It was too easy with him. Even when he made me want to pee my pants, it was exhilarating. What’s he going to do when he catches me?
That was sobering.
My head was leaving the game. The goal was that he didn’t catch me. That was the point of this.
I’m not staying, I thought more for myself than him.
You aren’t leaving.His mental demand was laced in his desperation to keep me. Too bad he never thought to simply ask me to stay. To show me that he cared.
So close, but it wasn’t quite enough.
The ponds turned into shallow puddles that he wouldn’t be able to drag me into. I dared to let myself hope. I had to be close to the boundary.
A familiar sound that didn’t belong here grew closer: cars on the highway.
There it was.
My nerves buzzed with excitement, but my limbs grew heavier, slowing me down.
Heavy thuds of four feet running across the ground reached me. My breathing stuttered as I realized exactly how fast he was moving. I’d assume he would be slower on land.
I was wrong.
The distance was closing too fast.
A branch snagged on my shirt, holding me in place. I ripped the fabric away, knowing I didn’t have time to preserve anything. My heart jumped into my throat as my pack was grabbed, pulling me back.
I yelped in surprise at the strength he dragged me back. I unclipped my chest strap, running forward again.
He growled. “Talia! You think you can escape me?”
I was close. I could feel it. The energy of the swamp was growing weaker. After being deep in it for days, I recognized its influence.
He was right. There really was an old power in there.
His weight hit me like a freight train. The air whipped painfully against my wet face as I slammed into the ground. My head bonked on the uneven ground, and I gasped as his heavy weight compressed my chest.
The second I struggled to breathe, he adjusted his weight, only using enough of his massive body to hold me in place. I dragged in a ragged breath that hurt my raw lungs.
“Stop,” he snarled.
“Eat me,” I wheezed out with less energy than I would have liked.
I reached for the treeline right in front of me. When my fingers touched the ground, I found the land was almost dry, as if it existed on the other side of an invisible domain. One that hadn’t been hit by the storm.
The border.
No.
I refused to fail inches away from freedom.
Fuck that.
Every muscle in my body worked to scooch forward with his massive weight on top of me. When I managed to get slightly closer, he pinned every limb to the soggy ground. His claws anchored into the mud.
Stay with me.
The begging in his voice was enough to make my soul quiver. His pain created the first major crack in my decision, exactly as I knew it would.
