Page 64 of Run Like the Devil

It didn’t. In fact, hearing my own voice in the otherwise silent space was downright unnerving. It reiterated just how alone I really was.

I wonder how Bubbles is… I almost laughed at the idea of my stuffed whale hanging out back in the Chasm, probably running shit in my absence. Myers handled most of the details, but even he knew better than to fuck with Bubbles.

Some things were sacred, after all.

The thoughts were pointless and random, but they seemed to keep panic at bay for a little while.

A snap to my left made me jerk my head to that side only to find the rolling fog barely hiding a glimpse of Guardian.

“What the fuck is your problem? There are four others you could be bothering! I’m sorry to tell you this, but you are soooo not my type.” I kept walking through the fog with no real endpoint since I had no idea what direction to go. And, sure, complaining to a weird tentacle creature that was stalking me was pretty pointless, but when a person finds themselves all alone, they can’t really be choosy about their company. “I know that I am dating some pretty fucking weird guys, but I do have a few specific requirements. A dick is one, and guess what? Tentacles don’t count!”

Another sound behind me made me sigh and drop my head back. “I said I’m not interested! I’ll say the same thing to you that I said to an old guy who hit on me on the bus. Keep your wiggly bits away from me!” I turn to glare at Guardian, as if that would make it finally realize I didn’t want to play. Hell, maybe it would make it finally attack, since this waiting was the worst part!

Wait…maybe the whole tentacle sex was still the worst part. Only time would tell on that one.

When I turned, the sound hadn’t come from Guardian. I took a big deep breath, relief sliding through me.

Finally.

“Took you long enough!” I shouted as I jogged toward Hale, Gorrin, Yazmor and Tyrus, who all stood a ways behind me, looking like the best desert mirage ever. “I thought I was going to wander around aimlessly forever. Wouldn’t that be a shitty way to go? I’d go the rest of my life without anyone to annoy except for Guardian there.” I jerked my thumb over my shoulder toward where that thing in the mist had moved.

Which was strange…because when I turned that way, I saw no movement in the fog. It either was keeping its distance or it had gone silent as if to hide.

The action made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Guardian had not only not ever seemed afraid of the men, it had stalked us all this whole time. Why would it go quiet now?

I turned back toward the men. “That’s weird… Guardian seems spooked by something.” I glanced up and into Hale’s eyes, the blue exactly as it had always been, yet with a flatness that screamed a warning into my head.

I tried to take a step backward, the action driven by instinct alone, but Hale shot a hand out and wrapped it around my throat. It wasn’t the way he normally did it, not as a weird form of kinky foreplay that always got me off. Instead, the hand tightened so much I couldn’t draw air past it.

I peered to the side, trying to seek help from one of the others, able only to move my eyes because Hale’s grasp kept my head still. The moment I got a good look at Gorrin, my fears solidified. Yazmor and Tyrus further confirmed it.

These weren’t my men. They looked exactly the same, but an emptiness in their eyes, a flatness, reminded me of a frozen lake.

Which meant right now I was getting the like choked out of me by something that looked exactly like the men I loved.

When I’d thought about duplicates of my lovers, I’d sure come up with far more pleasurable ways we could pass the time. I was down for a night of debauchery with eight sexy men—who never fantasized about a set of twins let alone four of them?—but this was way too rough for me.

Shut up and focus!

I tried to shake away the stupidity running through my head, to remind myself that was nothing more than a defense mechanism to keep me from freaking out.

Now was probably a good time to freak out, after all.

So I brought my knee up and aimed for Hale’s groin—it didn’t look like I’d get to use that area the way God intended anyway. It weakened his grip, and I yanked backward, striking the ground hard enough that it rattled my thoughts for a moment.

Except when I lifted my gaze to find all four of them advancing on me, I realized I didn’t have time to think, time to collect myself.

If I didn’t put up a good fight, I was about to get my ass handed to me, and even if it was by these faces, I wasn’t going to just roll over for them.

I only rolled over for my men.

Hale

“I’m going to spank her ass the moment I fucking find her.”

“Like that would ever stop Loch from doing exactly as she pleases,” Tyrus pointed out. “If any of us thought a good spanking would keep her line, don’t you think we would have tried that?”

I lifted my lip and snarled at Tyrus, not giving a fuck about his opinion.

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