Samantha

Brutes. Self-righteous assholes. Many more insults came to mind while I was faking being unconscious and was eavesdropping on the men's conversation.

I couldn't deny that without their help I would have been kidnapped by the hyenas. But that didn't give them the right to kidnap me themselves. Being my fated mates didn't justify their actions because I had not accepted their claim. Even if I were bearing their mating marks, that still wouldn't give their wishes precedence over mine. And I'd made my wishes clear in that underground parking lot.

Yet here I was, on their pride's territory and lying in Sebastian's bed of all places. There was no mistaking his strong, musky scent on the sheets after having been pressed against him on the ride here.

To my shame, I liked his scent; in fact, my tigress would rub herself in it if she could. That might be the reason why I had managed to remain calm after regaining consciousness halfway through the ride here. Instead of panicking and uselessly fighting my captors, I had gathered information about them that would help me in my escape plan.

I now knew Eric was not someone I should worry about on my way out of here. He'd stood up to Sebastian for me. Despite being treated poorly by the tiger throughout the ride, Eric had expressed gratitude for the help against the top hyena before exiting the bedroom to call his sister. He was a good guy.

Dean I had a mixed understanding of. He had been nice and welcoming to Eric, when my kind was known to be hostile towards members of other shifter groups. Dean had tried to rein in his fellow enforcer's caveman-ish tendencies towards me. Yet, the jaguar had ultimately let his friend run the show.

As for Sebastian... There was no doubt left in me he was going to be the biggest obstacle to my escape. There would be no going through this 6.5-feet-tall wall of solid muscles. No persuading the possessive, hard-headed tiger to let me go. At this point, I could think of only one way to deal with him, unless Dean took my side against him.

Before leaving the room to take a shower, Sebastian had told Dean my place was not in the jaguar's bedroom because "the room of a neat freak is better than that of a slob". So Mr. Caveman was also crazy about order in his living space. So if I unleashed pandemonium in his bedroom and the rest of the apartment, Sebastian just might show me to the door himself...

Yeah, I hoped I wouldn't have to resort to that ridiculous option.

Right now I was going to try the "divide and conquer" option.

It was just me and Dean in the bedroom at the moment. Technically, he was in the en suite bathroom, having left with a whispered, "Damn, I want to kiss her so badly." But I had no doubt he would be back any minute as Sebastian had instructed him to keep an eye on me at all times in case I woke up.

I used the limited time by myself to explore my surroundings.

A bedside lamp shed soft light in the room. There was a wardrobe to my right and a big armchair opposite the bed. A desk to my left was covered in neat piles of books and magazines with a laptop in between. There were no clothes littering the floor, no personal possessions lying around – this was the tidiest bachelor pad I'd ever seen.

I rolled swiftly across the king-size bed and went to check the window behind the desk.

It was barred, of course. It was still my unluckiest day ever, after all. Plus, no shifter enforcers would leave their home vulnerable to an attack from the street.

"Oh. You're awake."

I turned to find Dean by the bathroom door. He'd sounded hesitant but as my gaze met his, an easy smile spread across his bruised face.

"How do you feel, sweetie?"

When he called me that, as if he knew me and cherished me, my tigress purred in my mind. But I wasn't so gullible. "Let me see... Abducted. Kidnapped. Taken against her will. Should I continue?"

He winced. "Yeah, you're right: my question was idiotic. I meant to ask if you're in pain? Can I get you a painkiller? Water? Something to eat?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "All I need is in my car, but you're not going to take me back there, are you?"

His smile turned apologetic. "I'm sorry. We weren't planning on bringing you here by force. We wanted to talk to you, offer you to join our pride, get to know you..."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "So you wanting those things justifies the use of illegal means to find out where I live? Right after you saw what I wanted was to be left alone? Or was running from you not clear enough?"

He scratched his thick and broad chest, covered in a deep-green T-shirt that suited his complexion perfectly.

