Page 96 of Lust

He’s still muttering to himself when acrackcomes from outside the trench. My heart races as I place my hand on Cody’s wrist.

He quiets.

Fuck, did I stop him too soon?

Are we sitting ducks?

I retrieve my pepper spray from my pocket, readying myself in case I need to strike again.

A dark silhouette steps into the moonlight, and the hood of the cloak searches around before zeroing in on us. I wait for it to pounce, come down like it did from that tree, but it moves backward quickly, disappearing into the darkness.

Did Cody’s spell work? Or is it fucking with us? Toying with its next meal?

We wait a few moments before Cody says, “I’m pretty sure it worked.”

I catch my breath, not just from holding it while that thing was searching for us, but from that intense sprint.

Maybe it really worked after all.

But a rustling comes from overhead.

I keep my finger under the safety of the pepper spray and pull the stun gun from my other pocket.

The rustling gets closer.

There’s a hope in me that it’s Brad and Seth, but suddenly, a figure appears, looming over Cody and me.

It’s not them.

But it’s not the monster either.

“Luke? Cody?” Alexei asks, moonlight illuminating his face.

The fuck?

“Alexei, come down here. Quietly.”

“Quietly? And why were you guys running through the woods?”

“Please. Just get down here.”

“Quickly,” Cody follows.

Alexei’s expression is scrunched up like he’s confused as fuck, but he nods and searches around.

Thecrackof a branch heightens my senses once again, followed by a sound I can’t make out until I see something push through Alexei’s torso, like a long, straight rod. Too straight to be a branch. Alexei cries out in agony as he’s yanked back.

“Alexei!” I shout just as something tumbles over the side of the trench, landing away from us, in a depressed part of the ground, like a spot that used to hold water.

It’s Alexei, impaled on—

Bucktooth Beaver.

“Oh God,” Cody whispers.

The blood that scattered across Brad’s face and mine.

Now this.

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