Page 4 of Sweet Doe
I will survive. Ihaveto.
The church doors close behind us, and I feel the grief settle in. The snow is still falling, soft and pristine, covering the world in a blanket. Somewhere out there, Alex's body is growing cold under that same snow.
But I'm still breathing. Still fighting.
And this psychopath has no idea who he’s dealing with.
Game over?
Not even close.
The real game is just beginning, and I will come out victorious.
Chapter Two
ASHER
She didn’t scream.
Not when I pulled her to her feet. Not even when I guided her through the church to the back door like she already belonged to me. And she does. Every inch of her. Mind, body, fucking soul. Whether she wants to admit it or not doesn’t matter, because she will.Eventually.
She moves like she doesn’t realize she’s walking away from everything she thought she knew and straight into the arms of the only man who’s ever truly seen her. There’s something perfect about that. Something final. It gives me the kind of high I’ve been chasing my whole goddamn life. It’s in my blood now—thick, thrumming, and fucking electric. The rush from our little game still hasn’t faded.
My sweet doe.
Feral, cornered, still so fucking pretty.
Her steps are light. Not the messy, scrambling fear I kind of expected. No—she’s thinking. Trying to decide if the woods will save her. If the snow can hide her footprints before I drag her back, breathless and bruised, into my world. But after our game, she knows better. She knows exactly who I am now. What I’ll do and just how fast I’ll catch her.
Still, I fucking dare her to try.
Because dragging her back wouldn’t just be easy—it’d beecstasy.
She’d fight, scream, claw, andfuck, I’d take it. All of it. Pin her down and make her remember who owns her. She’d break apart for me all over again. Even if she doesn’t want to admit it to herself yet.
The box is still tucked under my arm, tied up in blood-red ribbon like a goddamn love letter written in vengeance. My gift to her. A reminder of what I’ve done. Of what I’ll keep doing, again and again, just to see that look in her eyes.
She’s here now. She’s finally fucking mine, and I’ll never let her forget it.
The SUV waits, black and still and purring low behind the church. Tinted so darkly no one will ever see her. Gassed up and ready. The trees around us are heavy with snow, closing in like a curtain, sealing us off from the world. Perfect. Isolated.Ours.
I open the passenger door and nod toward the seat. “Hop in,” I say, easy and confident, like we’re heading out on a date instead of disappearing into the fucking mountains. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”
She just stands there.
Staring.
Like she’s still deciding if it’s worth the risk to run. I can see the calculation flicker in her eyes, the wild spark she’s trying to smother with logic and reason. But logic doesn’t win against me. It never has. And it never will.
She shifts, just a tiny bit, but it’s enough. She thinks she’s fast and can slip past me.
Cute.
She moves.
And so do I.
I catch her around the waist before she takes a second step. She twists, trying to get loose, but I just laugh under my breath and haul her in like it’s nothing. “I told you not to fight me,” I mutter, more amused than annoyed. “You know how that ends.”
