The Hunt

3. Everly

3

Everly

The Wilder bonfire party was even bigger and better than I expected.

By tradition, it was held in the deep woods on the Wilder property, a sprawling estate that felt worlds away from the hustle and bustle of Havenport and the busy college scene at Hollingsworth.

A massive black lake lay in the middle of the woods, and the party stretched out along the edges, where warm, golden light from several small fires flickered against the dark water, casting eerie shadows.

Strings of colorful bulbs hung in loops around the surrounding trees, leading up to the center of the action in a large clearing next to the lake. There, a massive bonfire blazed high into the night, sparks crackling and spiraling into the black sky as party guests drank, laughed, and hooked up all around it.

On the other side of the clearing, a DJ booth had been set up on a raised wooden platform, blasting music that thumped through the trees. Some people were dancing in clusters near the booth, swaying to the beat, while others stood back with drinks in hand, leaning close to talk over the music. The air was thick with excitement, mingling with the woodsy scent of burning pine and the heady aroma of cigarettes, cologne, and alcohol.

Tessa told me that the party was inspired by an old pagan festival, meant to honor the end of summer and the subsequent descent into the darker, colder months. But really, it was just an excuse for privileged, popular students to get loose and revel in the anonymity of their costumes as they partied like there was no tomorrow.

Many costumes kept the pagan theme, though, with some dressed as forest spirits draped in ivy, others as haunting figures in antlered masks, and a few adorned in shimmering gold, embodying ancient gods and goddesses. Others were dressed in more random costumes—sexy vampires, shadowy specters, and masked figures in cloaks. Some of those wore full masquerade masks, while others opted for elaborate face paint in grotesque patterns like skulls or demons.

As for the girls and me—we’d all chosen to dress as ‘harvest sacrifices’ in long, gauzy white gowns, gold domino masks, and ivy wreaths atop our heads. It seemed in keeping with the theme while also granting us some anonymity, making it easy for us to avoid people we didn’t want to hang out with.

People like Jake.

I’d already spotted him over an hour ago, hanging out with a group of guys—including Rhett—at one of the smaller fires near the lake’s edge. All of them were dressed in black with black and white face paint that transformed the left half of their faces into death masks. It seemed to be the standard Wilder costume, setting them apart from the other guests.

“I need another drink,” Tessa shouted over the music. “Want one?”

I shook my head. “No, I need to pee,” I shouted back, gesturing toward a path that led away from the bonfire. “I’m going up to the house.”

“Oh, do you want me to come? We can get more drinks after.”

“Sure.”

We started pressing our way through the crowd around us. A moment later, a tall guy in a vampire costume gave Tessa the eye and leaned down to whisper something in her ear. She giggled, grabbed my arm, and murmured in my ear. “Mind if I go and dance with him instead?”

I grinned and waved a hand, signaling for her to go ahead. We’d lost Bree and Sloane to a sexy masked guy and a pretty woodland nymph earlier, so I was already half-expecting to lose Tessa at some point too. “Sure! I’ll be okay. The house isn’t that far.”

“Thanks, babe!” She grinned and took the vampire’s hand, and they disappeared into the crowd.

I headed down the path, rubbing my bare arms as goosebumps cropped up all over them. By the bonfire, the air was warm and toasty, but out here, the air was cold, and the breeze blowing through the trees wasn’t helping.

My breath hitched as I caught sight of the smaller fire that the Wilders had marked out as their exclusive spot for the evening. Jake was sitting on a log, loudly telling the others a story about some beach club he’d visited last summer.

Thankfully, he was too distracted by his own bullshit to notice me creeping down the path near the fire. The golden mask around the upper half of my face probably helped too.

I let out a small sigh of relief and kept walking. A familiar deep voice echoed through the frigid air a minute later.

“You lost, princess?”

I stopped in my tracks and whirled around to see Rhett staring down at me, dark eyes looking even more intense than usual due to the creepy skull paint on his handsome face.

Ugh. Apparently, my mask wasn’t much of a disguise after all. Unless he called everyone ‘princess’.

“I’m fine,” I said curtly, lifting my chin high. “I’m just going to the bathroom.”

