Page 77

We walk through the dense woods, deeper into the night, until the landscape finally starts to change. I know I’m close and fully aware this could be a trap to lure me away from the cabin again, but I don’t care. The food is well-hidden, and getting London back means everything to me. The woods are too quiet, everything in the air is off, and I hate the feeling of not being in control. With my bone weapon sticking out of my backpack and my sharp knife in my hand, I hack at the dense bushes standing in my way of finding her.

I scan the woods immediately in front of me and finally spot what I’m looking for—fresh broken sticks, proving that someone was here. Almost as if there was a struggle here mere moments before.

“They aren’t far ahead,” I say to Naomi as she struggles to keep up. “We have to get to the airplane. That’s where they are headed.”

London, I’m coming for you, baby.

Naomi finally admitted where Nigel and Ezra are staying, in a cave system close to the airplane. I know these caves; I found them in the fall when I stalked this island from end to end. The problem is that there are hundreds of these holes scattered everywhere, so it would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

I slow my pace, the ground slippery as we head toward the airplane, and I let Naomi join me as we enter a dangerous area full of cracks in the earth. As much as she drives me crazy, I’m not ready yet for her to fall to her death inside one of these things. I grab her hand and make sure she sticks close to me. She leans into me as we walk, enjoying my hand in hers way too much.

“What are you going to do when you find them?” Naomi asks as I grab her waist and lift her over a dark hole. I pause and release her back to her feet.

“I’m going to return you to Ezra.”

It’s not what she wants, but she doesn’t have a choice. I’m banking on the fact Ezra won’t be able to resist Naomi when he lays eyes on her. Especially with how shiny and pretty I’ve made her.

He’ll want her back.

She lets out a sob. “You’re so fucking predictable, Micah. This is so typical of you. I’m not telling you what cave it is. You can’t make me go back to that place.”

Pathetic.

No wonder they are so desperate. There is no fresh running water anywhere. Only rodents, bottom feeders, and dead bodies. I look around at the barren land in disgust, grateful for the cabin I found for London.

“Why did he move you here?” Inquiring minds want to know. What drew them to live like this? At least the lake site offered fresh water, a place to bathe and fish.

Her eyes whip up at me. “To hide from you, Micah. For a few weeks, Ezra was petrified that you were going to come back and kill him.”

“He should be petrified,” I say, hacking some brush. I probably would have killed him, and I definitely will now if he has London.

Naomi stops walking, crosses her arms, and scoffs. “You’re not as smart as you think you are, Micah. Maybe give Ezra some credit; he remembered all these holes in the ground. We took a chance, checked them out, and found one to live in. Some of them have tiny caves buried in the earth. They provided good shelter, better than what we had at the lake. It doesn’t seem like much, but it kept us alive… not that you care at all about us living.”

Interesting. And I hate to admit it, but smart.

She casts her brown eyes up to meet mine, her words causing a chill to run up my spine. “He’s obsessed with his hatred for you. He’s not himself, and he hasn’t been since that night. I couldn’t look at it anymore. I couldn’t deal with him any longer.

“Look at what anymore?”

“His fingers, Micah. The ones you chopped off, remember?”

How could I fucking forget?

The wind shifts, and I can tell we are close based on the putrid stench of decaying flesh nearby.

My sight is drawn to the broken silver tip of the airplane as I pull Naomi into me. She loves it, her body responding with a slight arch of her hips against mine.

I lean down and whisper, “There is a lot you don’t know about me, Naomi. I’m much smarter than you think I am. And just so you know, I’m never going to fuck you, so quit trying. I’m only keeping you alive to try to prove to my girlfriend that I’m not the monster she thinks I am. Now, shut up. We’re here.”

Her eyes widen when she finally notices how hard I’m gripping the sharp knife in my hand and that I’m holding it two inches from her face. How tense and rigid my body is. How fast my heart is beating.

She bites her bottom lip, her frosty breath teasing the air. She turns her head in every direction as if only realizing what I’ve known for a while.

We are being watched…

She sucks in a breath as a wolf howls in the night. “Micah… I’m really scared.”

I scoff. “Well, he’s your boyfriend, sweetheart, and you caused this.” Oddly enough, the one she should be most frightened of is me, yet that fact hasn’t cemented in her brain yet.