Her eyes get harder, shiny but not wet with tears. More like she’s completely fixed and focused on me. Almost like she’s a hunter, too.
“Are you ready for the next part of the hike?”
I frown, but she steps back, plastering a picture perfect smile on her face, one that completely masks her. I dislike that mask intensely.
“If you’ll just head back to the other campers, I will be with you in a moment. Nature calls, after all.”
I could stay here and force the issue, but I’m a patient hunter. I smile back and reach out, brushing my knuckle across her cheek.
“Sure, sunshine. You tend to your needs, and I will try to get control of my fantasies.”
She doesn’t even flinch. The smile doesn’t flicker.
I’m not sure I won that round, but I retreat all the same.
Cyn, Rory, and Dakota join me on the trail.
“Let's do it now. We need to get out of here before we end up with an omega or a knife in our back.”
It’s my last attempt at self-preservation, at saving her. One last ditch effort at resisting. I am already aware it’s too late for us, but I have to try.
Dakota’s smile stretches wide across his face, pure pleasure almost oozing from him.
“How?”
Rory clears his throat and pulls a jar with a tiny black snake in it.
We split up. I go and talk to Rojer and Nathan, while Cyn heads up Kendall and Quincy.
Another five minutes pass, and Rojer moves to his pack, undoing it and pulling out his drink bottle. He drinks deeply.
Nathan groans and reaches for his pack, pulling it on. “I’m going to take a month of leave when we get back and sleep for the entire week.”
“Sounds like a plan!” I say with a laugh. “I knew I should have worked out before I came here.”
“WHOA!”
We all whip around in time to see Bonnie grab Kevin’s wrist. He looks up at her in surprise.
“What?”
“Always, always tap your shoes. You never know what may have crawled into them.”
He tips his shoe upside down and hits it hard twice. A tiny black snake drops out and darts away.
“FUCKING SHIT!” Kevin roars and jumps away. He climbs halfway up a tree, staring with a white face at the spot where the snake vanished.
Bonnie scowls at the ground but doesn’t say anything. The rest of us are just silent, staring at her.
“Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?” Rory laughs.
Bonnie stares at him, and she seems to see right through him. For a second, I tense, and I wonder. I wonder if she knows what we are.
But that’s impossible.
She turns and spots Kevin, and everything disappears with her startled laugh.
“Kevin, how did you get up there?”
