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I wanted this. Ineededthis. I kept running.
It was too dark to see. The silhouettes of the trees stretched on ahead of me, endless in every direction. There was no trail, no path to follow. The ferns whipped my legs as I ran, branches scratched my face. I didn’t know where I was going.
The rain came down harder and I paused again, catching my breath as I searched the shadows. I was running from something that could track me by scent, could easily overwhelm my speed, and could hear my heartbeat. There was no hiding. There was noescaping.
I didn’t have to escape, I had to remember that. It was okay to be caught this time.
Adrenaline couldn’t differentiate between this and true danger. I wanted a deal with a demon, and I had no idea if I could trust him. His every word could be a lie. Maybe I was going to die in that forest. Maybe these were the last breaths I’d ever draw.
But the better part of me knew that wasn’t true. Somehow, despite all the fear, despite the invasive memories, I knew Zane wasn’t going to kill me. He was going to catch me. He was going to hurt me. He was going to make me his.
Somehow, that excited me.
If I was honest with the darkest parts of myself, that even turned me on.
I climbed over a fallen pine and slid down the short ridge beyond it, crouching close to the dirt with the protruding roots digging into my back as I took slow, deep breaths. Always think one step ahead. Don’t lose focus. Be prepared to kill. The demon wanted me to fight him, so I’d fucking fight him. He wanted to claim me, but I wasn’t going to make it easy for him.
Snap.
I froze. Slow breath in, count to ten. Slow breath out, count to ten. Look up.
Golden eyes gazed down at me with a wide, sharp smile. “Hello, little wolf.”
I slashed out with the knife as I threw myself aside to avoid him. The blade made contact, but there was no time to revel in satisfaction. I regained my balance, half-running and half-sliding down the steepening slope, my boots catching on vines and roots as I went. There was a gully nearby somewhere. I’d seen it as I hiked in. But it was nearly pitch black, and in my rush, I’d lost track of exactly where I was.
I found the gully face-first.
I landed hard in the mud, the air knocked from my lungs. I rolled to my back, gasping, water flowing around me. I had to get up, I had to keep running. Zane’s deep voice chuckled from above me, his footsteps crunching as he paced just out of my sight.
“Aww, little wolf. Think before you run. Don’t panic now.”
I shoved myself up. But when I looked over the ledge, he wasn’t there. I spun around, surveying the woods on the opposite side of the gully. Nothing. I held my knife up, at the ready, my head light with the cocktail of chemicals flooding my bloodstream.
One hand seized around my throat from behind, the other gripped my wrist with the blade. I flung my head back and hit his face, but I may as well have slammed my skull against a brick wall. The impact dazed me, and for a moment my vision shifted, the forest around me vanishing.
The long, dark mine tunnel. Gray light. Water dripping overhead. Tentacles coiling toward me out of the dark —
“Hey, hey, wake the fuck up.”
He slapped my cheek, snapping me back from the nightmares that waited eagerly at the edge of my consciousness. He released me with a shove, and I caught myself on the wall of the gully, turning to face him. “Don’t let It overtake you. It will claim every moment of vulnerability you have if you let It. It will take your pleasure, your pain, yourliving. Don’t let It.”
I blinked rapidly, knife at the ready, or as ready as I could be, considering I felt as if I’d just been jolted out of sleep. “How...how do you know that?”
He twitched, as if resisting the urge to seize me again. Instead, he paced, fingers clenching and unclenching at his sides. “Let’s just say that Gods and demons don’t get along.” He bared his teeth, a growl rising in his throat as he said viciously, “It’s not allowed to distract you from me, Juniper. Gods are jealous, but so am I. Only I’m allowed to torment you.”
He lunged, and I slashed. From his mouth to his cheek, just below his eye, blood welled up and began to drip. I backed away slowly as he raised his hand and touched the gash, then gazed down curiously at his bloodied fingers.
“So the little wolfcanbite.” He chuckled. “Good. Verygood, Juniper. Fuck. You made me hard.”
I shouldn’t have looked down. I shouldn’t have been curious. I shouldn’t have gotten so hot at the sight of his rigid cock pressing against his pants, betraying its unnatural, terrifying size. Something demanding coiled in my belly; a snake with fangs dripping with lust.
I shouldn’t have felt lust for him. Not him. Not a monster.
I sprinted away. I had no idea how close he was, I had no time to think. I used a stone jutting out from the dirt to launch myself up, landing hard against the side of the ravine and scrambling up. Don’t look back, don’t stop. Just run, run.
He’d gotten ahead of me. I slammed into him so hard it knocked me back on my ass, but this time he didn’t give me the opportunity to get up again. He pinned me down as I thrashed wildly with the knife, trying to slash him anywhere I could. He laughed as he caught my hands, pressing them to the dirt and grinding his hips down against mine. His cock pressed against me, hard and thick, separated from me only by thin layers of clothing. The heat in me was spreading, settling traitorously between my legs as Zane smiled, the blood from his cut lip running into his mouth and staining his sharp teeth red.
“What now, Juniper? Shall I let you run some more?” He used his knee to pin my wrist, and with his free hand, he grabbed my face and squeezed. “Open up, little wolf. Taste the blood you’ve drawn.”
