It was too late.
The car slammed into a tree. My truck was old, pre-airbags. In her anger and haste, Lore hadn’t put on her seatbelt. I shifted, unbridled strength shooting through my limbs as my horns sprouted from my head. My arms banded around her, pulling her against the muscular support my hard body provided. There was still a chance she’d be hurt, but my muscle was a better cushion than my windshield and the tree beyond.
The sound of the impact was like an explosion. We jerked violently as glass cracked and metal crunched. I opened my eyes, scanning the damage.
It was totaled. The front of the truck almost wrapped around the entire tree trunk, and steam poured off the engine.
Fuck. Fuck.FUCK!
My attention snapped to the rearview mirror to see front doors opening all down the street. Devils stepped out to see the commotion. Gloria picked herself up from the grass and moved toward them. “Somebody get them! They’re murderers!”
I slashed my claws through my seatbelt strap, took Lore in my arms and stumbled out of the vehicle. After adjusting her so she draped over one of my shoulders, I grabbed my backpack from the truck bed and slung it over the other.
“Hold the fuck on,” I hissed at her. Before the words were fully out of my mouth, I was racing into the tree line with Lore secured against my chest. The dark of the night swallowed us. But I knew the shadows wouldn’t hide us.
Not for long.
Without a vehicle, we wouldn’t make our way out of the woods for at least two nights. Maybe more if I couldn’t navigate the fog. By then, the Devil would wake.
Then there’d be no outrunning him.
Chapter Five
Lore
Thebrancheswhippedagainstme as Titus guided us through the woods at an inhuman speed. I buried my face into his back to protect it, but I savored the pain of the branches cutting into my body. It gave me something to focus on and kept me centered as the harsh reality of our situation set in.
How could so much change so quickly? Two hours ago, I’d been in bed with Titus, as close as two people could get, with our naked limbs tangled together as he’d lazily fucked into me, whispering dark promises into my ear.
Saying how he’d protect me, love me and eat my soul all in the same breath. Since then, I’d watched the man I loved avenge his mother by murdering his piece-of-shit father, I’d endured my mom’s willingness to trade me to a literal devil in exchange for her freedom and I’d totaled our sure shot of escape in a split-moment decision to exact my own revenge.
Now we were running into the monster-infested woods, with nothing but the clothes on our backs and whatever Titus had in his backpack.
I didn’t know how much time had passed, but Titus was still running. His huffed breaths, the clatter of whatever was in his backpack and the whistle of branches were the only things to fill the silence.
I started counting each lash against my skin.One. Two.I bit back a whimper as a large branch raked into my skin.Three.
When Titus began to slow, instead of feeling relief, a fist of anxiety squeezed my heart. The half-devil being mad wasn’t anything new to me, and, if I was being honest, I liked how he touched me when he was pissed off.
This was different.
I’d seriously screwed up. He loved that truck, and more than that, I’d totally fucked our escape plan. Leaving the Pine Barrens should have been as easy as driving out, maybe enduring a nerve-wracking spot to get gas at a shady gas station, and then boom. Home free. In a weak moment, I’d been blinded by rage. Now we had to fumble around the pitch-black woods with an angry cult on our heels.
He slipped me off his shoulder and set me on my feet. A single white eye burned into me through the darkness as he pushed me against a tree. His hands frantically skimmed over my limbs, brushing past the cuts and welts the forest had left on my skin to feel for any bone breaks from the car crash. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay,” I said, even though it felt like a lie. Physically, I was fine. Inside, though, I was breaking.
His concern immediately morphed to anger, his demeanor turning acidic. “What in the fuck was that? If you wanted your damn mommy dead, you should have stabbed her when she was tied up.”
“I didn’t want her to die. Not until backstabbed me. The things she told me to get free…”
Her words echoed through my mind, haunting me.You’re the only thing that matters, baby girl.
Lying bitch.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“You’re sorry?” he snarled, the edge in his void as palpable as a slap. “Do you know how much you’ve fucked us, little sister?”