He jerked a thumb in the opposite direction. “The house is that way.”

“Oh.” I looked around, brows furrowing. Damn . Just a minute ago, I’d genuinely believed I was heading in the right direction, but Rhett was right. If I’d continued down my current path, I could’ve wound up hopelessly lost in the woods for the whole night.

Rhett’s eyes narrowed slightly as he regarded me. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I… um… thanks,” I muttered, stepping past him.

“Ev. Wait.”

I turned back to him, my forehead wrinkling. “What?”

“I didn’t just stop you to give you directions. I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Oh. Um… okay.” I hated how squeaky my voice suddenly sounded, but I couldn’t help it. “What is it?”

“Well, I know you think I’m a giant asshole, and I fully admit that I am in some respects, but still…” He trailed off and flashed me a smile; one that probably always got him exactly what he wanted from women. “I think we got off on the wrong foot when we met. I want to fix that.”

My eyes narrowed. “Rhett, I saw you beating up a guy half your size like some sort of pathetic high school bully. I doubt there’s much you could say to fix that,” I said. “Besides, I gave you the opportunity to explain yourself that night, and you said no.”

“I can explain it now.” He paused and rubbed his jaw, eyes slowly traveling over the lines of my dress. “Unless you’re too busy getting yourself lost in the woods.”

I raised a scornful brow. “I thought you said it was none of my business.”

“It’s not, and I really shouldn’t be telling you anything at all.” Rhett took a step closer. “But I want to anyway.”

I swallowed thickly, pulse picking up. “Why?”

“Because I don’t like it when hot girls hate me for no reason.”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “Wow, what a line. Truly the height of romance.”

“Well, you haven’t run away screaming yet, so it obviously worked,” he said, baring his teeth in another wolfish grin. “I thought I might have to chase you through the woods to get you to talk to me.”

“Okay, whatever. Go ahead and explain,” I said, waving a nonchalant hand.

On the inside, I wasn’t nonchalant at all. I was practically hyperventilating in my mind, trying to push away thoughts of Rhett chasing me and pinning me against a tree, his skull-painted face looming over me as his hot breath fanned over my throat and—

Stop it, I chastised myself. I’d already dated one major asshole. I didn’t need to start obsessing and fantasizing over another one.

“I can’t tell you much, but I can tell you just enough to make you understand,” Rhett said. “And this stays between us, okay?”

“Got it.”

He gave me a hard look. “I’m serious. You can’t tell anyone. Especially not your roommate.”

“Tessa?”

“Yeah. She has a bit of a reputation,” he said. “Nice girl, but she has a big mouth.”

I wondered how he knew who my roommate was. Did someone simply happen to mention it to him during a conversation? Or had he been checking up on me?

I took a deep breath and nodded. “Fine. I promise I won’t breathe a single word.”

“Good girl,” he said, lips quirking in the tiniest of smirks. The dark, commanding tone of his voice coupled with his choice of words made my pulse spike, but I managed to keep my cool as he went on. “I’m sure you’ve already been told that I’m a member of The Wild Hunt.”

“Yes.” I raised a brow. “Are you about to spill all the society secrets to me?”

“You wish,” he replied, still smirking as he rubbed the stubble on his jaw. “Anyway, Ryan Gardner—the guy from the tunnel—was a member like me. Key word: was .”

I nodded slowly. “Okay.”

“Basically, the way it works is: you get initiated in freshman year, go through training and trials, and then in the summer before senior year, you have your final trial. If and when you pass that, you become a full-fledged member, and you gain access to the encrypted society files.”

“So you’ve just become a full-fledged member, then?”

“Yeah. About three months ago. Ryan passed too, which surprised everyone, because no one thought he’d make it through any of the trials, given what a fucking pussy he is.”

“What exactly happens in these trials?”

“I can’t tell you that that part. We’re sworn to secrecy. But the point is: Ryan had full access to all the society secrets.” Rhett’s jaw tightened. “Anyway, The Wild Hunt only has male members, but we have both men and women working for us in various capacities. Like event planning, admin, and so on. One of those women is named Lila. She’s like a secretary, I guess. Sends out the meeting invites, and so on.”

