Page 109 of The Hunt

Panic set in. Visibility was dropping by the second. My sense of direction faltered, and every rustle of leaves or snap of a twig sounded like it was coming from everywhere at once.

“Which way do we go?” Chiara’s voice was edged with terror, but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

My pulse pounded in my ears as I whirled around, trying to figure out which way was which. Then, through the veil of smoke, I heard something else. Footsteps. Heavy and deliberate, drawing closer.

My stomach plummeted.

“Run!” I screamed. “There’s a hunter here!”

Suddenly a shadow loomed in the smoke, impossibly tall and broad. My breath caught in my throat as a hulking figure stepped out from the haze; a man, almost seven feet tall. A gas mask covered his face, and in his hands, he held an ax.

In one swift, horrifying motion, he swung the ax downward, and I saw Craig’s head snap forward before it was separated entirely from his body. Blood sprayed in an arc, his lifeless body collapsing to the ground.

A scream tore from my throat, raw and unrestrained, as my legs locked in terror. The man turned to his left, the ax rising again. I didn’t see the impact—couldn’tsee it—but the blood that splattered through the smoky air and the gut-wrenching scream that followed were enough to tell me he’d hit Chiara.

My legs finally moved. I turned and bolted, lungs burning, the sting of smoke blurring my vision as tears streamed down my face. I didn’t know where I was going, just that I had to get away.

Before I could make it more than a few yards away, big hands, strong and unyielding, grabbed me from behind. “No!” I screamed, thrashing wildly. “Let me—”

My cries were cut off as I was hoisted off my feet and thrown over a shoulder like a ragdoll. I pounded my fists against the hard back beneath me, screaming and sobbing until I heard a familiar voice.

Rhett.

“It’s okay, Everly. It’s not real,” he murmured, his hand rubbing slow, deliberate circles on my back as he carried me away. “You’re just dreaming. It’s not real.”

I froze, my sobs catching in my throat.Those words.That soothing, steady cadence. I knew it from somewhere.

Memories flickered in my mind like fragments of an old movie reel. A boy, hands gripping me tightly as he carried me through the dark woods to the safety of Wildercliff Manor. His soft voice muttering those very same words, calming me after our little group wandered into that awful murder ritual in the clearing. His intense yet kind gaze as he took me back upstairs, tucked me into bed, and told me stories until I finally fell asleep.

Rhett.That was the boy’s name.

“It was you,” I choked out, my voice barely audible. My tears came harder now, but for an entirely different reason. “It’s always been you.”

Rhett didn’t respond. He just kept walking, his grip on me firm but careful, like he was afraid I’d break. The screams and chaos from the clearing faded into the distance, replaced only by the sound of his steady breathing and my trembling sobs.

As Rhett’s hand continued to rub my back in those slow, steady circles, a warmth began to spread through my chest. My body was still shaking, but something deeper—something primal and unshakable—was settling in too.

Against all logic, against all reason, I felt… safe.

How could I? How could I possibly feel safe in the arms of the man who’d constantly scared the shit out of me, hunted me, and held a knife to my throat? It didn’t make sense. And yet, the memory of that boy, the one who’d whispered to me in the dark all those years ago, overlapped with the man carrying me now.

Rhett had always taken care of me, even when we were kids and barely knew each other. Didn’t evenlikeeach other, really. But he’d done it anyway.

The realization that he’d known who I was all along shouldn’t have calmed me. It should’ve confused me, or even enraged me, but my body betrayed me anyway, leaning into him as if it knew something my mind refused to accept. I clung to that tiny flicker of trust, to the feeling of his strong arms steadying me.

Everything faded into a blur as exhaustion suddenly hit me like a tidal wave. My body went limp, and the last thing I felt before the darkness swallowed me whole was Rhett’s arms tightening around me, cradling me closer.

26

Rhett

Ev beganto stir on my shoulder. I carefully set her down on the ground, leaning her back against a moss-covered log. Then I rose to my feet and stood in front of her, guarding her like I had all those years ago, when we were just kids. When I thought I could protect her from everything.

Her eyes finally fluttered open, and I stooped to pull out a bottle of water. “Here,” I said, offering it to her. “You need to drink this. Then you need to eat something. It’ll help with the shock.”

Confusion flickered across her face as she took the bottle with trembling hands. “What… what happened back there?”

Her voice was raw, barely more than a whisper, but it cut through the quiet forest like a blade.

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