She reclaimed her rope and hook, and returned them to her shoulder bag.
“And where are we going?” Jack asked.
“Elsewhere.”
She attempted to turn away, but he grasped her arm and turned her back to him. “I’m not your enemy,” he said. “You can tell me things.”
Her eyes flashed with anger, and when she tugged on her arm, he released her.
“Maybe you’re not the enemy, but I’m not putting the lives of others on the line until I’m sure you can be trusted. You’ll learn what you need to know as you need to know it,” she said. “We’ve survived on this island for a reason.”
“Who’swe?”
She placed her finger against her lips and turned toward the trees. She thought she’d heard… And there it was again, the softest step on the forest floor.
Without thinking, Jack clasped her elbow and pulled her closer to him. Charlie shot him a look over her shoulder, but she didn’t try to pull away from him again. Neither of them dared to move as whoever was in the woods walked past them. Jack listened to the steps until they walked out of earshot and further into the woods.
“Let’s go,” Charlie whispered.
Jack pulled aside the branches of the trees and slipped outside. He held his hand out to keep Charlie back as he scanned the woods to make sure it was safe. She pushed his hand aside before stepping from the copse of trees. The sunlight filtering over her caressed her ivory skin and made her eyes brighter.
Charlie rested her hand on his arm and tilted her head to the right. There was another tunnel entrance a few miles from here; they would have to take their time reaching it, but if they didn’t run into any problems, it wouldn’t be long.
She didn’t think it was likely they wouldn’t run into any problems. Savages were crawling all over the island, and not even daylight would keep the most dedicated hunters from pursuing their game. Then there were the security guards. They never went into hiding during the hunt.
This was the one time of the year where none of her fellow survivors risked going aboveground, yet here she was and all because Jack had fallen into the pit.
She glared at Jack, but he didn’t notice as he stared around the woods with an expression that said he’d gladly tear apart anyone who came near them. Okay, it wasn’t his fault, but she was still mad about him besting her below, and shehatedlosing.
The only thing she liked about her time as a ballerina was the dance competitions, and because she’d been technically flawless, she brought home many trophies and ribbons. Her mother had thrown them all out, because she refused to let Charlie become too prideful.
“This way,” Charlie murmured and nodded to the right.
Chapter Six
Jack watchedas Charlie glided through the trees like a phantom through a cemetery. He’d spent a lot of time in the woods, and he was a vampire, so he was inherently graceful and silent, but she made him feel like a sasquatch. He wasn’t sure her feet touched the ground as she moved with enough speed to cover the distance quickly but not so fast she was reckless.
Jack studied the animals for any sign things weren’t as calm as they appeared. They remained active though they were more guarded than normal for forest creatures. He blamed their wariness on this place. The animals knew predators were in their habitat.
Not only did security and a bunch of rich assholes roam this land, but he and his friends also set a fair number of vamps and humans free from their cages before fleeing into the woods. There were a lot of creatures on this island looking to eat.
An island. He ran a hand through his hair as he recalled this revelation.
He had no idea where they were in the world, and apparently, neither did Charlie. He also had no idea how they were going to get off this island. Convinced they were alone, he focused his attention on trying to learn more from her.
“Where’s the mainland?” he asked.
“I don’t know; no one does. The security vamps we’ve managed to catch have no idea, but we’ve never caught anyone from the hunt. We’ve been hoping for one of them as they might have a better idea about the workings of this place, but we rarely come above during the hunt, and none of them have ever entered one of the tunnels. The few security guards we’ve caught were because we ran across them while above and took them down.”
“So you don’t know how far out to sea we are?”
“No.”
“How do the hunters get here?” he asked.
“Boats.”
“We’ll take a boat.”
