This seriously was crazy.
He slowed in a particularly dense area, using the trees to help shield him as he listened to his surroundings. What if this was all a game and Pavel wasn’t even chasing after him?
Honestly…that seemed more likely than the other guy suddenly confessing an interest. Pavel had an entire kink club where he could easily find someone willing to engage in his proclivities. There was no reason for him to choose Zane other than it just happened this way.
He’d either had a problem with Samuel, or he’d gotten an itch to kill and had chosen the wrong target on a whim—No. No, that couldn’t be right either. If it’d been random, Pavel wouldn’t have shapeshifted into Zane prior to dicing the man up.
Which was another major shocker.
Shapeshifting wasn’t a common trait, and those who were a member of species capable of it had to declare themselves to the International Conference, the group in charge of intergalactic peace. While that didn’t mean they had to walk around with flashing neon signs on their foreheads letting everyone know what they were, surely Zane and the others would have known if Pavel were…
Well, that wasn’t quite right either, since Pavelwasand Zane had witnessed it, yet hadn’t known.
He needed to talk to Kelevra. Needed to get the hell out of this forest and—
There was a sharp snap to his left and his head whipped in that direction. His eyes had adjusted enough that he wasn’t overly concerned with tripping on something unseen, but not nearly enough to be able to make details out of the shadows.
Zane turned right and started to sprint, not wanting to risk sticking around, trying not to focus too hard on how this whole thing was pointless.
They’d never established any clear rules. Did he have until morning to evade Pavel? If he did, then what? Would Pavel delete the footage? It hadn’t sounded like that was an option on the table.
What it’d sounded like was the other man planned on keeping it forever, lording it over Zane no matter what outcome came of tonight.
He slowed to another stop, brow furrowing. How had that just occurred to him?
What was the point of running at all if there was nothing for him to gain by it?
His hand reached back to slip the star crystal blade from the hidden sheath he kept on his left side and he rotated the handle, the familiar feel of it against his palm helping to form clarity. He’d allowed his surprise to get the best of him and had almost become a fool because of it.
There was another sound, this time to his right, and instead of running away like before, Zane found himself turning to it. He tipped his head and waited, but when it didn’t come again, he let out an annoyed breath.
“I know you’re there,” he said, voice cutting through the silent forest like a gunshot. When there came no immediate response, he sighed. “Weren’t you just going on and on about wanting to be seen?”
For a tense moment, it didn’t seem like Pavel would take the bait, but then Zane’s multi-slate buzzed. He’d smartly turned the flashlight function off and had been gripping it tightly in his right hand, but now he glanced down at it, keeping his ears peeled in case this was a distraction and Pavel planned on lunging from the darkness while he wasn’t looking.
Pavel Hart:Put the knife away, gorgeous. You’re only going to hurt yourself.
“Bullshit,” he said out loud. “Sounds a lot like you’re afraid. What happened to the guy who cut out a man’s heart less than an hour ago? Come out.”
He’d done a good job removing the organ too, not clean, per se, but definitely impressive for someone who wasn’t aprofessional. Not that Zane was praising him or anything…If he were a better person, he’d care that Samuel was dead and had most likely been tortured right to the end.
But Zane had never claimed to be a saint.
Pavel Hart:This isn’t the game.
“Fuck your game.”
Pavel Hart:That’s not what’s getting fucked tonight.
Zane tried to listen as closely as he could, but he couldn’t make out even a soft clicking anywhere around him. Pavel was typing these messages but making no sound as he did. Maybe he wasn’t as close as Zane thought.
He took a single step back and waited.
Pavel Hart:There you go. Run for me, Doctor.
Hewasclose. Watching.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said instead. “It might be better for me to kill you after all. The video? Sure, it’ll get out if you’re dead, but you know what else will?” Zane waited, but when it became clear Pavel wasn’t going to text him asking what, continued. “You. What you really are. Because here’s the thing,gorgeous,” he sneered, “DNA exists, and all I need to get yours and prove you’re a shapeshifting psychopath is your cooling corpse.”
