Zoe ran through the crowded yard and exhaled heavily when she made it to the front of the house without being stopped by any of Jack’s relatives. Her chest felt like it was crushing her lungs. She needed space and time to think.

By the time she stopped running and glanced around, she was disoriented.

“Perfect,” she muttered, still breathing heavy. She sat down on the curb and put her forehead to her knees. Could this day get any worse?

She looked up when a car took a sharp corner, squealing its tires. The black sedan stopped within inches of her knees and a dark figure shot out of the driver's side.

Shadows hid the man’s face, but his intent was clear. Zoe screamed when he jumped towards her. He covered her mouth with rough fingers, and dragged her by the waist.  She kicked and clawed, but the man only grunted.

Something hard hit the side of her face and her knees gave out.

The driver threw her into the back seat and raced to the front. Tires spun, gravel ticked the windows, and burned rubber stunk up the car. Outside, streetlights blurred by.  Inside, another man bound her wrists with plastic ties that cut her flesh.

Rage and terror whipped through her system. This couldn't be happening. Her heart raced and she squirmed towards the door. The latch was under her fingertips when the childproof locks engaged with a sharp click. Oh God. She was so screwed. In the rearview mirror, black, emotionless eyes stared back.

A tattooed man wearing a sick grin shimmied close and pinned her to the door. He had the same chin and light brown eyes as Jack and his brothers.

“Hello Zoe.” His voice was gravelly. “I’m sorry for the forced introduction, but it seems my cousin has been hogging you all to himself.”

Fresh fear seized her as she realized the man was Kyle. What had she been thinking leaving the party alone? She tried to push him away with her shoulder, but he was massive.

 “Let me go!” Her heart drummed in her ears.

“It’s not that simple.” He snickered and rubbed a large bulge under the zipper of his pants. His eyes took on a light of a man possessed. “Fight me, witch.”

“Jack said you’re already mated.” She flinched when his hand skimmed up her leg. “What do you need me for?”

“More is always better, especially when it belongs to Jack.” His fingers latched onto her thigh, tightly. “The girl is just a distraction until I get my real prize.”

He grabbed for her breasts but she bunched up and kneed him in the chest. The impact barely winded him. He chuckled and pulled her into his lap, forcing his mouth over hers. His breath was beyond foul. She gagged and bit his lip.

“You bitch!” He put a hand to a drip of blood running down his chin. His eyes grew even colder than before. “He hasn't fucked you, so I will.”

New fear seared her brain. “I won’t fight you.”

“You already are.” He leered and licked the blood off his fingers.

His heavy frame prevented her from squirming, but the second she broke free, she would scratch his eyes out.

“Trust me you’ll be begging me for more before the night is through.” He nestled his nose against her neck and inhaled deeply.

“Never.” With every ounce of strength she had left, she brought her forehead down hard against his nose. She felt cartilage crunch, and blood sprayed.  

“You’ll mate with me or you’ll wish you'd never been born.” His fingers tangled in her hair and he yanked her head back. “Not all warlocks are pussy-whipped like Jack. Some of us know how to get what we want.” 

The car swerved into a lot next to a dilapidated building. The word 'Nudies' lit the fog in red neon, along with 'Coors' and 'Bud Light.' 

Kyle leaned over and inhaled through his nose, as if snorting cocaine.

He tore open her shirt and grabbed her breast, pinching hard.

Rage blurred her vision. Zoe leaned back and zapped a bolt of energy towards him.

He sucked in his breath and his eyes dilated.

“Keep it coming, witch.”

The door opened and he dragged her by the hair out of the car.

Her scalp burned as she raced to keep pace. The sticky beer-soaked floor was actually a relief when he threw her down. She turned and her breath caught in her throat.

Finger-gun-man was standing in the corner. Her mind whirred but nothing made sense. Why would her stalker be here at the shore with Jack's cousin? He gazed at her, his expression giving nothing away. Then the corners of his lips drew up in a sickly grin.

Men gathered near. They leered at her with cold, emotionless eyes.

Kyle yanked her over to a pool table and slammed her face into the green felt. The wooden bumpers bruised her ribs when he pressed his weight against her. She tightened her lips, not giving him the satisfaction of crying out.

“C’mon witch, give it to me.” His belt buckle clinked, his fly zipped, and he zapped her with sick, nauseating energy.

Her head pounded and beads of sweat rolled down the side of her face. She stretched to the center of the table and curled her fingers around a pool cue. She'd pierce his brains through the eye and watch them spew out his ears.

