Page 5

Kyle turns in the opposite direction and bolts, screaming in sheer terror, tearing through the brush like a blind man. Jake stands frozen, his gun raised, his hands trembling violently. “Greg… Greg, what the fuck is that?!”

Gregory stumbles back two paces, his cultured facade instantly shattering into pale, breathy panic. He squints into the dense fog, trying to pierce the shadow beneath the thick wolf cape, but the creature remains shrouded in complete darkness.

“Jake,” Gregory chokes out, his voice thin. “Fucking shoot it. Shoot it now!”

The hulking figure in the wolf pelt doesn’t react to the threat. It slowly steps forward, standing between me and the guns.

Then, it speaks.

“I would suggest you take your pathetic little life,” a low, velvet baritone purrs from beneath the shadowed hood of the cape, “and remove it from my sight before I decide to feed the rest of you to my hound, like your friend over there.” The voice is sophisticated. Aristocratic. Nothing like a beast at all. It’s silky smooth and dripping with a dangerous, cocky dominance. The absolute contrast between the refined voice and the terrifying, blood-soaked wolf pelt makes my body tremble.

Jake doesn’t wait. He drops his pistol in the mud, turns on his heel, and flees after Kyle.

Gregory backs away slowly, his eyes wide with terror, staring at the dead body of TJ crumpled against the redwood. I never get a clear look at the thing under the pelt, but from my angle on the ground, I can see another set of glowing eyes. Demon red. Whatever the fuck is wearing the wolf pelt has crimson eyes.

Gregory turns and begins sprinting down the trail, his expensive boots splashing wildly through the mud, abandoning everything. He doesn’t get far when claw-tipped fingers emerge from the pelt, and the demon snaps his fingers.

The clearing falls silent. Gregory and Jake are frozen in mid-motion like the rain around us.

The demon in the dark wolf pelt slowly turns toward me, glancing down. The shadows beneath the pelt are so deep I can’t see a single feature of his face, only the broad, imposing silhouette of a monster wrapped in fur. That, and the crimson eyes that seem to be drinking me in.

He steps closer. The heat rolling off his body is astonishing. It’s an intense, searing warmth that instantly slices through the freezing cold soaking my skin.

He kneels in the mud right in front of me, and something about that strikes me as wrong. I should be trembling under him at all times, not letting this creature meet me at eye level. The heavy gray fur of his cape drags through the wet dirt. He reaches out a large, calloused hand and gently tilts my chin up with sharp, clawed fingers. His grip is light. Threatening.

“Look at you,” the silky, cultured voice murmurs from the darkness of the hood, dripping with dark amusement. “Bleeding all over my territory. Desperate little human.”

I stare into the pitch-black void beneath his hood, my heart hammering against my ribs. I meet those glowing eyes, refusing to drop my gaze. “Are you going to kill me?” My voice is shockingly calm. Almost as if I’ve accepted my fate.

A low, rich chuckle echoes from the shadow of the cape, followed by a loud, frightening growl.

The growl doesn’t come from the vicinity of the demon’s mouth. It echoes inside my head, a raw, non-verbal roar of pure, animalistic possessiveness that makes my blood sing. It’s somehow… familiar. The beast shadow behind him shifts, wrapping around my ankles like warm silk.

“Kill you? After you spilled such delicious blood on my territory?” The dark stranger tilts his hooded head, his thumb trailing over the bruise on my jawline. His touch burns with an intoxicating heat. “No, little bird. You didn’t summon Death. You summoned a demon and begged for a deal. But your safety has a price.”

“What price?” I whisper.

The hooded figure leans in close, his hot breath brushing against my ear as his tone drops to a lethal velvet whisper. “Total submission. You want me to save you? Then you belong to me now.” Those razor-sharp claws wander down my neck, tracing the outline of my exposed collarbone. His long fingers settle around my throat, but he doesn’t squeeze. “Your body. Your breath. Your life. All of it will belong to me.”

A whimper tumbles from my lips before I can stop it.

Down the trail, Gregory’s and Jake’s bodies are still frozen in place. Does this demon really have the power to stop time? And what if I say no? Will he kill me?

Or worse, will he hand me back to Gregory? I don’t think I would survive the amount of pain he has planned for me.

“If I agree, will you promise not to hurt me?”

The demon chuckles. “The only time I’ll hurt you is when you beg for it.”

I shiver.

“If you take this deal and step into my house, I’ll keep you safe from those men. But remember, you’ll never be able to run away.”

I look at the dark, mysterious figure wrapped in the wolf cape. I look at the suffocating darkness of the redwoods. Total submission? I’m trading one cage for another and hoping this monster keeps his word. But as his heat and shadows wrap around my shivering body, pulling me up off the frozen ground, I know one thing for certain.

This monster will never let Gregory touch me again.

“Deal,” I rasp out.