Page 87 of Run Like the Devil

That put me on alert. I glanced around us, searching for signs of attack. “I don’t sense anything. Are you sure you didn’t imagine it? You were injured and lost consciousness. The mind tends to play tricks on us at those times.”

“No, it wasn’t a hallucination. I’ve had bad trips—I know what that feels like. I’m sure it was real. I thought it was Guardian at first, but just before I passed out, I saw them. Six people? Maybe seven? They all stood over me.”

“Why would they leave you alone?”

She furrowed her brows, clearly searching her memory. “They turned their heads just before I passed out. I think they sensed something else coming. You? But you would have noticed them…”

“Not necessarily. I was focused entirely on tracking you. I could have missed anything else in the area.” I extracted myself from her, peering around in the dirt.

I crouched and ran my hand over the ground to her left. Footprints. There was no mistaking this for anything else.

Judging from the marks she was right—at least seven individuals had stood here, and the depth of the prints, the way they pressed farther into the dirt at the toes, all said they had taken off at a run.

And it also meant I knew the direction they’d gone.

Loch let out a soft, pained noise, drawing my focus back to her. I grasped her arm and helped her up, letting her lean against me. Her hip may have been fixed, but it would still hurt until it healed completely.

Heavy steps came a moment before the other Lords broke through the line of trees, finally having caught up to us.

They must have sensed the mood, because they didn’t carry on immediately. Instead, they flanked Loch and I, looking in the same way we did. The trails in the dirt would have been obvious even to an idiot—which meant even Hale saw them.

“Well, the murder house didn’t end up so bad,” Loch said. “So why don’t we follow the creepy strangers in the fog?”

Gorrin sighed. “That idea would sound terrible from anyone, but somehow, when you say it, it sounds even worse.”

“Then stay here,” Loch said and limped forward, holding on to my arm to help her, forcing me to go as well. “I’m going to go say hello to the neighbors.”

And again, Loch reminded me that no matter how fragile she seemed at times, nothing much kept her down.

If anyone could survive me, it would be this woman.

Chapter Twenty

Loch

“Are we ever not going to feel surprised by this place?”

“Probably not,” Hale said as he pushed past me and toward the little village where the footprints had led.

It wasn’t until we found this place that I truly believed I’d seen people at all. While I would have never admitted to my own doubts, they sure as fuck had run rounds in my head. Had I imagined it? Was it just a dream?

We had run into Koller, but other than her, we hadn’t seen actual signs of other people in the Path.

Well, there was the murder house…

The more time I spent here, though, the less sure I was that anything could survive long.

Guardian had targeted us—or me, at least—and the traps showed how easy it was to fall here. We’d survived as a group, but the idea that others here might have grouped together?

I would have never believed it until this moment, when I stood at the end of a cozy looking little cul-de-sac with ten adorable houses sitting along it. They all had perfectly trimmed bushes and immaculate lawns, and even had mailboxes lining the street.

“What the suburban hell is this place?” Hale muttered.

I snickered at his look, and when he glared, I offered him a smirk. “You look more upset right now than when we were in that dive bar with the Sand Snakes.”

“I’d much prefer to go back there. Case you are fucking blind, this ain’t the sort of place where I fit in. Neighbors like this tended to call the cops the second they caught sight of me.”

“Somehow, I doubt the cops are going to come all the way here.” I lifted an eyebrow as I glanced at the houses. “Plus, given anyone here must have come from the Chasm, I don’t think the sight of you is going to upset them that much.”

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