Page 31 of After the Burn

Lila.

If Gideon realized we had women and girls hidden outside this settlement — no, I didn’t even want to think about that.

Absolutely fucking not.

Gideon approached us. “I saw Mace stop you from going to the gate. I’m sorry about that, but we have certain rules in place.” He smiled slyly. “Don’t worry. If you take me up on my offer to fight, you’ll get first crack at the females we have in the pen.”

I stared at him hard enough that most men would’ve backed up.

Adrian casually stepped in front of me. “We were just discussing that. I think we could both do with some entertainment.”

If I could burn a hole in the side of Adrian’s head with just my gaze, his brains would be leaking everywhere.

“Get the fuck off me.”

My heart skipped a beat as I immediately recognized that sexy voice.

Taryn.

As much as I missed her, I wished I were wrong.

Gideon’s attention had moved to the two figures Mace and Gage were bringing over.

My chest tightened instantly.

Taryn and Lila.

Shit.

I looked at Mace’s eyes locked onto Taryn—and I knew every bad feeling I’d had about this place was about to get even worse.

CHAPTER FIVE

LUCAS

The woods felt different when I traveled through them alone.

Every sound carried too far now. Every snapped twig and shifting branch scraped across my nerves until it became impossible to tell what was real danger and what was merely exhaustion creeping beneath my skin.

My heightened senses didn’t help. I could hear a mouse fart from a hundred yards away. I hadn’t slept since the night before I left. The need to reach Taryn before something bad happened drove me forward.

I slipped through the trees, stepping over roots and dead brush while weak morning light filtered through the canopy overhead.

Taryn and Lila had definitely come this way.

In the early days at Ben’s house, he’d put us through intense training. During one of his lectures, he said it was imperative that we stay in the woods whenever possible and avoid all roads because the hordes were near more populated areas. It looked like the girls had taken his advice.

Most people wouldn’t have noticed the signs.

I did.

A broken branch bent slightly too far downward. A partial boot print in soft mud. Fresh claw marks appeared on a fallen log, indicating where Max launched himself over it rather than going around.

I brought one leaf from the branch to my nose and, with my heightened senses, smelled the faint coconut scent that still clung to Taryn’s skin, even after all this time.

I held it to my face longer than was strictly necessary, then put it in my pocket.

A sound echoed faintly somewhere ahead, and my grip tightened around the knife in my hand.