Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 108721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
It’s now or never.
“I trust you, Sebastian,” I tell him because I need him to know I’m giving up my power and control.
“You really shouldn’t say things like that.” He takes a predatory step toward me, and I can see the hunter lurking beneath the surface, waiting to come out and play.
“Why?” My voice wobbles.
“Because men like me take your trust, break it, and then shove it back at you. We eat fragile girls like you for breakfast and spit out the bones. Is that what you want me to do to you?”
“I don’t think you’re the monster you want me to believe you are, and even if you are, I could never see you like that.”
“Maybe it’s time I let you see the real me, let you feel what it’s like to be broken in two.”
“That’s the problem, Sebastian. I’m already broken, and so are you, but maybe there’s still hope for us. Maybe we can break free of the chains trapping us in who we used to be. Maybe we can be whole.”
With one last, devastated look, I turn my back on the old me, and I run. Not like I did before, like I was trying to escape, but like I'm running toward something.
Racing away from the death of the woman I used to be. That's what he can give me. The ability to take it all away and make me into someone else. Someone who deserves to be touched and looked at the way he touches and looks at me.
I race through the dark, only tiny lanterns casting light here and there as I go. Adrenaline drives me higher and higher. I hear his footfalls crash behind me a second later. He's fast, even in his suit. It makes me smile before I feel the ghost of his hand near my back. Shit.
I burst forward, quickening my pace, trying to stay ahead of him, jumping logs and shoving branches into his line of path.
Air burns in my lungs, the organs aching, but it feels good at the same time. I barely notice the chill on my skin as my body warms from the inside out from the exercise and the memory of his hands on my body.
It started as fear, but now it's different. I quicken my pace but startle when something to my left catches my attention. A man has a woman pinned to the ground while he fucks her from behind, almost like he hates her. She mewls, panting and pushing back against him. It’s erotic and puts the porn I’ve watched to shame.
Distracted by the sex taking place mere feet away, I’m not surprised when his hand closes in around the back of my neck. His grip is hard, and I scramble to get away, but he's got a good hold on me.
Without releasing me, he turns me in his arms to face him, and I’m greeted by the eerie mask of a fox. The usual panic returns, but I stare into his eyes through the holes, reminding myself that this is Sebastian. That I’m safe, and all I have to do is say the word and he’ll stop.
“Little Prey,” he says, his voice low and dark. “You have no idea what you've just done. Running from me. Making me chase you.”
He drags me through a copse of trees but doesn't release me, no matter how much I struggle and swat his hands away. When we are alone again, with only the sounds of the forest for company, he shoves me forward, and I stumble to the ground on my knees. I wince as I fall, but the burn only adds to the rest of it. It’s one more sensation to drown out the terror, the fear, the self-loathing.
As he circles me like a predator, I move to get back on my feet, and his hold changes. He digs his fingers into my hair, pulling my head back with my neck outstretched.
“What am I going to do with you, Ely? You deserve a punishment for teasing me, not a reward, but I want you so fucking bad I’m tempted to do just that. To reward you for being a good rabbit and running from the predator.”
He tugs me by the hair, and my scalp burns, but it doesn’t hurt enough for me to say red. It joins the other little stings and cuts to add to the experience. I almost feel like I'm in a haze, standing outside my own body, watching as I give myself to him.
In my mind, we are the only two people in the entire world here right now.
The hunter.
And his prey.
He pulls his knife from his ankle, shaking his leg so his pants fall back over the sheath.
I catch sight of the sharp blade in the little bit of moonlight that cuts through the trees. The blade dances in front of my eyes, and I watch, mesmerized by the flick of it. Then he slides the tip down my right arm. He doesn’t cut me with it, just caresses, until it reaches the scrap of rope at my wrist. He jerks the blade hard so it digs into my skin, and the rope snaps beneath the pressure. I’m free. I resist the urge to rub at the small burn marks that reside there now. He does the same to the one on my ankle, then gives me another circle.