage over powered shock. However, this time, the damage was minimal. She was tired and weak. Even her voice lacked the heat and perseverance of the first round they had played the same scenario.

In short, by the time Martin stepped out of the library, Tara was quiet and just a body over his shoulder.

She tried to lift her head and look around, but the effort made her dizzy and everything was blurry, especially with the dark of night surrounding them. So she just hung her head and waited for whatever the man had in store for her.

After a few steps, Martin’s steps changed and Tara realized they had reached another building. Within seconds, the man walked through a door and continued walking with purpose.

From the little she could make out, Tara could tell they were in a house. She caught a glimpse of a living room and kitchen just before they turned a corner and the man deposited her on the cold hard floor of a bedroom.

Tara’s first reaction was to scramble as far away from Martin as possible. Suddenly, the possibility that she might be with a r****t and murderer flew through her head, leaving her pale and shaking. She hugged her knees to her chest and glared at him. “Stay away from me.”

The scent of her fear was hard to miss. It filled the air like a foul smell. Martin took a step away from her. He didn’t need to be a mind reader to imagine what could have crossed her mind.

They were in the spare room in his house, but he doubted mentioning that would help much, so he kept the information to himself.

Just then, Kent entered the house and joined Martin at the door of the room. His friend looked into the room at the woman trying to squeeze herself between the bed and the chest of drawers. She looked about ready to have a panic attack.

Kent frowned and gave Martin a sideways glance. “Maybe I should have offered a tranquilizer or sedative instead of condoms and pills,” he murmured low enough only for Martin to hear.

The Alpha shot him a cold glare. “Shut it.”

Kent raised a hand in apology and held his tongue for a whole ten seconds. “She is pretty, though.”

Martin growled and turned to face his beta fully. His beast wanted to give Kent a beating to let him know Tara was out of bounds. Martin pushed the beast down and allowed his brain to do a lot of rational thinking.

“Your presence is not required for the rest of the evening,” Martin told Kent through clenched teeth.

Martin could almost see the smart response forming in Kent’s eyes, and he growled in warning. The warning was enough to keep Kent’s mouth shut. He gave him a nod and left the house after dropping the bags of groceries in the doorway to the kitchen.

Martin waited until Kent was gone, and the door was closed before he turned back and faced Tara. The woman was still trembling and squeezing herself in the nonexistent space between the bed and the chest of drawers.

He sighed and took a step into the room. “I liked you better when you had some fight in you,” he told her with a look of disapproval on his face. “I suggest you get a bath while I get you something to eat. Then we will continue our discussion where we left off.”

Tara didn’t move from where she had positioned herself. “We have nothing to discuss, just let me go… please… I beg you.”

Martin took a few more steps and crouched down in front of her. “Tara, as much as I like a woman begging me… I like it more when it takes place in bed. So don’t waste your breath. Have a bath and we will talk.”

The mention of begging and bed disrupted some of Tara’s thoughts of fear for a moment. She looked at him and blinked as though she had just been shocked by a bucket of icy water pour over her. Her mouth fell open on a soft gasp and a shudder ran through her body. She could very much imagine that the man got a whole lot of begging in bed.

She didn’t know why the thought of Martin in bed with other women gave her such an ugly feeling in the pit of her stomach, but it did. Tara clenched her jaw tightly. She had to get away from the man. Her focus should be on finding her sister and not how many women Martin took to his bed for a session of begging.

“I told you, you are mistaken. I was just lost…”

“No,” Martin interrupted her. “You are the one who is mistaken. I can tell you are lying. And from my experience, only people who have something to hide… lie. I want the truth, Tara, and you will tell me the truth.”

He stood up and returned to the door. “But for now, I will allow you to have a bath and some food. However, be warned… My hospitality will only stretch that far. And my patience as well. Lie to me again and you will have a genuine reason to be petrified, Tara Winslow.” He left and closed the door behind him.