Page 3 of Bounty

I tip toe out of my room, making my way down the hall without turning the lights on. The whole house is silent tonight. No one is talking in the kitchen or sitting in the living room. There’s no music playing or people milling about.

This should make my escape easier, but it makes me worry. The house is never this silent, even at this time of night... Is everyone away or sleeping?

The door opens quietly, and I take the first step out into the humid night air. I wait for something to happen—for my mom or Father Mannix to catch me sneaking out—but no one comes after me. As I walk to the woods, the moon sits in the sky, smiling down on me as she always does. I love looking at all her phases, but the full moon is my favorite.

Each step I take brings me closer to it…to the place I’m not meant to go. The boys told me not to stay out of the woods, that it wasn’t my business to come here. Cain said Father Mannix would tan my hide at the next gathering, probably to deter me, but he doesn’t understand.

The whole curiosity killed the cat thing isn’t true. Curiosity is much more insidious. It picks at me, like a buzzard pecking at a festering corpse. Picks, picks, picks. Until I can’t takeit anymore. I have to find out what’s back here. What’s so dangerous that Jude threatened me to keep me away?

The ground beneath the trees is softer, cushioned by dead leaves and moist dirt. Each step takes me closer to whatever they’re hiding. I can feel it.

A snap sounds from behind me, and I gasp. Turning around, I see nothing. At least not right away. The longer I stare into the trees, the more I feel like someone is watching me.

Waiting for me.

Another snap, from much closer, makes me jump. I turn back toward the direction I was walking in, and a man stands in the path. I can’t tell who he is, because his hood is up.

But he must know who I am, because he cocks his head as he looks at me.

He takes a few measured steps toward me…and I run. He comes close to grabbing me, but I weave around him, escaping by a few inches at most.

The man chases me through the trees, trying to gain on me, until I reach a giant wooden barn. The weathered red sides and white trim are muted in the moonlight, but I know this isn’t a barn I’ve seen before.

I run up to it, and try to pull at the locks. They won’t budge. A large hand grips my shoulder, spinning me around and slamming me against the door.

It’s the man from the woods. I struggle, slapping at his hands and scratching him, but he doesn’t budge.

A shiver of fear cuts through the adrenaline of finally finding this place. Whoever this man is, he caught me red-handed out past curfew. He can take me to Father Mannix and have me punished in front of everyone for breaking the rules.

“Keep shaking, thistle. Your fear only makes hunting you down and catching you that much more rewarding,” a familiar, unbothered voice says to me.

Jude pulls his hood down, revealing his void expression. Well, everything is expressionless except his eyes. They’re hungry, and threaten to swallow me whole. He licks his bottom lip, and it breaks me from whatever dark lake my mind was floundering in.

“Get off me, now.” My tone is firm, even. Without all the emotions boiling inside me. I’ve learned early on it’s best not to show Jude any emotions. He’ll only use them against you and manipulate you to fit his own needs.

“No.” He tightens his hold on me. “I told you to stay away, so did Colin and Cain. But you never listen. You’re a woman now, and you won’t get away with breaking rules anymore.”

His hand moves to hold my throat. He puts moderate pressure on it with his long, calloused fingers, and I swallow against his palm. “I need to know…”

“Once I show you what’s behind those doors, you'll never see us the same way again. Your two little lover boys will never look the same to you, and God only knows what I’ll be.” His smirk warms my insides, even though I don’t want it to.

Before I can think better of it, I spit out, “You’ll always be a monster to me, Jude.”

His smirk falls, and he takes my arm, leading me up to the barn doors. Goosebumps erupt all over my skin at his touch, and I mentally reprimand myself. He takes a ring of keys out of his pocket and opens each lock. When it’s done, he pulls me in, past what seems like a regular barn. It has spare farming equipment. Bales of hay. Nothing out of the ordinary.

It’s not until we stop at a door at the very back. Solid steel, but no doorknob or locks. He puts his fingerprint on a scanner—like something out of a goddamn spy movie, and it slides into the wall, letting us inside a dark staircase.

I turn the flashlight on on my phone and light the way from behind him. He doesn’t say thank you, or anything. He’s eerily quiet.

We go down each step carefully until we reach the bottom. This door is also opened only by fingerprint.

“This is your last chance,” he warns me, dropping my arm. “You can go back and pretend none of this exists. This is your final warning.”

I shake my head. “Fuck off, Jude. I need to know.”

“You don’t tell a soul about this. Do you understand me? I will fucking ruin your life, and everything you hold dear if you do.”

I don’t doubt he will. Jude torments me daily without a reason. I would hate to give him an actual reason.

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