Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
“I thought you might want to take a shower,” he announces after setting the linen on the sink. “Extra toothbrushes are in the top drawer. That ridiculous dress of yours should be dry by now. I’ll leave it on the bed before I go.”
“Go?” I gulp. “Where are you going?”
“I showed you where everything is,” he says, ignoring my question. “There’s meat already thawing in the fridge. You should have no problem getting dinner started. We’ll be home by the time the sun touches the horizon. Don’t leave the cabin.”
Khalil’s gone, shutting the bathroom door behind him before I can even get a word out. For a while, I just stood there processing the last half hour until I heard the front door slam closed five minutes later.
He left.
Khalil actually left me alone as if I haven’t proven more than once that I’m a definite flight risk.
Running out of the bathroom and up the basement stairs, I make it to the kitchen window overlooking the clearing in time to see Khalil step over the boundary of their property and disappear through the trees. He’s covered from head to toe now in a yellow and black snowsuit, telling me he really does plan to be gone for a while.
Still, I wait a few minutes more, scanning the tree line to make sure he hasn’t forgotten something or this isn’t a trap. The three of them could be lying in wait to see if I’ll run so they have an excuse to punish me.
After ten minutes, I head to the front door and take a deep breath before I turn the knob.
I fully expected it to be padlocked with thick chains and booby traps because it’s the only thing that makes sense, but no.
The blast of cold air when the door actually opens is almost as shocking as finding out that I hadn’t been locked in.
Immediately, my mind begins to race, trying to hastily form a plan of escape amongst the chaos of warning bells and the sole question echoing in the background.
Why should they lock me in?
I remember every moment of my ordeal before I saw the smoke from the cabin curling above the trees. I only made it this far because of Tyler. I won’t be so lucky on my own, and based on how thin the air feels, it’s an even longer way down the mountain.
My only hope is to wait for the cavalry.
I have this fleeting, insane thought that I could get myself down before I dismiss it as lunacy.
I have no supplies, zero sense of direction, and I still haven’t fully recovered from my last walk through the woods.
Heart in my throat, I slowly shut the door.
It’s a few more minutes before I can bring myself to walk away from it—my autonomy, my freedom, and my certain death if I leave this prison a moment too soon.
A yawn and the exhaustion that accompanies it take over my thoughts. I’ve been asleep for days, yet I feel like I could sleep for a few more.
I think about going back downstairs since Khalil’s bed is the most comfortable, but the idea of going back into the basement doesn’t thrill me, so I eye the cracked door to Thorin’s room.
I know Khalil left me a list of demands that I should probably get started on since the days are shorter in the winter, but I have no intention of becoming their twisted version of a housewife.
I choose the nap.
The bears follow me into my dreams, turning them into nightmares.
No matter how hard I run, they catch me. They hold me down and use me. They make me theirs. Sometimes, they let me get away just so it can start all over again. Each time, they take a little more until it’s me gladly handing over the tarnished pieces of my soul for them to devour.
That’s the most twisted part—that I don’t fight all that hard.
It’s my shame, my burden to bear.
Their faces are shielded by animalistic masks with gaping maws that reveal their devastatingly gorgeous faces.
They’re not monsters, or demons, or bears. They’re so much worse.
They’re men—virile, deviant, lonely, and wild. They’re free of the societal bonds that demand they behave honorably.
And I know who they are.
I wander hopelessly inside my own mind for what feels like days, searching for their names. Eventually, the darkest depths of my soul answers with a possession that feels perverse.
Thorin—domineering, grumpy, suspicious, and malevolent.
Khalil—passionate, vain, violent, and selfish.
I hesitated about the final name, not because I didn’t remember it but because it felt wrong.
No, not wrong. Incomplete.
It feels like one side of a mangled coin. I force my mind to speak it anyway, knowing it’s the key to my freedom.
Seth—mischievous, obsessive, gullible, and tormented.
It’s not my first time dreaming about them, but it is the first time they speak to me.