Page 12 of Speak No Claim

He waited just long enough for the realization to take over before speaking, almost like he watched it unfold inside my mind.

“You didn’t earn the hunt,” he said quietly with a short pause. The silence stretched between us, and after a beat, he seemed to reluctantly admit…

* * *

“But they dressed you like prey regardless.”

Chapter

Four

Hennessy: He found me long before he ever looked up.

My fingers dug deeper into the bark, holding on tighter. His words made me feel more vulnerable, as if they had the power to plummet me to my death.

He inhaled slowly. I could hear his breathing like I heard my own.

“This ends one of two ways,” he indicated, breaking through the silence. “Neither of which is in favor of you.”

I listened carefully, trying not to let it get the best of me.

“Besides,” he added. “I don’t like hunting things that don’t know the rules. The outcome is always the same.” His tone remained maddeningly even, causing me to suck in another breath.

The quiet night made it easy for his voice to reach me even though I was high up in the sky.

“You climbed a tree,” he stated the obvious. “Most people run until they collapse.”

Most people? How often do they search for strangers in the woods?

“But you chose to become still.”

I continued to listen intently to everything he was saying, mostly curious about where he was going with this.

“Do you know what happens when prey stops moving?”

I did. I hunted food often. I didn’t tell him that, trying to feel him out. I narrowed my gaze, wanting to get a better look at him.

“Predators stop chasing.” He glanced up at the branches, feeling my eyes on him. “They wait.”

We had that immediate connection, the same one from the foyer.

“And right now,” he forewarned. “You’re confusing my patience with mercy, Hennessy.”

Hearing him say my name did something to the core, something I’d never felt before, at least not like this. I couldn’t describe it. I could barely understand it.

“You can choose when this ends,” he coaxed instantly.

More silence from me.

“Stay up there if it brings you comfort, but that doesn’t change the outcome for you. Your actions have consequences at the Graves, you need to know that now. All you’re doing is delaying the inevitable and further pissing me off, both of which won’t end well for you.” He stared upward, and I tried to hide my body from him. “Consider this my first warning to you. If tonight is any indication on how you’ll behave, it’ll be one of many.” He paused for another moment before asking, “What was your plan here? To become part of the forest?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, waiting for I don’t know what.

“Trees don’t keep secrets forever. Eventually, someone always brings an axe.”

I didn’t move.

“Now come down and I’ll be easy on you,” he demanded all in one breath.