Page 40 of Preying Game

“Then stop picking on girls and fight like a man.”

Hayward bent low and leaped toward him, knocking Jonah off his feet, and the two men rolled on the floor. When a gun went off, she gasped, but it looked like neither one of them had been hit.

A crackling sound made her look up, and she saw flames licking at the ceiling.

“Get out,” Jonah shouted.

“Not without you.”

The killer was on top of Jonah. She dashed to the fireplace, picked up the poker and brought it down on Hayward’s head. He went still, and Jonah pitched him away, then struggled to his feet.

She was already yanking at the drapes, tearing them down and using the heavy fabric to pull away the broken glass at the window.

Jonah helped. When they had cleared away the shards, he shouted, “Go.”

She hoisted herself up and clambered out, landing in a flower bed. Jonah was seconds behind her. Grabbing her arm, he pulled her away from the house. They were twenty yards away when she turned to see that whole second floor was burning, with the flames creeping downward.

“Come on,” Jonah cried, tugging at her arm. He was still a solid form, and she let him guide her away into the gardens.

She wanted to stop, but he made her keep moving, out of the landscaped area, across a field and into a small woods.

“Where are we going?” she gasped out.

“Away from this damn place.”

oOo

At the edge of the woods, Jonah stopped and turned. The whole house seemed to be on fire now, and he could hear sirens in the distance.

Looking at Alice, he saw she was still dazed.

“Sweetheart, focus on me.”

She blinked. “What?”

“We have to get away from here.”

“Yes, I know,” she answered, although she couldn’t know what he meant.

He led her into the woods, then stopped. “Lord, I wasn’t sure . . .”

“But we’re safe.”

“Not quite yet. Come here.” She came into his arms, and he folded her close, feeling her lean into him. “I have to take you back where I came from,” he murmured as he stroked her back and shoulders.

“Can’t we just run?”

“It’s complicated. I came from farther away than you know.” He swallowed hard. “To get there with me, you have to join your consciousness to mine.”

“How?”

“Start by opening to me, like when we talk in our minds. Close your eyes. Make yourself part of me.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will. But you have to trust me. You have to be part of me,” he repeated. “Like we talked in our heads. Only closer, deeper.”

Trust me, he silently begged now.

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