Page 56 of Hunted By Them

“Look at me,” I snapped.

He slowly lifted his head, and even though he had admitted to committing multiple crimes, arrogance still glittered in his eyes. His jaw jutted out, and I knew what would happen if he were set free. No matter what he said, he would run straight to the police and have every member of law enforcement in this forest looking for me and my men. That couldn’t happen. Not now. Not ever.

“Please, Sage,” Connor begged, almost sounding sincere, but he wasn’t.

I took a breath. I’d thought that if given this chance, I would want to scream. To hurl every ugly thing back at him, to make him small with words the way he’d tried to make me small with manipulation, gaslighting, and fear. But that wasn’t the language this place spoke.

And I had a choice. Not the men. Not the antlers. Me.

He swallowed when I didn’t speak. “I lost my temper. I fucked up, but I can do better. I can be better.”

“You were jealous. You were scared. You were cruel. You are nothing more than a child in a thousand-dollar suit. And…I’m done being small so that you can feel big.”

He flinched as if I’d struck him.

I stood, turning to the antlered silhouettes. The Buck didn’t move. It wasn’t necessary. I felt the question pouring off him.

Who are you now?

I answered.

“Make him disappear.” My voice didn’t shake. “I don’t want to see him again. I don’t want to hear his name. I want the forest to remember his screams, for him to die knowing all he did to get to this point.” My pulse thundered, but my words felt carved into me

The Buck’s exhale was dark and satisfied. The Elk inclined his head once, a courtly gesture that should have looked out of place in a clearing with a man on his knees, but didn’t. The Caribou made a soft, pleased sound as if a blade had been tested and was now perfect.

“You will never leave this forest again. Even when given the opportunity to come clean, you still can’t apologize for all the things you did. You don’t know how to take accountability, but out here.” I looked around. “Out here, you will learn humility. Here’s your closure, Connor. I’m not the girl you kept trying to put back in a box. I choose them. I choose the dark. I choose me.”

“You’ll regret—” His voice broke.

“I won’t.” I stood tall as I felt the truth of it settle into my bones.

The Buck moved, slowly walking over to the same rock that the Caribou had pulled the masks from, and walked back with a satchel in his hands. He held it out like an offering.

Taking the simple brown piece of leather, I opened the flap and pulled out a mask. Bone white, leaner, crowned with two single spike horns. Smaller than theirs, but fierce. A thing made for speed.

“For you,” he said. “This is the choice. Stay small. Stay theirs. Or put this on and run with us. Never be prey again,” Buck proclaimed.

The breath caught in my chest. I raised it to my face and then stopped. Handing it back, I held up my finger. I unzipped my jacket, then pulled off the hoodie I’d been wearing so that I was left in my black sports bra.

“Now I’m ready,” I said, taking the mask. I shuddered as I pulled it on and tightened the leather straps. It fit like it had been carved especially for me, and when I took a deep breath, the final piece of my new life clicked into place.

The world narrowed. The weight of the bone against my skin, the sound of my own breathing, and the fire in my blood grounded me.

Through the eye sockets, I saw the Buck watching me. Waiting.

My lips curved into a smile I didn’t recognize, but it felt truer than any I’d worn before.

“I choose all of you. I choose this.”

Elk lifted his head and howled. The other two joined in until wolves and coyotes in the forest around us answered the call.

My blood raced, my skin prickled, but I didn’t flinch.

Ryder

We gave him his head start.

I clenched my fist, which was now covered with massive bear claws and leather. As we stood there waiting, counting down the seconds to pursue our prey, I thought.