Page 51 of Hunted By Them

Wheeling the truck around, I drove through the employee-only access and pulled onto the trail. The forest surrounded me like an old coat. Every root and shadow belonged to me. The crickets and frogs were loud tonight. The air had shifted again, and the eerie call of an owl echoed off the branches and across the ridges. Somewhere far off, a coyote yipped and was answered. The canopy swayed as the sun dipped lower in the sky. It was the breath of the night, but the undercurrent was wrong, like the forest was telling me to hurry.

My headlights easily cut through the quickly darkening shadows, making it easy to see Sweet Daisy’s trail and the boots that followed her. She’d stopped and turned around at one point, like she thought she might be being followed.

His prints were longer now. Predatory in his pursuit. I drove faster. They couldn’t be far. Sweet Daisy must have noticed him because the prints suddenly left the main road for a narrower trail that I couldn’t take the truck down.

Fuck. I shut the truck off, grabbed my hunting knife, and took off like it was all one fluid movement.

Voices filtered through the dark, but they were too faint for me to understand the words.

“You fucking bitch! How dare you do that to me?” The man’s tone was filled with rage. “You think you can humiliate me. You think you can just walk away from me. No one walks away from me. You leave when I tell you.”

Her answer was defiant. “Get off me, you fucking psycho!”

Branches snapped, and my vision went red with the thud of bodies struggling.

I broke through a cluster of firs and saw them.

It was definitely Connor. He had her slammed against a tree, his hand locked around her throat. His face was twisted, spit flying with every word. His other hand gripped her wrist, forcing her back, trying to pin her.

And Sage…my Sweet Daisy, fought like hell. She kicked, clawed, and bucked against him with wild fury. Her teeth snapped as if she wanted to bite his face clean off. I sprinted across the open area as he threw her to the ground. I snarled.

“Stay down!” Connor roared. “If I can’t have you, then no one can, Sage. Do you hear me?”

I was closing in fast, but my Sweet Daisy was faster. Her pack had come off in the struggle and lay beside her on the ground. I watched as her hand dove into the front pocket.

“No,” she hissed up at him. She came up with something in her grip.

My heart slammed.

The antler. The one I’d left for her as a memento that night I snuck into her room.

With a scream, she stabbed Connor in the thigh. He wailed like a dying badger. I was only a few strides away when she jumped to her feet and drove the sharp piece of bone into Connor’s shoulder. His howl ripped through the trees.

“What the fuck! You stabbed me, you crazy cunt. I’m going to kill you,” he roared. He staggered back, hand grabbing at the bone protruding from his flesh.

Sage was panting hard, eyes wide, and her hair windswept across her face. She looked like prey no longer, but something darker, something claimed.

Mine.

Pride swelled hot in my chest.

I surged forward, seized Connor by the back of his neck, and yanked him off his feet. I slammed him into the dirt so hard his head snapped. He groaned, dazed, and with blood seeping into the earth like an offering. I glared down at the man at my feet as he tried to point.

“Get her, she’s crazy and tried to kill me.” He held his head and rolled over onto his back, the antler still firmly in place. “I need a hospital, and her thrown in jail.”

“Me? You fucking prick.” Sweet Daisy lunged at him, but I wrapped my arm around her waist and held her back. “Don’t believe him. He stalked me out here and was threatening to kill me,” she yelled, surging against my arms, like she planned to tear his eyes out of his head. “Please tell me that you see he is lying?”

She looked up at me with worry in her eyes. Obviously, the police were not being very helpful.

Figures.

“I do,” I said, and she stopped struggling.

“What? You believe her? She’s unstable, she’s nuts, she’s…” I kicked Connor across the jaw to shut him up and knocked his ass out.

“That’s better,” I whispered and looked at my Sweet Daisy as I released her.

She covered her mouth and forehead. “Thank God you came along when you did. I didn’t know that the rangers patrolled all night.” She leaned forward, putting her hands on her knees. “Oh my God, what am I going to do. The police are never going to believe me,” she mumbled.