Page 20 of Corrupted Torment

After all, it wasn't easy to kidnap new victims every day to replace his toys.

The siren cuts out, and it’s my cue to move. To prepare, I sniff the air, catching hold of her vanilla scent before pushing myself forward. I know her tricks. I’ve learned them over the months, but it’s more fun to take the time to hunt her. To track her moves and follow her paths. I know she never runs in a straight line; she will double back on herself and make false tracks.

She might be young, but my Wildcat has power in her knowledge. So far that has kept her far from Devon’s grasp. In her time here, she’s learned as much about us as I have about her. It’s so exhilarating to learn each and every new thing.

I know this isn’t normal. I know my obsession with hunting is wrong. Hell, it’s how I was raised, but chasing her? I’ll never stop. I would follow her to the ends of the earth. The time isn’t right. She’s too young right now, but things could change.

They will change.

Five years is fast for someone who has spent forever in a sea of white walls. Where time means nothing at all. It’s funny if I followed the rules like my brothers, I probably would have ended up in the same place I am now. With no mental wounds from the white room but with their taste for blood, and desire for these women's bodies. Though Aiden doesn’t seem to either.

So who knows?

What I know is, the path I took will lead me somewhere different from them all. It’s a journey I have to keep on following, even if I don’t like everything that’s on it. I need to keep going and hope it leads to freedom. I just hope there’s not something crucial I let myself forget in the depths of white.

I can’t go back.

Not again.

The place of white walls and madness caused a schism in my mind. One that created this stalking beast in the back of my head. The one who is urging me onwards, pushing us towards our Wildcat.

My booted feet hit the pebbled shore of a beach far from the camp where the women live. I’d missed the sun sinking in the sky, the moon rising behind clouded skies, so engrossed in following her trail. In the wind, I know Devon isn’t far behind me. I’d heard screams of a woman not long back and I wonder if he’s become bored with his mission this time. His patience is lacking. Unlike my own.

I walk along the water’s edge as her scent lingers and disappears. Clever girl. I smile, looking behind me towards the darkened trees. It’s as if she knows our senses are much more powerful than her own. Not for the first time, she’s used water to hide her smell.

My eyes adjust. Letting the darkness sweep into my sights. Time to start the hunt once more.

* * *

Four days it has taken me to find her.

It’s the longest it has ever taken; for any of us to find one of our prey. She is an intelligent one, so small, yet utterly perfect.

Now, looking down at my little Wildcat, curled up in sleep, so precious, I can’t help but want to reach out and touch her. I silently crouch above her form, watching as she breathes steadily. Chest rising and falling, slow and even. My fingers itch to touch her face, her pale skin almost translucent in the dark night. Full lips, petite nose and dark lashes kissing her skin.

I’m mesmerised.

Mine.My beast hums out his approval.Ours.She might not know it yet, but this little thing has captured us as much as we have captured her. One day, things are going to change around here.

Her blue eyes startle open as I push the needle into her neck.

“Caught you, Wildcat.”

CHAPTER9

NIXI

Age Seventeen

“God, kid, I swear you’re only here to cause me trouble,” Chris grumbles under her breath as she rolls her striking green eyes at me. The tone holds a hint of affection I know so well, despite her complaints. I smile up at her as we walk down the path leading towards the beach where I’d first been abandoned.

It’s been a complicated few years.

When I’d first met Chris, I can admit the older girl scared me shitless with her sly smirk and aggressive posture. Now, I know she’s all bark and no bite. She still has her quirks, but who doesn’t? Chris has helped me out on my mission to help the newest girls acquaint themselves with their new lives here on the island.

“You know you wouldn’t have it any other way. Keep up. It has to be any day now, and I want to get there before Aggs has a chance to let the poor girl die.Again,” I say with a frown. I pick up my pace, knowing that if she gets to her first, it’s likely she’ll hide the girl from me. It’s happened a few times now.

Aggs is a complex creature, and I’d been told she had only gotten worse since Fliss was taken. Like I’d suspected, she had been leaving the new girls out on the beach to die. Alone, starving, and dehydrated. Not even giving the poor things a humane death, they had suffered. Their bodies were washed out to sea or picked apart by the scavenging creatures of this island.

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