Terror locked her body as she realized what was happening. Taking a step back, she tripped on a root and fell backward onto her ass. She crawled away, ignoring the pain of the rough dirt dragging against her skin as Felix’s features hardened into something predatory, mouth grinning wildly like a man who wanted to hunt, and she was his prey.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck.
Felix grabbed his head and dropped to his knees, a strangled snarl escaping him. When her back hit the hedge, and she couldn’t move any further, she froze like a mouse in front of a cat. It was a terrible habit of hers.
Every limb went limp. For some reason, her body debated fighting or flighting and had decided to be utterly useless. Would playing dead work? Probably not. All she could do was watch in horror as his limbs lengthened and bones cracked and stretched into shadow.
His voice slammed into her mind, Felix’s voice, not the thing’s.
“AVERY, RUN! I cannot hold it back any longer.”
Felix’s body morphed into something inhuman. Shadow swallowed him whole, reshaping him into something with a cat’s build and a skull for a face. A monster. All the blood drained from her face as she finally heeded his warning. Finally, her legs unlocked, and she scrambled to her feet and hit the ground with all the force she could muster, pushing herself forward and back into the maze.
Dark laughter echoed, sending goose bumps skittering across her skin as she ran for her life.
“Keep running, little witch, because if I catch you, I’m going to fuck you,”the monster said.
Dear fucking goddess. Why the fuck had the goddess done this? Did she want to see how fast she ran? Panic clawed up her throat. She didn’t want to find out what the monster meant by that. Her legs burned as she pushed herself further, walls of leaves bleeding past her vision. She didn’t remember the way they came. A wall of green interrupted her. Dead end.Fuck.
The monster’s voice rumbled through her head.“I can scent him on you, witch, and I’m going to make sure that I fucking rub every inch of you to get his scent off and replace it with mine.”
“Five,”the monster said.
He was counting down. Her stomach turned over, fear twisting in her gut. Her shoulders moved rapidly as she fought to catch her breath. No time to stop. Keep going. Keep fucking going. Blood roared in her ears. Her muscles bunched, every instinct shrieking one word:run.
The walls blurred around her, and her thighs screamed, slowing her down while the cold wind of the late night sliced her cheeks. Her lungs burned. She didn’t dare look behind her.
The walls became denser, the moon struggling to light the way through the maze. But she didn’t stop. A low, foreboding purr rumbled through the maze. The vibration sent a bolt of unwanted pleasure through her core. She choked on a sob of horror and humiliation, stumbling on a root. Rough bark scraped the skin from her palm as she broke her fall.No. I will not fucking die here.Clambering to her feet, she pushed off and ran.
“Four.”
Dead end.
“Three.”
Dead end.
“Two.”
Dead fucking end!
“One.”
No. No no no no. Her legs gave out. She caught herself against the hedge wall, gasping and shaking. But the sound of heavy footfalls behind her pushed her harder, despite the stitch in her side, despite her vision spotting, despite the purring coming closer. Something dark blurred past, forcing her to move sideways, but a hulking form of shadows already blocked her path, so she banked left. The shadows shifted to seal every other escape.
There was nowhere else to go.
Eight feet of pure nightmare stalked toward her. The skull almost looked like it was smiling, a sadistic grin that promised pain.
She went still. It moved like a cat—one careful paw in front of the other, the purr vibrating in every bone. Even her piercing vibrated along with it. The pleasure made bile rise in her throat even as her nipples hardened.
“Found you,”it said. The voice was like a rapacious symphony, begging her forward with its predatory rhythm. Shadows poured from its form like smoke, its tail swishing back and forth.
Avery pressed herself into the foliage, praying for a gap, a door, anything. Every time she tried, roots moved to block her path. Her body went hot and wet despite the terror freezing her lungs. She wanted to scream at herself, at her traitorous cunt for responding to a monster. Tears pricked her eyes as it kept creeping closer, its movement so animalistic.
Her body tensed under its gaze, her legs starting to shake.
“Please,”she said.
