Page 11 of Nightmare Island

I’m sure I’m looking at a walking corpse, a body built with muscles, powerful and bulging, yet his head is a skull. I blink hard, certain I must be hallucinating. When I look again, I see it’s just a man.

I pause, panic clawing at my throat. The Alpha behind me, Skull-face in front—caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

“Nowhere to run now, sweetheart,” the Alpha jeers, closing in. “Why don’t you be a good little Omega and come here to me? I promise to keep you safe from him.”

Skull-face says nothing, but his silent approach is somehow even more terrifying.

My heart pounds so fast that I’m surprised it hasn’t burst out past my rib cage.

The rain is coming down fast and hard.

My head is racing. I’m tired, I’m scared, and I’m so fucking done with constantly running.

Something snaps inside me. A dam breaks, and suddenly, I’m not just afraid—I’m furious.

“You want me?” I scream, my voice raw with emotion. “Then come and fucking get me!”

Mirroring my scream, the sky lights up. For a split second, the world is bathed in brilliant white. Then comes the boom, so loud I feel it in my bones, feel it in the shaking ground beneath me.

The lightning strikes.

It hits the Alpha square in the chest, right where I cut him.

I’m frozen, stunned.

He’s outlined in crackling blue-white energy. His mouth opens in a silent scream, his body rigid and shaking. Then he drops, hitting the ground. He twitches and convulses, smoke rising from his singed clothes and hair.

I stare, slack-jawed. Did I do that? Did I actually call down lightning?

“Holy shit,” I breathe. “Thanks for the assist, Thor.”

There’s no time to celebrate. Skull-face is still coming, his pace quickening now that my other pursuer is down for the count.

I spin away, ready to make a break for the caves, but exhaustion and fear have taken their toll. My foot catches on a rock, and suddenly, the world is tilting, and I’m falling, tumbling down the slope. Pain explodes through my skull as it connects with something hard—a rock, a root, who knows? The world spins, darkness creeping in at the edges of my vision.

No. No, I can’t pass out. Not here. Not now.

I try to push myself up, but my arms feel like they’re made of stone.

The heavy darkness is closing in fast. The last thing I see is that skull-like face peering down at me.

Is this it? Is this how I go out? Concussed on a mountain, at the mercy of whatever nightmare Skull-face has in mind?

Icome to slowly, awareness returning in bits and pieces. Damn smells. A croaking bird somewhere in the distance. Then the pain—my head feels like it’s been used as a ball. That’s when I notice that I’m no longer being rained on.

I crack one eye open, then immediately shut it again as the dim light sends daggers through my skull.

Okay, Hel. Take it slow.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out.

I try again, this time managing to keep my eyes open long enough to take in my surroundings. I’m in… a cave? The rough stone walls are illuminated by flickering firelight, casting dancing shadows that do nothing to calm my nerves.

I’m lying on something soft. Animal furs, maybe? The thought makes my stomach turn. I try to sit up, but dizziness forces me back down.

A grunt from somewhere to my left startles me. I turn my head, wincing at the pain, and freeze. There, crouched by the fire, is a figure that makes my blood run cold. It’s him—the skull-faced man. Only now I can see it’s not his actual face, but a mask. A very realistic, very terrifying one that covers his entire face, leaving only his eyes visible, which, from my position, are impossible to see.

“W-where…” I try to speak, but my throat is parched, the words coming out as a rasp.

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