Page 47 of Fated to the Hunters
“I’m here. Just keep moving.”
“Scarlett…” It was stronger this time, as if he had a thousand more words to say.
“Shh,” she hummed. “It’s okay; one step at a time.”
Scarlett was most worried about the staircase. Though as she paused to retrieve her phone, Vince began to pull himself up. With one of his arms still around her shoulders, she quickly texted with her other hand.
Front entrance.
Scarlett hoped the text would send the moment they stepped out of the basement, which would mean Ezra and Mateo would be waiting for them out front. They made it to the ground floor, and the walk to the exit seemed easier than the climb of the stairs. Her soul bled like a slaughtered pig, but she didn’t allow herself to think about the agony of the broken pack bond.
She could at least be grateful that the lobby was empty, and they made their way to the glass doors without further incident. They stepped out into the pitch-black night, instantly being drenched by a downpour.
A black SUV with tinted windows was already waiting on the curb. Mateo and Ezra jumped out the moment they saw her and raced toward the door, guns attached to their hips. While Mateo took Vince’s weight off her shoulders, Ezra grabbed her jaw roughly and forced her to look up at him.
“Who’s blood is it?”
“Mine,” Vince coughed.
As if he realised the force he was using, Ezra dropped his hand and took the backpack from Scarlett. “Let’s get you home.”
She followed them to the SUV but halfway there, Maximilian’s voice stopped her. “Scarlett!”
She turned, already soaked by the rain. Tears mixing with the water dripping down her face when she saw her brother running after her. He screeched to a stop, struggling to cross an invisible barrier. One that his alpha’s command had given him.
“Please.”
Scarlett took a step towards him, towards her family and friends, towards all she’d ever known, but then she halted too. She glanced back at her mates. Mateo had shoved Vince into the back seat and was handing him a flask, while Ezra stood beside them with his black eyes fixed on her.
“Scarlett, don’t! Come back!”
It pained her to hear her brother’s heart break. Hot tears ran down her cheeks, cutting through the frigid rainwater. She turned, whispering her last words to him as she did. “I love you.”
Ezra held out his hand, kissing her knuckles before he helped her into the truck and closed the door.
Chapter Seventeen
Maximilian
He wanted to run after her, to hold her and never let her go, but his father’s command held him captive. He couldn’t even get close to her. He watched her turn her back on him—on their family—and walk to the SUV. The man they’d been hunting kissed her hand and helped her inside.
His lip curled into a devilish grin as he rounded the hood and got into the passenger seat while the third man started the engine and sped off. They had her. His sweet little Scarlett was gone, and he couldn’t do anything to get her back.
She wasgone.
When he turned back to the entrance, he redirected his anger towards the man who’d sworn to protect his sister. He grabbed Kurt’s throat and pressed against his mind until he opened up. “You fucking knew,” Maximilian snarled.
Kurt tried to shake his head, the walls around his mind cracking until Maximilian could see his every thought.
He searched Kurt’s mind for the secret he’d been hiding. Instead, he found himself watching as Kurt put the pieces together.
How the hunter had called Scarlettourprincess.
How she’d closed herself off after the incident at the ice bar.
How he’d seen them for the first time at the mall.
He watched as Kurt replayed every interaction and watched his sister cry through her best friend’s eyes the moment she’d stepped foot on their pack’s land. She’d known then that her time with them had been limited.