“Right.”

“Ryan asked Lila out after the last trial. She wasn’t interested. But he doesn’t like to hear the word no. So he decided to go with blackmail as his next move.”

My brows rose. “Blackmail?”

Rhett nodded, eyes flashing with malice. “He told her he was going to leak all the society information online. Make it look like it came from her. Even though she’s not a member, she’s still around us a lot, so it makes sense that she’d know some stuff.”

“Let me guess,” I said in a low voice. “He said he wouldn’t do it, but only if she slept with him?”

“Yup. She was scared of retribution from the Wilders, so she felt like she had to fuck him to stop him from doing it.”

“That’s coercion.”

“No shit. He basically forced her to fuck him even though she didn’t want to. So he might not be the same as some asshole who drags a woman into an alleyway and holds a knife to her throat, but the way I see it, he’s barely half a step away.”

I nodded slowly. Perhaps Rhett had some morals after all. “Yeah, I agree,” I said. “It’s horrible.”

“We only found out because one of the members heard her crying in the bathroom at the last meeting,” he went on. “She refused to say anything at first, because she was so fucking scared. She thought we wouldn’t believe her.”

I didn’t blame her for that. All-male organizations had reputations for closing ranks around members to protect them. The poor woman was probably terrified.

“But you did?” I asked, brows rising.

“A few of us did. But some of the older members didn’t,” Rhett said. “So she was given a chance to prove it. We gave her a bug and told her to meet with him and say no to his demands. With that bug, she was able to get a recording of him spewing all the bullshit about leaking the secrets.”

“I’m guessing he’s no longer a member, then?”

“No. He’s out.”

“What’s stopping him from leaking all the secrets now? As revenge for getting kicked out?”

“He knows what’ll happen to him if he breathes a single word, and he’s lucky it didn’t happen already.” As he spoke, Rhett’s eyes flickered with a dark intensity, something dangerous lurking just beneath the surface. “I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have actually leaked the stuff online. Ever. But Lila didn’t know that when he approached her.”

My upper lip curled. “God, what a slimy, cowardly little prick.”

“Yeah.” Rhett’s dark brows lifted. “So… do you still think I’m an asshole? Or do you understand why I decided to beat the living shit out of him?”

I sucked in a deep breath. As much as I hated to admit it, I’d definitely judged Rhett too harshly after our first encounter. “Yeah. I get it.”

“Like I said, you can’t tell anyone about this.”

I shrugged. “It’s not like you revealed any real secrets to me.”

“I know. But society business is meant to stay in the society.”

“So why did you decide to tell me , then? I’m practically a stranger to you.”

Rhett slowly rubbed his jaw again. “I guess I meant what I said earlier. I don’t like it when hot girls hate me for no reason,” he said. He smiled wickedly and leaned in a little closer, minty breath ghosting over my face. “I’d rather give you a good reason to hate me.”

I laughed softly. “Wow. Just when I was starting to like you,” I said. “But seriously… I think you did the right thing. I kinda want to beat the shit out of Ryan myself right now.”

“Don’t worry. I took care of him.”

I let out a light, nervous laugh. “You know, when you talk like that, you kind of sound like you’re in the mafia.”

Rhett’s wicked grin widened. “Aren’t women into that? The whole bad boy thing?”

“Maybe some.” I shrugged. “But not me. If I ever decide to date again, all I want is a nice guy.”

“I bet I could change your mind about that.”

“Oh, really?” I arched a brow. “Good luck with that.”

Rhett’s grin disappeared, replaced by a slight frown. “Are you sure we haven’t met before?” he asked. “You look so familiar. But I can’t figure out why.”

“I don’t think we’ve met. I only moved here a few weeks ago,” I replied. “Maybe you just hooked up with a girl who looks a bit like me, or something like that.”

As I spoke, I kept my voice airy and casual, like it was just a throwaway comment, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t using those exact words to gauge his interest in hooking up with a girl who looked like me.

Not that I was interested. No, definitely not.

Rhett’s tongue briefly darted out to wet his bottom lip as he regarded me with that dark, intense gaze of his; the one that made my knees feel like jelly.