“Release her,” a thickly accented voice demanded. Finger-gun-man. “She’s mine.” 

 She turned to look over her right shoulder, too frightened to watch, too frightened not to.

 “That wasn’t our agreement,” Kyle bit out.

“I lied.” The man shrugged, and with a burst of energy, pushed Kyle halfway across the room.

Screaming, Kyle raised his arm and sent a fiery ball into the chest of his nemesis. Finger-gun-man laughed with a kind of grunt. Lightning fast, a streak of black bolted across the room and Kyle was thrown to the floor. He rocked in a fetal position and wailed.

“Be happy I want your business or you would be dead.” Finger-gun-man turned to Zoe with that same smile that had haunted her for weeks. He slowly unzipped the fly of his designer suit.

The fear she had felt when Kyle had held her down was nothing compared to what she felt now.

“You’ve managed to unlock your powers.” His eyes twinkled and he licked his lips hungrily. “Good.”

“Get away from me.” Her voice was a rasp.

He slapped her so hard her ears pounded. “Fight me, witch.”

Ignoring every instinct to the opposite, she lay limp.

He cursed, threw her to the floor, and stomped a shoe between her breasts. A billion shards of pain emanated from that one point. She screamed and prayed for relief.

The edges of her vision darkened, and she was about to surrender to unconsciousness when static electricity sparked her arm hairs. Electrons flowed to her, inside her, and more joined until they overflowed. She thought she'd spontaneously combusted when an angry vortex zoomed out of her body. It spun sparks and gathered papers, trash, and empty beer bottles into its center core. It crackled as glass splattered. She willed it towards finger-gun-man who had already backed away towards Kyle.

“Zoe. No.” Was that Jack shouting? Where the hell had he come from? Without her concentration, the vortex fell apart and crashed to the floor.

Jack had a shotgun aimed squarely between finger-gun-man’s eyes. Josh, Jase, and his dad carried equally menacing weapons with long barrels pointed in different directions.

“One wrong move and I’ll castrate you,” Jack said. The muscles in his shoulder and neck bunched. 

 Zoe scrambled off the floor, held her shirt closed as best she could, and ran towards the door. Jack grabbed her arm and shoved her behind him.

“It doesn’t matter Jack,” Kyle screeched from the floor. “He’s more powerful than you. He’ll have her. You’ll see.”

Finger-gun-man gave Kyle a fierce scowl.

Jack covered the door and whistled to his brothers. With their fingers resting against the triggers, each slowly inched away. Jack never took his eyes off finger-gun-man as he eased out of the bar.

He motioned to Zoe. “Get in the car.”

“Jack–”

“Get-In-The-Car.”

* * *

 

Jack’s Neanderthal brain hovered at the surface, barely tethered. She'd summoned a vortex. If he hadn't arrived when he did, there would have been no stopping the foreplay. And that was one duel he would’ve lost.

“Are you mad at me?” All innocence and angels, she blinked at him. Damn her. She was shivering despite the warm evening. Good. She should be scared.

Without a word, he grabbed his leather jacket from the backseat and placed it on her legs. He didn’t trust himself to answer her.

They pulled up to his house and he put the gear in park, then got out of the car. He slammed the door so hard that a cat yowled and darted across the street.

“Who was that warlock? What are you up to?” he bit out through clenched teeth.

“Are you serious?”

“Stop playing games, Zoe.”

“Oh my God, you are! You tell me who he was.” Tears glittered in her eyes, and her hands fisted at her side. “You think I wanted this? Look at my face. My wrists. My clothes. Damn it, Jack, what is wrong with you? I was kidnapped and almost raped.”

Zoe swiped angrily at the tears that ran down her cheeks and dashed up the stairs of the Victorian mansion.

Raped? Fuck. He’d been so focused on what he had almost lost, that he had barely noticed her appearance. Shit, he could be such an asshole. He started to follow after her, but his brothers and father arrived. The men’s faces were drawn down in deep scowls as they got out of their vehicles.

Shit, there was no hiding Zoe’s secret any longer.

Jack started to speak, but his father put a hand up, stopping him.

They made their way to the backyard, silently. His mom and sisters waited there along with Olivia. The rest of the crowd had cleared out. It was obvious by the women’s expressions that someone had already informed them about what had happened.

Olivia stepped forward. “Where’s Zoe?”

“In the house.” Jack rubbed the back of his neck. “Can you see to her?”

She nodded, squeezed his hand in passing, then sprinted towards the yellow light of the kitchen. When the door opened, he swore he could hear Zoe’s sobs.

