Torn Asunder

Chapter One

Thursday, April 4th, 11:22 pm MST - The Sonoran Desert, Arizona

Like a shadow, Elisa Caldwell ran as fast as the wind and the adrenaline could push her. Her breath came in shallow spurts through her nose, blood surged through her veins; her arms pumped back and forth and her small feet kicked up a cloud of dirt behind her-- like her own personal Dust Storm on the Plains of Sonora.

A fool. I'm a damn fool.

Elisa felt her heart jump higher into her throat and forced herself to fight off another sob. Renewed, unshed tears followed the itchy, drying tracks down her cheeks.

How could he, that rat bastard? How could he?

She couldn't keep this up for much longer. Her throat was beginning to dry, and quickly-- Elisa was starting to rethink hurling that wine bottle at that motherfucker's face. What a waist-- of a perfectly good Merlot. Her lungs felt like they were about to burst; it hurt like hell to breathe.

"True Alpha Icesong to Wolfstar. Do you read? Come in, Wolfstar," a hard voice dripping with concern sounded softly in her ear, crackling into the crisp night air. Elisa's relief was palpable-- she was glad she hadn't taken out her earpiece while her defenses were down.

"Wolfstar, do you read--"

The petite female didn't break her stride as she pressed a finger to her ear to respond in earnest.

"I'm kind of in the middle of hauling ass for my life, here!" she cut off the voice as the sound of pounding feet behind her signaled that someone was hot on her trail. It was probably him, so she didn't even bother to look back to see how close he was; she would slow and he would gained and she would be fucked.

"Talk to me, Wolfstar-- why in the hell are you leaving the rendezvous site?"

Elisa cursed under her breathe and fought off another sob that caused an ache in her throat; bile began to rise from her stomach, and all she wanted to do was fall to the ground and let it out.

"We walked into a trap, True Alpha."

Elisa was surprised she was able to keep her voice calm while her heart was frantic. Not to mention she couldn't fully disclose the entire situation over the wireless link-- he'd literally betrayed her not ten minutes ago, so it was a little on the difficult side to take it all in stride.

"What?" The shout twisted her face into a grimace and she cringed, a high-pitched ring piercing her ear.

With a mental "Fuck it", she threw her gaze over her shoulder and actually cursed out loud. "Shit, Jacob! The whole goddamn thing was a set up! The Phoenix Pack wasn't the target-- we were--"

She didn't register the louder footsteps until someone slammed into her back with a hard grunt, and Elisa gave a startled shout a she was sent sprawling to her stomach into the rusty, brick red dirt. The earpiece was torn from her ear and thrown away-- she could easily hear her True Alpha shouting her name, his voice ringing out into the cool night air. Soon enough, she and her attacker were a mass of intertwined arms and legs, as though they were lovers laying in bed together. Elisa growled darkly and writhed underneath her captor; her hips bucked and she struggled to reach around and get a hold of him, but it was no use. Her actions only enticed him-- she could feel it in the way his fingers dug into her hip and forced her to eventually still due to the pain, the way he rocked his hips forward to meet hers. Elisa, disgusted, made in indecipherable sound and shifted, willing to do anything if she didn't have to feel his erection straining against his jeans. She said nothing-- there was no point in trying to talk to him anymore -- and jerked her elbow behind her. She was able to catch him in the face; he gave a furious grunt as his head snapped back, and his grip loosened on her.