My emotions broke, sending my thoughts scattering. A lie. It had to be.
Easy now. Think. Once he opened this cage, I’d be at his mercy. He needed me unbalanced; the only thing that could save me was a strategy: a plan. It’d be harder to escape if my heart pulled focus.
A half-baked idea formed just in time. The lock clicked, and I lurched forward, crashing into him. Gus dropped the lantern and staggered. I was too light, and he recovered faster than I could run. An arm snapped out and grabbed me by the waist. Having caught me in his snare, he spun me around to face him.
I screamed and struggled so rutting hard, but he wouldn’t be denied again. He squeezed me in a death vise, constricting my chest until I gasped for air. Leaning in, his breath kissed my cheek. His voice laced with violence, he said, “I’ve learned my lesson, Serena. I won’t underestimate you again.”
I wanted to retch.
Thrashing harder now, I aimed for his groin. He wrestled me to the forest floor. I tried biting the arms that pinned me to the frost-glossed ground—it did nothing but make him spit out a laugh.
He grappled for the hem of my dress and I kicked out viciously. He batted my leg away and walloped me in the stomach. Agony crippled me. My eyes watered, but I didn’t scream. There wasn’t time. He’d dealt me a blow, but he’d also loosened his grip. His first mistake.
Before he could stop me, my fingertips had found the dropped lantern. Swinging it upward, I smashed it into the side of his face. The lantern shattered, and the light extinguished. His resulting scream pierced the air, echoing through the skeletons of the winter-bare trees. I writhed and wriggled out of reach, scrambling off into the dark as he clung to his bleeding face. The strength of the moon’s light saved me from running headlong into trees, but it didn’t stop the roots and branches underfoot from tripping me. Through a mixture of stumbling, flying, and falling, I put distance between me and the stream of curses Gus screeched at my back.
Fear made me fast, but not fast enough.
A hand snaked out and caught me.
Exhausted, I whipped around and flung out a wild punch. Before I could connect, an arm blocked mine. Gods, the strength of those arms.
“There’s no need for that.”
My body stilled: it wasn’t Gus. It was much, much worse. A fae man. The storm-gray wings gave it away, as did the second set of lethal-looking canines retracting back into his gums. He wore a mixture of green and brown leathers, lined with fur and cloth. The daggers at his hip and the bow and quiver at his back promised violence.
Stunned into submission by golden peach skin, delicate features, and his liquid, dark eyes, my mind failed to register his tentative smile. Having grown up with half-starved farmers and loggers, it was difficult not to compare. Even with boys like Timothy, it was different. Very different. Their good looks came from a certain ruggedness, whereas this stranger exuded something else entirely. The legends of the fae didn’t do them justice.
He let my punching arm go. I swayed, and the man’s—the fae’s—arm darted out to steady me.
That touch was a spark, waking me up. I’d allowed him to distract me. I swallowed hard. He was danger and death. This was what they did: seduce, beguile, manipulate.
“Where did you …”
I couldn’t even finish my damned sentence. I was in so much trouble. He moved, his hand settling on my lower back. What was he going to do? Would he hurt me? He didn’t look terrifying.
“Come on—I’ll take you somewhere safe.”
His arm slid to my wrist, gently leading me away. Now reeling from shock and the death of my adrenaline, I forgot to fight him.
It took a minute to orient myself. Finally, snapping back to my senses, I pulled away and blurted out, “Are you working with Gus?”
“Gus?” A curious tone: a question.
“You’re taking me back in the direction the cage. The man I was running from, you’re not helping him?”
The stranger’s head cocked to one side with polite incredulity. “I’ve never worked with a human, but if I did, it wouldn’t be a rapist.”
“If you don’t know him, how d’you know about what he … tried to do?”
“Your cries drew me. If I’d had any doubts of his intentions, your scent would’ve told me everything I needed to know.”
I let out a strangled noise. “Scent?”
“You’re terrified,” he said, gesturing up and down my body. “But you don’t have to fear me. I don’t rape or abuse women. I’m a hunter, not a monster.”
“A hunter?” I said stiltedly. “What exactly do you hunt?”
The silence stretching between us filled in the blanks. My body started to shake. “Oh, stars, you’re the one snatching the children.”
The fae’s delicate brows met, creating a small frown. “Yes, but like I said, there’s no need to fear me. I’ve always stuck to taking the runaways and outcasts, like you.”
My heart slammed into my chest. “What do you do with them?” My voice dropped to a whisper. “What will you do with me?”
“Take you to our realm.”
I lost my mind. Like a frightened deer bolting, I spun and ran. I didn’t make it three feet before he’d caught me. I struggled, dug my heels in, but only succeeded in almost tearing my arm from its socket. It had no effect on the fae; I may as well have been fighting stone.
The fae twisted me around, scooped me into his arms, and set off running. He didn’t so much as blink when I beat my fists against his chest. Boiling with panic and fear, I zeroed in on his face, poking at his eyes and pulling his hair.
Next moment, my finger was between his teeth. And I made an unpleasant discovery: he didn’t even need his second set of canines. His first set were perfectly sharp.
“Enough,” he said, his voice muffled by my finger still jammed between his teeth. He hadn’t even broken stride. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“How can you say that?” I asked, incredulous. “You’re kidnapping me.”
He had the audacity to look only mildly sheepish. “If I release you, do you promise to stop attacking me?”
“Do I have a choice?” Silence. I sighed, irritated. “Fine.”
He released my finger. Before I could think better of my promise, he said, “Maybe you’ll trust me when I tell you that Gus had already set out after you when I arrived; I stopped him catching up to you.”
Another surprise. If he was telling the truth, then he’d saved me. Something niggled at me though. “What d’you mean you stopped Gus? Where is he? Are you taking him to your realm, too?”
“Filth like that?” His features scrunched up in disgust. “Never.”
The fae halted and set me down. “My hunting companion might’ve considered him for our armies, but it’d go against my nature to let him cross. Fae males protect. It’s our first instinct, even before fighting and hunting.”
“Male,” I sounded out, rolling the strangeness around on my tongue. “Not ‘man’?”
“We’re not men.” His jaw clenched, but the line of his mouth was soft. “And you don’t have to worry about him hurting you again.”
The fae pointed to the ground. I turned—we’d arrived back at the cage.
I blinked rapidly, taking in the scene. There was Gus, his ribcage on display, his internal organs splattered across the grass, his mouth frozen in a silent scream.
Such silence filled my head. Then, the smell hit. A kettle spitting out steam sounded in my head. A wave of wailing, terrified, throat-tearing screams started up.
I wasn’t aware it was me howling until the dark-haired fae moved to block my view. He was pulling me away, shaking me.
Suddenly, there was another fae by his side. This one was female.
Slap.
My voice splintered, and a roaring began in my ears. Disoriented, my hand went to rub my stinging cheek.
“Hunter, you chose this one, seriously?” the female snapped. “She seems touched.”
The male fae, named Hunter, shrugged his shoulders and said, “She’s in shock. It’ll pass.”