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NEVER
I made it exactly three steps into the trees before his hand landed on my shoulder and I flinched involuntarily. How had he gotten so close so fast? His touch was gone in an instant and he stuttered an apology.
“No need to grovel.” My attempt at easing his guilt clearly failed, because when I glanced at his face, he looked almost sad. “I grew up with a demon-fighting mom who taught me just enough about the bad shit in the world to give me a lifetime’s worth of nightmares before she skipped town. It made me a little jumpy.”
Hook reached a hand out and gently touched my arm. Even just that light contact sent tiny waves and tingles across my skin. It was the kind of touch Ishouldhave pulled away from. Yet, somehow, he made the soft press of his fingertips against my forearm feel intimate, and every cell in my body wanted to lean into it. Every cell save for the few neurons in my brain that were still functioning properly.
I took a half step back, hoping he couldn’t see me mentally shaking off the sensation. “You do know where we’re going, right?”
The landscape looked beautiful from the outside, from the safety of the beach where I could hold my arms out at my sides and spin in a big, girlish circle without touching anything. But the previous day’s adventure had opened my eyes to one of the realities of strolling through a rainforest. Well, two actually.
First, there was no strolling, not unless we managed to find a handy dandy trail. Between the trees, vines, shrubs, puddles, erupting roots, and animals, getting through the dense vegetation would be nothing short of a slog. Second, and the thing that had my skin crawling, was that everything was much, much too close for comfort.
I desperately wanted to find Matty and get him home but standing there with the toe of one boot edging into the shade already had my chest constricting. I just hadn’t noticed as much the day before because I was running from Hook.
“I do know where we need to go, and it isn’t through here.” He took a step back and motioned to the long stretch of untouched sand with a little bow of his head.
The vise tightening around my lungs eased back a notch, and I nodded gratefully.
“The island isn’t all bad. There is a lot of beauty here, but like all beautiful things. . .” He paused and glanced over at me. “It comes with its share of danger.”
“Like that cursed siren from yesterday? Or the snake that tried to pounce on me from that branch while you just watched?”
His lips curled up in a hint of a smile before he headed down the beach. “Snakes do not pounce, and that one was not dangerous. It was merely trying to say hello. And the siren is avoidable. It’s just a matter of keeping a safe distance from her putrescent little pond.”
I had to move quickly to keep up with Hook’s annoyingly long legs, though he didn’t appear to be in a hurry. “How do you know where Pan is keeping my brother?”
His hand drifted up and his fingers pressed to his chest absent-mindedly. “The demon has a routine.” He glanced down at his hand, yanking it away with a little huff of disgust. “Your brother must have used a summoning spell. It is the only way the demon would have been able to leave this realm to visit yours.”
I shook my head vehemently, because Matty didn’t know the first thing about summoning demons or casting spells. He was just a teenage boy. But Hook pushed on.
“The demon’s mission right now is to make your brother feel at home. There will be fun and games, lots of food, maybe a little adventure. The demon and the lost boys—I like that name for them, by the way, though they aren’t exactly kids anymore—they will do everything in their power to convince your brother it’s safe to let his guard down.”
I grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. “And then?”
His gaze flicked down to where my hand was wrapped around his forearm. “Then they’ll set to work separating the boy from his shadow.”
“How long?”
“It depends on the boy. Wendy’s brothers let their guard down after two days, but they were young, not yet in their teens. How old is your brother?”
“Seventeen.”
“We may have more time.” He motioned to a narrow path snaking into the woods up ahead. “Stay close. The trail is less treacherous than attempting to traverse straight through, but it is by no means safe.”
The warning did exactly nothing to ease the tension growing inside me as I followed him into the trees.
“His age will likely work in his favor. Is he the trusting sort or is he more like you?”
I snorted at that. “Like me?”
“I distinctly recall having to earn your trust over the threat of a slit throat.” He was an arm’s length ahead of me and I still heard the smile in his voice, even though he didn’t turn to face me.
“Right. I did say that.”
He hummed appreciatively and the vibration of it seemed to carry through the air and sink into my core. Had that promise of violence impressed him?
A vision of me straddling Hook on his bed, with my blade pressed to his neck, seared its way through my mind, and that seductive hum rippled through my body.