“Nah,” he finally said. “I wouldn’t forget hooking up with a girl like you.”

As he spoke, he leaned his head even closer to mine. The air between us crackled with tension, filling my stomach with nervous butterflies, and when his gaze dropped for a moment, lingering on my lips, I felt a rush of heat flood my cheeks.

I couldn’t tell—was he actually interested in me, or was this just some game he played with girls? Feeding them all the right lines until they fell at his feet minus their underwear?

Either way, the thrilling idea of his lips brushing against mine sent a surge of desire through me, mingled with the nervousness that had settled in my chest. But letting him kiss me was a bad idea… right? Especially as I’d already decided that I was absolutely not interested in him.

Oh, come on.

Who the hell was I fooling? I was obviously interested.

I sucked in a shaky breath and glanced off to the side, anxiously chewing the inside of my cheek. As my eyes swept over the woods and the distant fire surrounded by Wilder guys, I took a step back.

“Look… since you were so honest with me about the Ryan thing, I think I should be equally honest with you about something,” I said, lifting a palm.

“I already know you don’t date,” Rhett said. “You told me.”

“It’s not that.” I swallowed thickly. “It’s something else.”

He stepped back, the electric tension still humming in the air around us. “What is it?”

I sighed and glanced at the fire again. “I think you should know what kind of men your friends are deep down,” I said. “Well… one of them, anyway.”

Rhett frowned. “What do you mean?”

“One of your Wilder friends happens to be my recent ex, and he also happens to be a terrible person. Even worse than Ryan.” As I spoke, I gestured to the Wilder fire, eyes narrowing. “I’m pretty sure he wants me gone from Hollingsworth so I don’t spill his dirty secret to anyone, but unfortunately for him, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Wait, who’s your ex?” Rhett asked, turning his head over his shoulder to look back at the guys around the fire.

“Oh, sorry. I forgot to say. It’s Jake.”

“ Jake ?” He glanced at me, then turned to look over his shoulder again. “As in the tall blond guy standing right over there? That Jake?”

“Yeah, that’s him.”

He whirled back around, eyes narrowing. “You’re seriously telling me he dated you ?”

I bristled, not appreciating the implication that I wasn’t good enough for Jake. “Yes. He did.”

“All right. I’ll bite.” Rhett crossed his arms over his chest. “What did he do to you?”

“To me specifically… well, it turned out he was lying to me and cheating on me the entire time,” I said. I lifted a hand and went on. “But that was nothing compared to what I caught him doing to other wom—”

He cut me off. “Hold on. Jake cheated?”

“Yes,” I said impatiently. His skeptical interruptions were getting more annoying by the second. “But like I was saying, he did much worse than that. Honestly, he’s a total monster. And I don’t say that lightly.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Rhett’s tone was noticeably colder now. “What did he do that was so bad?”

I lifted a palm as I tried to piece together my jumbled thoughts. “Just so you know… it’s kind of hard for me to talk about this.”

“You’re the one who brought it up.”

“I know. I just… I don’t quite know how to put it all into words, because it’s such a long story. I don’t even know where to start. And really, it’s not even my story to share,” I said. “But look, the main thing you need to know is that Jake is seriously sick. I’m pretty sure he hates women deep down, and he has a disgusting way of showing that hatred. When I caught him doing this shit, he tried to claim it was some sort of sexual fetish, but—”

“Okay, Ev.” Rhett cut me off, lifting a commanding palm. “I’m going to stop you right there. I’ve heard enough.”

I frowned, taken aback. “What?”

“We’re done talking.”

“But I haven’t even told you what he—”

“You don’t need to say any more,” he said, nostrils flaring. “I’m not going to stand here and let you spew all this hateful shit about my best friend.”

“Look, I get that he’s your friend, so it might be hard to believe bad things about him, but I can prove it,” I said. An anxious tremor had slipped into my voice. “At least… sort of. It’s not really enough, but I—”

Rhett cut me off again, eyes filled with cold fury. “You know, when you stepped into the tunnel that night, I thought you were feisty as fuck. Brave, too. It was a huge turn-on,” he said. “But now I can see I was just thinking with my dick. I obviously confused feistiness and bravery with you being a brazen fucking bitch.”