"Actually, it was a cop who gave us your address, so we did nothing illegal. And it's a good thing we showed up when we did, right?"

"Yes. You were right on time... to block my escape route. Otherwise I would have made it out of there on my own." Or not. The criminals might have caught up with me regardless. But my current kidnappers didn't need to know that.

"But..." Dean's mouth opened and closed a couple of times in search of the right words.

I actually found his insecurity adorable. Darn it.

"But we saved you in the end, didn't we? We also called our pride member in the police when we saw you were being attacked, to ensure those bastards would get arrested after we were done with them. Doesn't that win us some brownie points, sweetie?"

I took a deep breath in. "It depends on what you plan to do next. Am I your prisoner?"

"What?! No, no, no, of course not! You're here because... because it's safe. Yeah. You needed protection and you were hurt and... Yeah, that's why."

I suppressed a smile at his babbling. He clearly felt guilty about what he and his friend had done. That did win Dean a brownie point in my book. But that didn't mean I wouldn't use that guilt to my advantage to escape.

"So now that I have recovered and am no longer in danger, you'll let me leave?"

"Umm..." He scratched his chest again.

"What's that supposed to mean? And what's with the scratching? You've got flees or what?"

He laughed, the sound melodic and contagious. The broad smile on his face revealed he had a dimple. A cute, disarming kind of dimple.

Darn. It.

"No flees, ma'am," he said through a grin. "But you're free to check for yourself. Wanna frisk me?"

Somehow, despite the fucked-up situation I found myself in, I felt like laughing. His disarming smile, his bright brown eyes filled with mirth, the brow-wiggle he paired that joke with – it all made me want to leave the serious talk for another day and simply laugh along with him.

I really had to get out of here.

"What I want is to go back home," I underscored.

His smile turned sheepish. "Umm... I..."

"Oh, for crying out loud! You said I'm not your prisoner!"

"You're not... But..."

"But what? What do you have to lose if you let me return home? Quite the opposite: you'll prove to me you're not the typical alpha shifters who disregard a female's opinion. You'll make me consider giving you a chance... in a day or two." By then I would be hundreds of miles away from this town. "By then I would have wrapped my mind around this true-mate-times-three madness. I'm sure you understand why I need time?"

"Yes, yes. I completely understand." He went to sit on the other side of the bed from where I was standing, a dreamy expression appearing on his face. "It was like 'Bam!' and 'Kaboom!' in my mind when I met you at the diner. Like fireworks bursting, an atomic bomb exploding, and a volcano erupting all at the same time!... My brain melted there for a few seconds, no joke."

I couldn't help it: I smiled. Dean certainly had a way with words.

He smiled back, a sparkle in his eyes now. "You felt something for me, too. Admit it, sweetie."

Before I knew what I was doing, I nodded.

The dimple made a return as his smile grew to epic proportions. "Then you'll give me a chance? If I take you back to your place, that is?"

This time my nod was a lie. Because I was going to hit the road the moment I got back.

Now, the million-dollar question. "What if your brutish friend disagrees?"

Dean chuckled, but it was a nervous chuckle. "Bas overreact sometimes, but he is no brute. He's a big softie at heart despite the Grumpy Bear look, trust me. I've known him for over 10 years. He will... He'll show understanding. Yeah."

I raised a brow at Dean. "Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"

"You know what?" He got up. "I'll go talk to him while you wash up."

"Okay." My divide-and-conquer plan seemed to be working. I'd gotten Dean on my side without Sebastian's presence influencing his opinion. I was sure Eric would take Dean's side on this, so I had two males on my team against one. "This might work."

Dean stopped at the door. "I'll be back in a jiffy, don't you worry, my sweetie. Ha, see what I did there?"

I blinked.

"For you I shall rhyme, which ain't a crime."

I rolled my eyes, suppressing a smile.

"A poet I am not but for you I shall write an epic plot, if that would land me inside your hottest spot."

Okay, I gave up. I laughed.

Finally satisfied, Dean left me with a wink.