Ryley cursed in his heart as he tried to crawl and hide behind a large tree. It never crossed his mind that he'd experience a real life thrilling scene he once acted in a short movie years ago.
"Who's there?"
The man kept approaching, Ryley didn't dare to flinch from where he crouched. The blond trembled even more once he heard the shotgun cocking sound.
He forced his eyes to glance at the furthest point to his right and saw that the man was only a few steps away. Ryley almost gave up and about to surrender, but then another voice echoed through the silent woods.
"Hey! Come over here!"
The man stopped his step and turned his head, lowering his gun as he looked around for awhile.
"Coming!" He shouted back then headed towards the source.
Ryley clutched his chest tight, then relaxed his fingers and let out a heavy sigh after the rustling sound behind him slowly faded.
The blond thought he could finally breath free and dodged another danger, but it seemed that it was too early for him to drop his guard.
"Shit... That was so— Mmmpph!" A wide palm suddenly came from behind him, muffling his mouth with a piece of cloth.
Ryley struggled to let go of himself, but his strength simply couldn't match his attacker. Not to mention that he barely ate anything in the past 26 hours since he ran away from that mansion.
His head felt light, along with his muscles that slowly felt numb. The model's slender fingers dropped from the big forearm that locked his head and forced him to inhale the chloroform.
The last thing he saw before his vision darkened was the tall pine trees covering the dark sky.
And a pair of sturdy legs in cargo pants.
…..
"Damn, he reeks of an Alpha's scent and it's so strong. Guess today's not my lucky day."
"Where did you find him? I thought I was only hearing sounds earlier."
Two burly men were seen crouching and talking beside the still unconscious blond, not realizing that their deep voice slowly brought back the beauty they'd just kidnapped to consciousness.
One of them with pompadour and black sleeveless hoodie then tilted his head while hugging his shotgun and said, "I think I've seen his face somewhere."
"Tsk, it won't be surprising if he's kinda famous. Just look at his face. This guy will definitely sell high underground." His friend with the crew cut answered, licking his lips. "Don't you agree with me, boss?"
A wide back behind them remained silent, looking like shadow of a looming mountain. Only the faint sound of cracking woods from their bonfire could be heard.
After a while, his strong neck moved, showing only the tip of his pointed nose. "Leave him alone."
His menacing aura felt even thicker when he said it with a subtle emotion, and the sharp gaze on his eye looked as if he'd beat the shit out of anyone who dared to touch the blond.
"What? Don't tell me you're thinking of keeping him to yourself!" The man with the quiff hair and stubble beard stood straight, gripping his rifle. His tone sounded firm, protesting as if he could tell the subtle meaning behind his boss' words.
His friend seemed anxious at the sudden tension between them. He stood up and nudged the man's arm whispering, "Hey, don't be rude. He'd just come back from Europe. Let's not offend him."
"Dude he made us come all the way from Manhattan there's no way I'm going home empty-handed!" The man snapped.
The bigger man in front of them ignored their chat as he loaded his gun and shoved the magazine with his rough palm. A faint grin crossed his face as he said, "Don't worry. You will get whatever you want if you can prove yourself with this mission. Just so you know, we're actually closer to the target than ever."
"Huh? What do you mean? I thought we were going to ambush a villa and set this forest on fire?" The bearded man replied, frowning.
His boss then walked closer to the blond and crouched, his fingers covered in biker glove reached out to his pocket and pulled out a paper. The man couldn't stop grinning since earlier, not expecting that he would meet his second target as he searched for his main deep inside the woods.
"Of course we will carry out the plan, but it seems like things will end faster than expected," he said, then shifted his gaze towards the gasoline he placed under a tree.
"Who's that?" The guy with pompadour tilted his head and bent down, trying to look at what turned out to be a photo.
The one-eyed man then lifted the photo for his subordinates to see.
"The other target."
Both of them then looked at each other, seemingly confused by what their boss had just said. The guy with stubble beard then caught the blond's long eyelashes twitch. "Hey! It looks like he's awake!"
They quickly put on their mask and stood alert as they watched the blond slowly open his eyes.
Ryley blinked a few times and tried to make himself look shocked. "Wh... Who are you?! What do you want from me?!" He struggled to move from but both of his hands were tied behind his back.
His handsome face suddenly paled at the horrible sight before him. A one-eyed beast stared at the blond as if he was a helpless prey. He couldn't see anything but the man's piercing gaze that oddly made him shiver in both fear and disgust.
Whoever behind that mask had a completely different aura from that Alpha jerk he ran away from. Ryley didn't know what happened to him but a tremendous feeling of nausea crept into his stomach, tickling him to almost vomiting.
"Don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you," his tone was rather mysterious, no less than the face he hid behind his mask.
"What's this then?" Ryley hissed, still trying to free his hands from the cable tie that kept it together.
"Don't worry, I will release you soon," the man replied in a low voice, but then suddenly grabbed Ryley by his arm and dragged the blond until he sat up straight. "Now tell me, why are you wandering in this forest?"
Ryley scowled, his mind spinned hard behind his honey-like eyes as he recalled what the man said earlier.
If he was the other target, who could've been the main one?
No, this wasn't the right time to think about anyone else than himself.
As if it wasn't enough that someone drugged him and sent him to a lecherous old man until he ended up lost in the woods from escaping a bastard overlord of an Alpha, now these three masked strangers— no, hitmen with guns were after him.
Just who the hell did he offend before?
"I… I was just separated from my friends," Ryley said. He didn't lie for nothing, the handsome model was just trying to dig inside the man's only eye and read him from his response.
The man scoffed, "Your friends, huh? What kind of friends left you alone like this?" His eyes traced the blond's smooth thighs then back to his chest that peeked through the gap between the loose shirt covering his body. "Did they hold a grudge against you or something?"
"It's none of your business! Let go of me!" Ryley snapped as he averted his gaze.
"Tsk, come on! If we ain't gonna burn that villa tonight I'd better enjoy him first!" The man with crew cut tried to grab Ryley but a wide palm stopped him right before his hand could reach the blond.
"Didn't I say leave him alone? Nobody gets to touch him," the man coldly said.
Amidst the growing tension, Ryley couldn't help bulge his eyes after hearing what the other man said.
Burning that villa?
Could it be that they were targeting the Alpha?
Ryley faced the burly man fast, he tried to wear some fear in his face as he said, "What are you talking about?"
The bigger man clicked his tongue and pushed away his subordinate. He crouched in front of the blond then closely watched the handsome model for a while, scanning his face.
"Did you see any villa before this?" He asked in a low and calm voice as he tried to not scare the bait he planned to use.
Thinking that the man must have been targeting Clyde, a cold gaze flashed through Ryley's brown eyes. "Of course. I even talked to the owner,"
"Oh, what a coincidence. I think I need to talk to the owner too," the man said, then grabbed Ryley's arm and made him stand up. "Will you show me the way? I can bring you to the nearest town,"
Ryley's tense eyebrows slowly relaxed, his scowl turned into a subtle grin. This looked like a good offer as it would give him some time to plan his next escape.
If this man was really after Clyde, he wouldn't miss out such a chance to see what would happen next.
It seemed that the time for revenge had come.