Page 32 of The Beta: Part Three
“It's too late for any exercise or drills or whatever you're planning outside. It's dark. It's dangerous.”
They carry on like they didn't hear me.
“Hundred hundred?” She asks, assessing me from my socks to my eyebrows.
“All the way.”
They both look at me then, and I get the feeling this is what a mouse must feel like when faced with a cat.
“Where are your shoes?” Talia asks me.
“What? Why?” I really am stammering. My heart is starting to beat fast. All they're doing is looking at me while wearing running gear. What the entire fuck is wrong with me?
Jasper reaches down and picks up my shoes and carries them across the room to place them very firmly next to me on the bed. “We agreed to give you sixty seconds to get ahead of us.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Hurry, Devon.” Talia urges.
“Where do you want me to go?” I ask, rushing to get my feet into my shoes. Thank fuck I'm too lazy to untie them when I take them off.
“It doesn't matter. Just go fast.” Jasper grins at me.
“Or don't,” Talia hums. “We'll get you either way.”
“What is happening right now?” I finally get my shoes on and stand up. Why do I feel like I actuallydoneed to run?
“Better get going, alpha.” Jasper says. He's not smiling anymore.
“Talia?” I think my eyes are a little too wide. How have they reduced me to feeling like prey?
“Run, Devon.”
They said I had sixty seconds, how much time do I have left? I launch myself out the door. I rush down the hall and take the stairs two at a time on my way to get to the back door through the kitchen. I'm running for my life and I don't even understand why I'm doing it. I actually feel anxious, for fuck sake.
Corso is walking out of the garage when I skid into it.
“Why are they chasing me?” I ask breathlessly.
He just smiles and looks toward the manor.
I hear Talia's sing-song voice calling my name. Shit.
“If you're going to hide, fratello, I would find another place. This is the first place I'd look for you.”
He's right. Where can I go? I don't want to run aimlessly. Do they want me to hide? What is even happening right now? Just a game of chase? In the dark? At close to midnight? For what purpose?
“Deeeevvoooonnn,” Talia calls again.
Alex appears out of nowhere and grins at me. “Run, rabbit, run.”
I take off towards the back of the property, in the direction of the distillery. I run through the trees, trying to decide which direction is the best course. What if I climb up one of these trees? They could run right past without ever seeing me. No, that's what I'd expect someone to do if I was doing the chasing. I chance a look behind me to see two silhouettes moving faster than they should be able to, closing the distance between us.
I'm being hunted. Really, truly hunted. They move through trees and brush like a unit. Then they split apart and disappear in two different directions. Completely vanish.The small part of my brain that was enjoying the thought of being caught takes pause, and in that pause some very instinctual part of me jumps to the forefront and urges me to run faster. Iambeing hunted. Iamtheir prey. And theywillcatch me if I don't run.
I decide to change course. I've been heading toward the distillery, so I take a sharp turn and run in the direction of the main road. God, why is this property so spread out? We had a fairly large stretch of land at the farmhouse, but this is ridiculous. I'm starting to get genuinely tired from running and I'm nowhere near the manor or the main road yet. I have to slow down before I get a side stitch. Slowing my pace enough to allow me to start catching my breath a little, I look behind me again and to the sides. I don't see anything. I don't hear anything. I slow even more and listen even harder. I'm not afraid of the woods or the dark, but nobody, alpha or otherwise, is immune to being uneasy in the woods alone at night when you know you’re not alone, when you’re prey.
I'm running and contemplating my life choices that brought me to this chase, straining my ears and eyes for any sign of either Jasper or Talia, when something barrels out of the brush right behind me. I completely embarrass myself by yelping. I glance behind me to see which one has caught up to me, but it's just a fucking deer. I keep running.