He had to go to her. Fix things. A clap of thunder stopped him in his tracks.

“What's going on?” His father poured a finger of scotch and took a gulp. He filled another, added ice, and handed it to Jack.

 “Kyle kidnapped her.”

“I got that much, son.”  His father stared without blinking and swished the gold liquid in his glass.

Jack glanced up at the light that went on in Zoe's bedroom. Olivia's profile was dark against the shade. He should be up there, not down here under the inquisition. Damn it, he wasn't a kid anymore.

The ever-blabber-mouth Kathy spilled the beans. “She's not trained. Clueless. Adopted. And part healer. Jack oathed with her before he knew anything about her.”

The thunder went to a rumble, the wind died, and the air was thick enough to pour into a glass.

Jack scratched at his scruff and stared into the astonished faces of his family. He unclenched his teeth so his jaw would stop ticking.

“You oathed with a complete stranger?” His father's all-knowing eyes lost nothing.

“Yes.” But she doesn't want me. Jack sat down at a table and white-knuckled his glass.

 “What aren't you telling us?” His father poured another drink, and gave Kathy a look that indicated she wasn't to speak.

His mom, dad, Kathy and brothers watched him. Jack shifted uncomfortably under their scrutiny.

“Last night, I was patrolling the bars with Stan and Josh. Looking for underage mating. I got hit with an assassin's energy. God-almighty powerful. Thought I'd bought it. Olivia left Zoe in charge. She healed me, but she's warring. She must be some kind of half-breed.” 

His mother did a sign for warding off evil.

“Who was the man with the accent?” Josh paced and felt for a pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket.

Jack wasn't going to remind him that he'd quit years ago. “I don't know.”

“But you suspect?” Kathy said, crossing her arms.

Oh yeah, he suspected. He suspected that Zoe had a secret lover. Someone that cared enough to follow her to the shore. Someone who was going to claim her as his own unless Jack convinced her otherwise.

“I think she knows him.” There’d been an undeniable flash of recognition in her face. And she’d been willing to fight him. Jack cringed at the thought. If he hadn’t stopped her, the night would have gone a hell of a lot worse.

“I'll make coffee.” His mom walked by him and squeezed him on the shoulders. Kathy followed.

His father stared out at the crashing waves, then turned to Jack. “So you think you can mate with this part-healer?” 

Jack ignored the insulting tone, stood, and met his father's icy stare. “I'm counting on it, sir.”

“Then go upstairs and fix this, son. Take her before someone else does.”

His father was right. But it was easier said than done. There was too much at stake, and he wasn’t even sure the woman liked him, let alone wanted him for a mate.

Upstairs, he tapped on the bedroom door. He could hear the old shower humming from the bedroom bathroom.

Olivia opened the door and slipped out of the bedroom. She gave him a quick hug, then pulled back shaking her head.

“How is she?” Jack asked.

“Pretty shaken up. Stay out here until she invites you in. She needs to feel in control.” Liv patted his arm. “Don’t fuck this up any more than you already have.”

Jack sat down on the floor and rested the back of his head on the doorframe. Downstairs, he could hear his family arguing. Eventually everyone left, but the shower continued to hum, barely drowning out Zoe’s sobs.

Nearly a half hour later, the shower finally turned off and he heard the bathroom door scrape open.

He stood and knocked softly. “Open up, Zoe, I need to talk to you.”

“Leave me alone.”

Jack paced. Don't screw up. Take her before someone else does. How the hell was he supposed to do both? She wasn’t prepared to mate with him, and even if she was, he doubted she wanted to after tonight.

He took a deep breath, placed his forehead on the door and tried again. “Tell me what happened.” 

Her footsteps crossed the room, but the door remained closed. He could hear her uneven breathing and soft sniffles.

“Zoe, talk to me.”

A heavy slap sounded on the other side of the door and he jumped.

“You want to know what happened?” Her voice rose with each word she spoke, anger laced with fear. “I took a walk and got abducted by your drugged up cousin. While he had me pinned to a table, the stalker guy oathed with me.” Her voice shook, and a small sob sounded behind the door. “Now you know and can go away–I'm going home.”

“Stalker? What stalker?” He pounded on the heavy oak. “Open the damn door.”

“I'm done being a pawn for oversexed warlocks. Go away. I'm not mating with anyone.” She spit out the word like a curse.

“Angel, what do you need?” He placed his hands on both sides of the doorframe and closed his eyes. How was he ever going to make this right?

