His cheeks slanted down to sharp, chiseled jaws, full lips, and a straight but not overly big nose. And his eyes--she'd never seen eyes quite that midnight shade of blue. The scars on the right side of his face had definitely been the result of some wicked claws. The angry, puckered white edges looked similar to some of the scars she wore.
He didn't wince or try to hide from her scrutiny, and she quickly became aware that this was a man whose vanity did not stretch far enough to make him insecure with such scars. In fact, he wore the damn things like a badge. She hated to admit it, but it would take more than a few scars to detract from his hotness. In fact, it added a mysterious air of danger to his already dominant masculinity.
His body was something no woman would ignore, a body that was drool-worthy. Her mouth went dry when she thought about the way he'd pinned her to the ground. He'd done it with such ease, but hadn't left a mark on her. He could have killed, raped, or done anything he'd wanted to her. Why hadn't he? And why was she ogling and eye praising the thing she despised most in the world? She hadn't met a man who had piqued her interest in a long time, and now she was mooning over a damned lycan.
"Where do you live?" he asked as he maneuvered the truck over the snowy roads with expert ease.
She didn't answer him, and he let out an exasperated breath. Good. Let him get pissed at her. She neither wanted to get to know him nor participate in idle chitchat with him. The only interest she had was to get the hell away from him, maybe even kill him before she escaped. That would teach him to mess with her. She knew right then and there she was not going to keep her word. The first chance she got, she'd run.
"You don't need to make this more difficult than it already is." His voice was laced with a mix of sarcasm and irritation.
"You're the one who's making this hard. There is no reason I need to be here. Let me go, and we can both forget this whole mess."
He pulled over to the side, and for a split second she thought he was actually going to let her go, but her hope died a quick death with his next words.
"This whole mess is deeper than you know. If I let you go, you'll be right back out in those woods continuing your reckless ways. Not to mention I'm fairly certain you'll be hunting my ass again the first chance you get, and now that you've seen what that will get you, I'll save myself the damned trouble. You don't understand the situation. I have a job to do in the area, and I can't be worried about protecting you. I can't afford the distraction."
"You don't know me. There is no reason for you to be worried about protecting me. Besides, in case you haven't noticed," she said through clenched teeth, "I can take care of myself."
"In case you haven't noticed"--he pushed his face toward her until their breaths intermingled--"you failed taking care of yourself when I caught you. You are lucky I'm not a rogue, or your bloody hide would no doubt be lying back in those woods right now. Is that what you want?"
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