Page 22 of Vengeful

Parker pointed a finger gun at him. "Shit. Got it." He nodded. His eyes shone with humour and mischief.

Hunter rolled his eyes. He stepped over to me and pulled me out from under Parker's arm. He kissed the tip of my nose. "Be safe, okay?"

"Of course I will; I have you three to keep me from getting into trouble." I kissed his mouth, hoping to reassure him.

So much had happened since last time we were here, it wasn't surprising he was nervous. So was I. If my father did anything to mess with the trial area, chances are it would suck. Right now though we had no proof he'd done anything. I'd have to be careful, but this may only be a nice stroll in the bush.

Yeah, right, that'd be the day.

"You three stay safe," I told them. My gaze may have lingered slightly longer on Hunter and Parker. They put on identical brave faces, but I knew being taken and chained up had an impact on both of them. It made them angry and more cautious. Vengeful.

They wanted to make people suffer for what was done to them. I wanted that for them. After we got through all of this alive.

"We always do," Parker said. "Dane said we were like cockroaches, almost impossible to kill." He looked smug, as though Dane hadn't meant that to be an insult. Of course he did. Parker never took much to heart.

"It's thealmostI'm worried about," I told him. I sighed and glanced down at my watch. "I should get going."

"We won't be far behind." Hunter kissed me, then turned me around and gave me a swipe on the ass. "You've got this, babe."

"Remember you're the sneaky fox," Slade said. "Stealthy and smart."

"And foxy," Parker added. "I think that means hot." He frowned, then shrugged.

I flashed him a grin before I headed away towards the trees.

Like last time, I stepped into the bush, keeping my hands in front of me to clear the way and protect my face where necessary.

Unlike last time, I walked slowly and carefully, not needing to hurry to make it to the end before the guys caught me.

Okay, I wasn't in that much of a hurry last time, and being caught was one hundred percent worth it. Still, this time was much slower.

As far as I could tell nothing was out of place. What would I look for if it was? Freshly turned dirt where landmines were buried? Huge tiger footprints? A group of mercenaries boiling water over a fire to make coffee while they waited for me?

All right, they'd be hiding in the bushes. Unless they didn't expect us to come here today. That was unlikely. People saw us drive away from the Academy building a couple of hours earlier. Plenty of time to alert any potential attackers to hunker down.

When did extreme caution become paranoia? It seemed to me it was a fine line and I had the tip of my toenail right on it.

Was that the idea? Dad wanted us to be paranoid? I knew very well paranoia came with the territory, but it seemed excessive to take it to an extreme. That might be one of his lessons. To teach us how far we could go before we snapped completely.

If that was what this was, then it was a thousand different kinds of fucked up. At least a thousand, if not more.

I moved through the bushes as quietly as I could, but the ground was drier than last time, leaving sticks and leaves to snap and crackle. Trying to find places where there were none was virtually impossible. Although, as an added bonus, I could hear the guys behind me, albeit at a distance. From the sound ofthem, they'd spread out and were scouring the area. If there was anything to be found, one of us would find it.

Once we did, we could figure out how to get around or through it. We'd be ready.

I hoped.

The trials were stressful enough without adding in an extra…anything.

Had Reuben gone through this bullshit before he took over as head of the Brantley family? Had any of the Brantley guys? Hunter and Parker never mentioned anything about that to me. As far as I knew, they'd only dealt with the standard bullshit of the trials.

Fuck only knew that was bad enough.

I stepped over a fallen log I was almost certain I didn't see the first time. That didn't mean a whole lot, I probably wasn't walking the exact same way.

Whatever, as long as I headed in the right direction.

Still, I crouched down to have a look around, searching for any signs of anything suspicious. I was no expert, but it didn't look as though anyone had taken a saw to it. It was too big to have been pushed down with brute strength. Especially with the roots as big as they were. Nothing looked exploded, imploded or otherwise weird.

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