Page 12 of Hunted in Holly

He was right beside me now, inches from putting a boot through the top of my small cubby beneath the powder. I could practicallyfeel his presence, while his scent of chocolate and nutmeg was strong enough to penetrate my burrow.

“Where, oh where, could my Sweet Noel have run?”

A tree branch rustled as his footsteps neared ever closer. I hoped the pulse in my ears wasn’t as audible to anyone outside them.

“My fragile dove, so clever, and so quick. It’s no wonder she’s Queen of the South.”

I swallowed, but the lump in my throat remained. He had to know I was here. He wouldn’t be saying these things if he didn’t.

But even if he’d figured out my false footfalls and sensed I was in the area, it was unlikely that he’d pinpointed my exact location. My instincts wanted to run, but my logic told me to hold my position. If I sprung from my den now, I might be able to evade him for a little while, but with his long legs and superior stride, I couldn’t outrun him forever.

I had to bank on the slim, near zero chance that his taunting was a bluff, trying to provoke me into revealing myself.

“I can’twaitto have you for myself, Caroline.” He quit the theatrics and addressed me directly. I dug my teeth into my lip, suppressing any timid noises that might spill from my fear. “A woman with the cunning of a fox.” Five fingers scraped through the snow layer just above my head. “And the survival instincts of a cornered animal.” The sound of his gloves cutting through the powder moved along the cover above my back. “I hope you’ll fight me when I catch you.” His low chuckle injected pure adrenaline into my bloodstream, which was already floodedwith terror. “Just the thought of watching you break for me,” his next inhale was sharp, “Gods, you make it so hard to be patient.”

Dead silence followed. This time, for a moment, it felt as though my heart truly did stop, as I strained my ears for any clueat allas to what he was doing now. No sounds betrayed his movements. No more words of provocation helped pinpoint his location. I couldn’t even hear his breathing or find his scent as I remained a statue, locked in a coffin of ice, waiting out my own bitter end.

Then I heard ice crunching under a boot. It seemed distant. A few feet further away than I expected him to be.

Had he given up? Had I won?

Three days was all I needed. I could wait in this hole for three days. There was no reason I shouldn’t be able to do this.

I was safe.

I’d outsmarted him.

Iknewthis would work.

Relief shook itself across my lips, lifting the corners in a tentative smile.

And a hot, brutal hand shot through the snow and wrapped around my ankle. I barely had time to scream before my body was ripped viciously from my safe haven.

Chapter 8

No. No no no no no no no—

I clawed at the ground, desperate for purchase, but my fingers only made sad, thin trails in the surface of the thick frost as Nicholas dragged me by my right ankle through the woods. There was nothing of substance to hold onto, and he had no problem tugging me from the thin branches or wayward sticks I’d tried to anchor myself with along the way.

“Let me go!” I screamed, as I combined my magic with the ice around me to form an extra sharp, thick, and dense icicle. I twisted on the ground to fling it at his head. With his perfect reflexes, the frozen blade barely nicked his cheek.

He looked down at me and smiled as blood dripped from the wound. “You can do better than that, can’t you?”

I only glared in response, punctuating my anger by thrashing and kicking him with my free leg, but he didn’t so much as flinch, nomatter how hard I struck his thigh.

No, he just readjusted his grip and kept walking. Kept dragging me. Kept taking mewho-knows-whereto dowho-knows-what.

I made two more icicles, and I threw them both at him. One hit his shoulder. One hit his side. He remained completely unbothered.

“Where are you taking me?” I yelled next. I grabbed another branch, and he yanked me right off it, sheering off the pine needles in the process. My gloves were sticky with sap, and the tiny spears scattered through the ruts and divots my body was drawing through the powder.

“Somewhere more open and comfortable.” He said so casually. “I could have taken you in your little rabbit den, but that felt a touch claustrophobic. I don’t even know what position you like yet, and I plan to explore thoroughly.”

My cheeks flared, and I decided it was out of anger.

I kicked him again, and he laughed when I wanted him to buckle. He just kept hauling me along the ground like a goddamn cave man.

“That was clever, by the way.” Nicholas continued. “You threw me off for a few seconds with your backwards steps, and the foxhole was a nice touch. If not for that loud and speedy little heartbeat of yours, I might not have noticed you at all.” He tugged me over an uneven mound, not caring that I just got powder up my nose. “You should really work on your fear threshold when you’re being hunted, my ice queen.”

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