Page 79 of Bird on a Blade

I let him fall. Let him make noise. There’s one left, and he’s onhigh alert, fear and adrenaline spiking. If I can get him to come to me?—

But then Edie’s fear erupts.

It drowns out any other scent in the forest. It drowns out anysoundin the forest. Any sight. For a moment all I see and hear and smell and taste is her terror. My chest seizes up, and I lunge forward toward the cabin, my blood-slick fingers tight around my knife.

If that sack of shit doesanythingto her?—

Footsteps to my left. I tense, glancing sideways and scanning the darkness for the final soldier—or whatever the fuck they are. The snow’s falling more thickly, turning the world to static, but I see a flash of green light, the gleam of a gun.

“Freeze!” the voice shouts.

Edie’s terror is the sweetest perfume I’ve ever smelled, but it also coils a sick knot of worry in my stomach. All I want is to stride through the snow toward her, to stop whatever her ex is doing or about to do. But that soldier will shoot. I can hear the promise of violence in his voice.

I can’t fail her, my perfect prey.

So I grunt out my frustration and then do as he says, tightening my fingers around the knife. He comes closer, moving out of the shadows until I can see his outline. He watches me through the gun, the scope gleaming a little.

“Put your hands up,” he orders.

I do, even though it means he sees my Bowie knife.

“Drop it,” he says.

Edie’s fear wafts out of the cabin and curls through the snow. Everything is sharper in the cold.

I need to get to her.

“Drop it,” the soldier says again, moving closer. “And take off that fucking mask.”

Everything is sharper in the cold, and that will work to my advantage.

I lunge sideways with every ounce of my Hunter’s speed. He fires off two rounds, but they splinter the trees behind me, loud as explosions. I tackle him, my knife sliding into his neck over and over, hot blood gushing all over me. For a moment, it’s all I can smell, that metallic coppery tang. One of my favorite fucking scents in this world.

And then I smell Edie’s fear again, lifting over it, and that’s even better.

I stand up and he falls over dead, his blood dark against the white of the accumulating snow. I take just one moment to check if there are any others.

There aren’t. Just Edie’s ex. And I have very specific plans for him.

I run as fast I can toward the cabin, drawn forward by Edie’s terror. I’m manic and furious at the thought of her ex hurting her. Killing her. She’smyprey.Mytreasure to stalk and hunt a thousand times over. I will not let some human psychopath take that away from me.

The lights from the cabin shine up ahead, as bright as a bonfire. There’s about an inch of snow on the ground now, and that makes everything brighter, too.

His blood is going to look so pretty against all that white.

As I come up to the cabin, I start to hear them through the walls. He’s grunting softly, and her heart’s pounding violently fast. What the fuck is he doing to her?

I race around to the front, my own breath sharp and panting inside my mask.

Then I slam the door open to a flood of artificial light.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

SAWYER

The first thing I do is look for Edie. I can smell her, I can hear her. But I want toseeher. And at first, I can’t.

It’s because her ex is looming over, his hips rocking. Then I realize she’s on the floor in front of him. Hands bound and tied to the coffee table. He’s pressing a gun to her temple.

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