“Fucking cunt bitch!” he snarls as he claws at the mask on his face and rips it off. My heartthuds heavily in my chest as he attempts to roll over and get back to his feet.No.I begin to back away. And then… he collapses, falling to the ground and moaning while cupping his dick. Butoh fuck,the daggers practically shoot at me from his eyes, they hit their mark, and I know with unwavering certainty that I need to go.Now.
Breath heaving, I pivot, ready to run, not caring a bit about the asshole huddled on the ground. He groans aloud, every exhale coming with a pain-drenched wheeze.
“Father?” The confused voice off to my left stops me in my tracks. My head whips around as Finneas grunts out a pained sound, and one of the younger members of the commune rushes forward. The guy is pale, almost as if he’s seeing a ghost. I haven’t directly spoken to him before, but he can’t be much younger than me, if at all, and based on his entrance, this has to be another of Hayze’s brothers. His attention darts between the man hunched on the ground cupping himself and me, then back again. “What the—?” His brows tug sharply together as he stares, dumbfounded, at the man who has been missing for at least as long as I’ve been with them. “Where have you been? How—? Are you—?” He pauses, flustered, but also clearly torn as to what he should say or do next.
In the midst of his confusion, I see my chance. Heart in my throat, I flee, darting between trees. My legs carry me quickly, but I haven’t made it more thanten strides when something solid knocks the wind out of me. “Oof!”
Before I can get my bearings, a wicked chuckle vibrates through my bones that makes my skin crawl.Oh shit, who is this?“Where do you think you’re going?” The voice in my ear is definitely familiar.
Whoever this lunatic is has me smashed up against his body with my arms pinned to my sides. In a frantic attempt at getting him to drop me, I squirm like mad in his hold. Unbothered, he drags me back in the direction I came from. When the other two come into view, he sucks in a breath and bellows, “Rafe! What’s wrong with Father?”
I wince, assuming that fucker Finneas must still be on the ground writhing around while cupping his precious junk.
“I don’t know,” Rafe spills. “I came upon him lying here.” He pauses, the air around us filling with his uncertainty. “Should I go for help? I saw Kiefer a little while ago, but that was before I encountered Father and the new girl.”
Terror ripples along my limbs as I’m dropped to the ground, and my captor straddles my body. Deadened light-colored eyes bore into me from behind yet another mask. I can’t make out what kind of animal it’s supposed to be in the dark, but—oh fuck. It’s Dragan.“What have you done?” he heaves out, his hands closing around my throat. His grip tightens more with every second that passes, fingers digging intomy skin.
Desperation streaks through me, and I flail and buck wildly, seeking to do as much damage as possible at close range. Tears flow unchecked from the corners of my eyes.
Off to the right, twigs snap, and it’s clear more people are approaching. Please let it be someone who will help me.Please.But who would risk it, I have no idea anymore.Lights flicker behind my eyelids. And then… nothing.
TWO
CROSS
Hayzeand I pause our fast-paced trek through the deepest dark of the mountainous terrain within the bounds of the compound, breathing hard. Each rasped breath drags thick, almost stagnant air over something that feels like rocks lodged in my lungs. I stare into his intense blue eyes. Shake my head to clear it of the webs clinging to my every thought.Where the fuck are they?Where isshe? It’d taken mere seconds after the Hunting began for madness to ensue. We’ve been living in that state of insanity for way too long now. Arrow and Malakai had disappeared amid the mayhem. I should have known how frenzied and chaotic it would be, especially after my father’s warning that the Collective would be participating.
I point off to my left, gaze shifting to Hayze to make sure he’s with me. His jaw twitches madly beneath the half mask of the wolf that he wears. “I think I heard voices coming from over that way aminute or two ago.” Possibly a feminine one, which definitely strikes me as odd. We stand absolutely still, listening. My friend has been slowly losing it since the horn sounded to begin the Hunting.
In the last few hours, one thing has become crystal clear. There’s something going on with him—more than I had previously realized. I can be pretty intuitive, but Hayze? He’s easy for me to read. It’s Twenty-Three. Between the charade he put on during the feast so that he could say something to her without drawing attention and his current urgency to find our little Disturbance, it’s obvious. This is more than a simple dislike of how the Collective is handling her. I get the feeling I’ve missed something important—or rather, he’s kept something from me.
Before our ritual had gotten underway, he’d been near frantic. All he’d said, though, was that he needed to speak to her, that it was important, and to watch the door and make sure he didn’t get caught. Why he’d included Malakai in the watch-out crew when we aren’t at all certain of him, I have no clue, but the guyhasbeen less problematic toward us of late. Setting my own thoughts about him aside, I scrape my teeth over my lip, pondering the way Mal had quickly agreed with Hayze that the Collective has been using him. Maybe that was enough to inspire Hayze’s trust… but he should probably be wary of Malakai. He’s a wild card. Always has been. How could he not be? It’s partly what I like about him, though I’d never tell him that. And I’m definitely watching every single thing he does.
All that aside, whatever the real story is, I need Hayze to explain himself. Because the path I think he’s on, it’s one I’ll gladly travel with him if he asks it of me—but it’s one that puts us at odds with everything we’ve ever known.
He shakes his head. “I don’t hear anything.”
No sooner does he say that than a faint scuffling and some whispered shouts can be heard. “It’s coming from over that way,” I whisper, wishing that I could yank this fucking ram mask from my face so I can see better.
His eyes widen as the sounds of a commotion pick up and are followed by a muffled shout. “Ah, fuck,” he bites out. “Let’s go.” With that, we take off, moving stealthily through the trees toward whatever chaos is unfolding in the distance.
“Be honest,” I murmur quietly, “what are we doing?”
“I don’t know.” He shoots me a look over his shoulder, an aggrieved exhale blasting from between his lips. “I don’t want the Collective’s hands on Delilah. I told her I would come for her.” He shakes his head, his jaw clenched tightly shut at his admission.
I blink once. Twice, then breathe out the real name of the peculiar girl I’ve come to think of asmy fury. “Delilah.” Pressing my lips together, I absorb the way the feminine name feels on my tongue. It’s intriguing. Beguiling. Different. Just like the girl herself. Cocking an eyebrow at him, I can’t help but point out the obvious flaw in all this. “I know you haven’tforgotten the most sacred of our vows we make to each other. What’s mine is yours. And what’s yours is mine. You’re asking for trouble.”
“No. I’m asking for help.Yourhelp.” He frowns, pausing to listen again before quickly whispering, “The way she’s been handled, some of the things that’ve happened…” His eyes search mine. “We need to talk, but we don’t have time to get into it now.”
He’s right. It’s complicated. Dangerous, even. “Fine.”
“For now, can you go along with whatever I do?”
I exhale hard, sarcasm spilling from my lips. “Yeah, but only because you asked so nicely.”
As we continue on, we come to an opening in the trees and stop short. I frown, a sick sense of dread washing over me. My breath catches as my gaze is drawn to where Rafe and Henry are crouched over someone. They’re easily recognizable by the masks they wear. “Finn?” Henry grits out.
Surprise and confusion roll through me in tandem.Oh, shit. Is that Finneas?Where the hell did he come from? Beside me, Hayze’s intake of breath is audible. And before I even have a chance to say a word, the ramifications of Finneas’s return begin to worm around in my head. I didn’t see this coming.
