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He laughed low and dark. “Be careful, princess. You might just get your wish, and not in a place you’d like.”
A few amused snickers alerted me that we had an audience, that there were more of them hidden in the trees.
His dig at who I was is what ultimately had me taking better notice of him and his comrade’s face. They wore skulls as masks, flecked with black and green. I knew what those colors meant, fucking Venom.
I attempted to wrestle my gun away from him again, unable to hold in a second hiss when he bent my wrist back even further.
What might have been the clicking of Annie’s shotgun came from the other side of the thicket. I couldn’t focus clearly when my bone was seconds away from snapping in two.
I heaved a pained and angry breath, growling as I tore my fingers from the barrel. My body tensed, preparing for further pain that never came.
Instead, catching me off guard for the second time, my assailant shoved me backward into the tree now behind me.
A small gasp of air rushed from my lungs;rigid bark met my spine. He kicked my legs apart, and then placed his solid body between them. The safety was flicked off, and then the cool, metal barrel of the gun was set against the side of my temple.
Words were exchanged around us; I couldn’t decipher anything that was said.
My heart was beating furiously; body flushed with rage and something I couldn’t identify. I stared at the slits in the mask where eyes should have been, silently daring him to pull the damn trigger.
“You know, there’s a thin line between fearless and stupidity,” he mused as if I’d spoken aloud.
“Whatever you’re going to do, fucking do it,” I snapped. If he were about to blow my brains out, I preferred he just got it over with. I never feared death; I just wanted to know when it was coming.
“Oh, make no mistake. I have a long list of things I plan to do to you, Adelaide—but you’re not near ready for me, yet.”
I blinked at him, not sure why I was so surprised he knew who I was.
Taking advantage of my disposition, he dropped one of his hands to my side, keeping the other in place with the barrel still to my skull.
Calloused fingers delved beneath my shirt. My stomach flipped as they brushed against my bare skin, inflaming where they stroked. He pressed his body further against mine, causing the breath to hitch in my chest.
I didn’t like how this felt. It shouldn’t have felt like this—like anything. A stranger’s touch shouldn’t have made my veins shiver and my blood sizzle. Most especially a stranger such as this one.
Almost like he read my mind again, he leaned in until the mouthpiece of his mask was right beside my ear, whispering a dark promise.
“I have to go now, but I’m very much looking forward to when I get to make you mine, Addy.”
He stepped away after that, leaving me with my back against the tree, feeling a mixture of deeply confused and pissed off. His companion followed his lead, letting Nyx go without incident, and following him down the trail without a word.
It wasn’t until Annie came bursting through the clearing, uncharacteristically late, shotgun cocked, my brother and Cameron behind her that I realized the prick had just stolen my Glock.
“He shouldn’t have done that,” Luce said the moment his eyes met mine.
“What do you mean, he?” I asked as Nyx implored, “You saw that?”
“We all did,” Cameron answered as he approached me.
“And none of you thought to do anything!”
“He had a gun pressed to your head, Addy. I’m fast, not stop a bullet fast,” Cam retorted, now checking me over like a mother hen.
I looked to Annie who was even more quiet than usual. She blankly stared back, and while not dramatically unusual for her it felt suspicious to me right then.
I returned my gaze to Luce, finding he was watching me closely.
“Wha—ouch!” I jerked my wrist away from Cameron with a glare.
“Sorry,” he said, giving me a sheepish smile. “Are you okay?”
