The final man.
His eyes widen; his face pales. “Listen, man?—”
I stand.
He runs.
I grin and wipe the back of my hand across the blood on my face, and I take off after him into the yard.
He’s screaming, sobbing, throwing terrified glances over his shoulder as I gain on him. The snow kicks up behind us as he reaches the line of trees, dodging between trunks.
He trips.
“Please, God, please—” I’m on him, gripping his face as he screams. Those screams become squeals as I press my thumbs into his eyes. “No!”
He struggles beneath my weight, but he’ll never move me. He’s weak. I’m strong.
I’m the predator.
He’s the fucking prey.
“You think you can take her from me?” I ask, a fog of breath between us, his screams echoing through the trees. “You think anyone can take her from me?”
A pop.
Another.
Slickness covers my thumbs and his screams subside. He shudders beneath me, spittle lining his lips, snow and blood covering his face, his eyeballs leaking down his face and into his hair.
I don’t even kill him.
He can lie here and let the cold take him.
Standing, I head back toward the house. I’m covered in blood and sweat, and I pause at the line of trees to catch my breath.
She’s safe.
For now.
The only place I can take her is Hunter’s. I didn’t go there first because I didn’t want to make him a target, too, but now I have no choice.
My gaze drifts to Ella’s bedroom window. The yellow light seems to burn as she paces back and forth.
Worried.
About me.
I have no idea how this happened to me. How I went from hating this woman to needing every part of her. How the seconds of my day amount to her.
How protecting her became the only reason to keep breathing.
My heart clenches, and I close my eyes.
Cold metal presses to my temple, and a voice comes from the darkness.
“You missed one.”
Chapter 39
