Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Because in an instant, I sensed it.
Evil crawling the air.
So thick that I wanted to choke on it.
My attention darted every direction as I tried to discern where the corruption was coming from.
My gaze landed on Alicia’s door. I hurried that way, running onto her porch before I quietly tapped at the wood. I itched as I waited, guts a tangle of dread, before I finally heard shuffling on the other side.
Could feel her peering out of the peephole before metal grated as she undid the locks.
Worry filled her face as she barely cracked the door open. “Theo?”
“Everything okay inside?” I peered over her shoulder as I asked it.
Alicia’s worry shifted to fear. “I…everything’s okay. What’s going on?”
“Guard found someone hiding on the property. He took off.”
“Oh, God.” Horror filled her features, and that resolve steeled inside me.
“We’re on him. I just needed to check that you were okay. Get back inside and keep the doors locked.”
Alicia nodded frantically before she closed the door and quickly worked through the locks. The second I knew she was secure, I went running for the woods in the direction that Jonah had indicated the fucker had gone.
I could taste the foulness riding on the gusts of wind that whipped through.
Temperature a thousand degrees colder than the thermometer should read.
I ran across the narrow lane that looped around the far side of Alicia’s cabin and barreled into the trees, following the trail of footsteps that Jonah and another set of feet had carved into the snow.
Moonlight streamed down, tossing the ground in shadows as it flowed through the limbs and leaves.
It was enough to illuminate the area so I didn’t need a flashlight.
Heart beating a million miles a minute, I drove myself through the rugged terrain, jumping over boulders and ducking beneath branches that threatened to slow my pace.
The footsteps wove deeper into the forest.
Darkness crowded in as the foliage grew denser, the moonlight blotted out by the concentrated cover of trees.
A frown tugged hard at my brow when I saw a heap on the ground in the distance.
My pulse spiked into disorder when I realized it was Jonah.
I pushed myself harder, then came skidding to a stop when I made it to him. Leaning over, I wheezed, “Oh, fuck, Jonah. Are you hurt?”
He moaned and writhed in the snow, clutching his side with his hand. Blood seeped out between his fingers, staining the white blanket beneath him.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
He violently shook his head, and his teeth gritted as he hissed, “Blade just got me deep enough to drop me to my knees. I’ll be fine. Just get that bastard.”
“You sure?”
“Go!”
I didn’t hesitate any longer.
I jumped over him and pushed myself as hard as I could as I followed the trail back through the woods. A trail that had taken a sharp right back in the direction of the motel.
I fumbled to get my phone out of my pocket, and I blindly dialed River who lived the closest.
“Miss me already?” he razzed.
“Offender on the grounds. Jonah is down. Get everyone here now.”
“Fuck,” he spat.
He didn’t say anything else before he ended the call, and I stuffed my phone back into my jeans pocket before I fumbled into an inner pocket of my jacket and grabbed my knife.
As I hurtled through the forest, I flipped open the blade, sucking down the trail of that evil stench.
It sent a rush of barbarity coursing through my veins.
Hate and brutality amplifying.
A vicious pounding that beat through my being.
I broke through the boundary of the woods and jumped down a high embankment of snow that followed along the back side of the main parking lot.
Streetlamps glowed against the wet, blackened pavement.
I stopped for a beat to search for which way he’d gone, head whipping in every direction.
My battering heart climbed into my throat when a feeling took me over. A sense that was coming from the direction of the two cabins hidden at the back.
A crawling dread that made me sure who was there.
Pierce Renfry.
Loathing rolled through my spirit, and fury blistered beneath the surface of my skin.
My hand twitched around the hilt of my knife.
Kane was right. We should have just taken this piece of shit out. Put him in the ground before he had the chance to hurt Alicia and Lucy again.
But those chances were about to end tonight. I shot in that direction, sprinting across the lot and dodging parked cars before I bolted back into the snow and raced through the thicket of trees that separated the main parking lot from the cabins.
Harsh breaths sheared from my lungs as I forced myself as fast as I could go.
My boots sank into the snow, making my path more difficult as I dipped and labored through the trees.
Glass suddenly crashed and a scream ripped through the air.
“Shit.” It rasped out of me, then I ground to a stop when I noticed someone in the distance. I peered through the camouflage of limbs and leaves.