“Besides getting out of here?” Her voice lowered so that he could barely hear her words. “Ice. My face hurts like hell.”

Jack raced into the kitchen and grabbed a bag of peas out of the freezer, then bounded back up the stairs. “I have something for your face. Open the door, Zoe.”

The key rattled a couple of times, and she cracked a tiny opening and stared down at the handle with furrowed brows. “It wasn't locked.”

His gut wrenched at the puffy welts on her cheek and the swollen eye that stared through the slit. The baggy sweatshirt and sweatpants made her look young, vulnerable. He ached to gather her into his arms until all the ugly was gone, but he would let her make that first move.

“I’m taking you down to the police station so you can press charges.” He handed her the peas.

“A slap on the wrist for them and severe embarrassment for me?” She placed the makeshift ice pack on her swollen face. “I don't think so. Besides, I thought this behavior was normal for you guys.”

Jack held back the curse forming on his lips. “The woman has to be willing. He tried to rape you.”

“I wasn’t willing the other night with you.”

“That’s not fair. I didn’t know that you didn’t know the rules. I thought you were willing. Besides, you said you wanted me. Don’t you dare compare me to him.”

“I know.” She opened the door wider.

He scrubbed his fingers through his hair. “I'm so sorry about how I acted in the car. I thought you were going to mate with him.”

“Why would you think that? They’re foul beyond words.” She shut her eyes and hid her face behind the frozen bag, then cringed and pulled it off. “It hurts when I do that.”

He placed his hand gently over hers and placed the peas back over her eye.

“You were going to share yourself. I saw your vortex.” He tried to keep his tone soft, gentle. Still, the words came out harsher than he’d intended.

“I didn't want him. He hit me. Tried to force me to fight.” Zoe's hand shook.

“I know that now. I screwed up.” He tilted her chin with his thumb and forced her to look at him. “Forgive me?”

“Yes.” She fell into him, tiny shakes amplifying to a crescendo of full-bodied sobs. Words of anguish poured out like an awful crossword puzzle. He tried to make sense of it. Who was finger-gun-man? What awful nightmare was she reliving? Some words sounded like tonight but some held the weight of an older issue. In between tormented cries, her body struggled to rasp in air.

He lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed, laying down beside her. His throat tightened and his eyes watered while he listened to her litany. Finally, her sobbing turned into little hiccups. What nightmare had this woman lived through?

“It’s going to be all right. I won’t let them hurt you again.” He brushed her damp hair away from her tear-stained cheek.

She reached up wide-eyed and touched where he hadn't been able to hold back a tear. What had this woman done to him? He was supposed to convince her to mate with him and save his family for another generation, not cry for her.

Jack took her hand away from his face and kissed her fingertips. “I think there’s a lot going on in that head of yours. Who was the warlock, Zoe?”

“I don’t want to talk about it now.” She wrapped her arm around him, while they lay side to side, and clung to him like a lifeline.

He captured her gaze. She was so beautiful, even all puffy and red.

Her eyes focused on his mouth and she inched forward.

“Zoe.” He lowered his lips and brushed the top of hers. He could do this. Hold back the mating. For her, he could do anything.  He kissed her forehead, then the tip of her nose. He needed her to understand how much he cared. That’s what she needed—to feel safe.

She opened her eyes, dark and dilated, and he moaned. He tried to move away but she reached behind his head, tangled her fingers in his hair, and rested her plush lips upon his. He tried to notch his attraction down. This was all about her. About comfort. Not sex. Her mouth moved on his and he shared a chaste close-mouthed kiss. The sweetness mixed with the solstice lust had to be the best and worst torture ever. 

“I have to leave now.” He touched a lock of hair that had fallen into her eyes.

“Don’t go.”

Goosebumps shot down his spine and blood rushed to his cock. Her lips pressed against his. When he gasped, her tongue raked across his teeth, then pushed into his mouth.

His balls tightened painfully, the tormenting ache increasing. Her hips jerked towards him, begging for more. He clenched his teeth, but he couldn’t hold back the groan that rumbled from his chest.

Around them, the air electrified.

God help him, he couldn’t let her go. But he needed to get out of there before he destroyed them both. She wasn’t strong enough to fight him, especially not after tonight.

“Jack,” she moaned, when he drew back from the kiss.

He let his lips linger on hers a moment longer, then gritted his teeth, and unlocked his arms from around her.

“Get some rest,” he said from the door. They’d both need their strength for what he had planned for them tomorrow.