Chapter one

Tracy

I was throwing clothes in a small suitcase as fast as I could, my nerves were shattered and I was starting to second guess my decision to run away. Just as I was starting to think about unpacking everything, Emily came into the room.

"Are you ready, dear?" Emily asked.

"I don't know Em, what if he finds me, you know he will kill me." I was starting to shake with uncontrollable fear by the mere thought of him catching me.

"If you do exactly as I have planned, he will never get to you Tracy. If you stay, he will kill you eventually. I am not staying here one moment longer and neither should you. I only held on this long for you my dear, but it's been too long."

Emily is our housekeeper, she looked about thirty years old but she never did tell me her age, she was my only friend, the only friend I was allowed to have. I knew she was right, I have been in this abusive marriage for far too long, if I do not leave, Rian will kill me eventually.

I walked to the full length mirror in the corner of the room and took a long look at myself. My long blonde hair was hanging loose, my light blue eyes were dull, my cheek had a large ugly purple bruise from last night's beating and my bottom lip had a burst from the punches he threw at me. My ribs got it the worst as he kicked me last night until I couldn't get up. Emily found me on the ground this morning and that's when she started to make plans for me to get out of here.

I threw the last of my things that I would need in the suitcase and closed it. I was ready to leave, I just hope Emily is right about Rian not being able to find me.

"So what's the plan, Em?" I asked nervously.

"I have arranged for you to stay with one of my cousins for a little while, it's an hour's drive from here. You will be safe with her. She will be meeting you in the forest behind the old cottage that belonged to the wheelers." Emily looked at me and saw the frown on my face.

"The woods and my cousin will cover your tracks my dear, Rian would never think of searching the woods." I just nodded, I trusted Emily. I picked up my suitcase and followed her out.

As we drove to the old cottage Emily suddenly tensed up and I could see fear and determination in her eyes. When I looked back I saw Rian's car following us. I was scared shitless now, my hands started to shake and I felt like fainting.

Usually I am not a fragile woman, I am not a wuss. But Rian is just another kind of scary. He is going to kill us for sure. We stopped at the cottage and Emily told me to run, I stood frozen, I couldn't leave her alone with Rian. When I looked at Emily again her eyes were glowing purple and at that moment I didn't know what to do. When she yelled for me to run I did exactly that. I ran into the woods as fast as I could, not looking back once. What a coward I am!

I stopped running when my feet couldn't go on anymore, every part, every inch of my body was aching. My ribcage felt like it's been broken. I started walking again and decided to go east. It was really dark outside. The moon was glowing and making strays of light shine through the trees, allowing me to see where I was going. Just as I was about to think that I would be lost in this damn woods forever, I saw street lights. I started running towards the lights and thank the lucky stars, I found what looked like a town.

As I walked down the road I looked down at my feet. I lost my stilettos a good few miles ago, my dress is torn and dirty and my arms and legs full of scrapes, luckily I still had my bag. I must be looking so bad, but right now I do not care, I just need to know where I am and to call Emily. I hope nothing happened to her, although I am still confused about her purple glowing eyes. What the heck was that!

I heard footsteps behind me and when I turned around, two very big muscular men was walking towards me, almost stalking. I started to walk faster and they started yelling things to me I couldn't hear, so I started running again. I saw an old orange lighted up sign that read Pub & Grill and ran towards it.

Just as I was about to open the door of the pub one of the muscular men grabbed my arm and I screamed. The door opened and I used the distraction to yank my arm back but when I did, I basically fell to the ground and crawled through the now open door.

When I stood up, everything went quite. Maybe this was a bad idea. I looked up and so many pairs of eyes were staring at me. Most of them were big, muscular, biker looking men. Behind the bar were two flawlessly beautiful women staring at me. One of the men was about to walk towards me when a loud growl made him stop.

The growl came from a man at the back of the bar and when he stood up I almost turned around and ran again. He was tall, tanned and I haven't seen that much muscle on anyone before. He had pitch black hair that was cut short and neat with electric blue glowing eyes. Oh hell no, not another pair of glowing eyes! I wanted to turn around and r