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The guy next to me pipes up, a quaver in his voice. “What happens if you catch up to us?”
Brady walks behind me again. Cold fingers stroke the back of my neck and he laughs as I pull away from him. “You really don’t want that to happen. Needless to say, anyone who doesn’t make it back to Havoc House by dawn will no longer be a pledge, so hiding out isn’t an option. Any questions?”
No one says a word.
I can practically feel his eyes boring into the back of my head, but I refuse to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging it. The last thing I want is for him to see the very real fear in my eyes.
My gaze moves over the masked figures standing around us, trying and failing to figure out if Drake is among them. Vaughn’s cast would probably stand out if he was here. I’d like to think that they have some sort of plan for getting me out of this, but no one seems to be paying me even a bit of attention.
Except for Brady.
A glint of metal flashes out of the corner of my eye. I flinch when the knife enters my field of vision, cringing away on instinct.
Brady makes a sound of amusement as he cuts the rope around my wrists. His whisper isn’t loud enough for anyone else to hear. “You’re going to need your hands free for what we have planned for you later.”
“Is that a sexual assault joke? How original.”
Brady only chuckles as he moves on to the guy kneeling next to me. “Because I’m feeling generous, we’ll allow you a five-minute head start.”
I rub away the soreness in my wrists, my mind spinning rapidly.
Cardio is so not my thing. Lifting weights is totally fine and I might occasionally play a pickup game of basketball, but I have never been someone who runs for fun.
Unless I’m trying to get away from the cops, running has always struck me as a totally pointless activity.
There is anticipation in the air that moves along my skin and makes me shiver in nervous reaction. A dozen pairs of eyes move over my body with outright and lascivious intent as I stand.
What have I gotten myself into?
I chance a look at the guys kneeling on either side of me. They both look scared as hell.
The circle of masks wavers in my vision. I tamp down on the quivering reaction that means I’m moments away from a panic attack. I stare at the dark eyes behind those masks, looking for any hint of humanity behind them. I find nothing but cold anticipation.
I know precisely what they’ll do if they catch me.
Drake won’t be able to do anything to stop it, even if he wants to.
Brady finishes cutting the ropes off of the last guy in line and straightens to stare at us. “The clock is ticking. What are you idiots still doing here?”
It takes a second for anyone to react. Then the guy next to me shoots up and takes off for the trees.
I struggle to my feet, cold seeping into the soles of my shoes. My foot catches in the packed snow and I nearly tumble to the ground again.
The other pledges are already ahead of me, heading for the bit of light in the distance that has to be coming from the center of campus.
I’ve only just hit the trees when I hear the sound of heavy footsteps behind me.
A pledge shouts from the darkness somewhere to my left. “I thought you were giving us a five-minute head start?”
Brady’s laughing voice carries on the wind as I crash through the trees.
“I lied.”
Chapter Fourteen
Count on Brady to choose the Gauntlet for our first pledge challenge.
It’s always been my least favorite of the games we play with pledges. I’m one of the few who doesn’t remember it fondly from my own pledge year.