I stepped back, shaken. No one had ever used that word on me before… except Jake.

“Wow, now I see why the two of you are best friends,” I said. “Neither one of you has any respect for women, huh?”

Rhett snorted. “Oh, yeah. That’s definitely what it’s about,” he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “ That’s why Jake is the way he is. Because he hates women, right?”

“Yes,” I said through gritted teeth. “He does.”

“This conversation is over.” Rhett jerked a thumb toward the path that led up to the house. “You need to get the fuck out of here.”

“You’re really going to defend him without even listening to what he did first?” I asked, glowering at him. His inability to let me get more than a few words in at a time was frustrating as hell. Typical chauvinistic rich-boy shit.

“First of all, I shouldn’t even need to defend him, because I know he’s done nothing wrong,” Rhett said. “And secondly, he’s like a brother to me, so if I have to, I’ll defend him with my fucking life.”

I shook my head, eyes narrowing. “So you don’t even want to know if your friend is a sick pervert who goes around—”

Much to my annoyance, Rhett cut me off yet again. “I know exactly who Jake is, okay?” he said, voice icy-cold. “I’ve heard all this ‘sick pervert’ shit before, from people just like you, and I really don’t give a fuck.”

My heart dropped into my stomach. “You know what he does? And you don’t even care?”

“Not one bit. And none of the others do either,” he said with a malicious sneer. “I guess this really isn’t the place for a girl like you, huh?”

“Wow. So much for liking and caring about women,” I snapped. “A few minutes ago, you were all about it. But the second I bring up one of your friends being a sick freak, suddenly it’s a different story. Suddenly anything goes.”

Rhett’s eyes narrowed again. “People like you make me fucking sick.”

“People like me ?” I shook my head, flabbergasted, and held up a palm. “Okay, seriously, I think we need to start again. This has to be a misunderstanding. Just let me tell you the whole story.”

“Nah. No misunderstanding here.” He rose to his full height, staring down at me with dark, hate-filled eyes. “You’ve made it very clear what sort of girl you are, and you need to get the fuck out of here. Now. And just so you know, you’re barred from all future Wilder parties too. Got it?”

“You’re actually serious?”

He stepped closer again, lowering his voice to a deep, intimidating mutter that sent a chill down my spine. “Don’t make me grab you by the neck and drag you out of here, Ev.”

I blinked. “W-what?”

“You fucking heard me,” he growled. “You’ve got five seconds to start running. I suggest you do it.”

I shrank back, shock and anger colliding inside me. How dare Rhett speak to me like that? How dare he treat me this way? He hadn’t even let me get a damn word in edgewise before he blew up on me, all because I insulted one of his elite boys-club buddies. What a colossal prick.

Despite all that blinding rage and hurt, a tingling heat surged through me again as I pictured him grabbing my neck as he’d promised, awakening things inside me that I’d long tried to keep buried. Desire, curiosity, and a thrill that teetered right on the edge of danger.

I had to get out of here. Right now .

“Fuck you, Rhett,” I muttered, pushing past him.

He didn’t say a word. Just turned and strode away.

I hurried up the path, fumbling in my purse for my phone. With shaking hands, I tapped out a text to the group chat I shared with the girls. Sorry, not feeling so good. Calling the escort shuttle now. Have fun!

After I hit send, I turned and looked over my shoulder, spying the distant flames of the Wilder fire. My head was still spinning, barely able to process what had happened back there. It was so unexpected. So jarring.

Rhett had briefly redeemed himself in my eyes with the Lila/Ryan story, but then he’d turned into a total asshole only seconds later when I tried to bring up Jake’s beyond-shady history. It honestly made me feel like I had whiplash, and I regretted ever agreeing to come to this damn party.

I was glad about one thing, though. When I first met Rhett, everything about him had warned me to run. Warned me that he was a bad guy. I’d started to doubt myself after he laid on all the disarming charm tonight, but now I knew my initial instincts were spot-on.

I was right to be afraid of him.