The Hunt

23. Everly

23

Everly

My pulse hammered in my ears as I took a shaky step back. “You… you can’t be here,” I said, my voice trembling. “This is a safe zone.”

Rhett pushed off the wall and tilted his head, the faintest smirk curling his lips. “Wrong,” he said. His voice was low and smooth, laced with menace. “The safe zone is underground. Remember?”

Shit. He was right. In all my panic, I’d forgotten the cabin wasn’t part of it.

My breath caught in my throat and my legs nearly gave out beneath me. “Please,” I begged, my voice cracking. “Don’t hurt me.”

Rhett closed the distance between us in a swift, deliberate step and spun me around. Before I could react, my back hit the wall of the cabin, the wood cold against my already-damp clothes.

His hand shot out, gripping my shoulder, while the other brought a knife up to my throat. The sharp edge of the blade pressed against my skin, not hard enough to cut but enough to make my breath hitch.

“But you like it when I hurt you,” he said. His voice was low and menacing, eyes burning with predatory intensity. “Don’t you?”

I swallowed hard, averting my eyes.

With a swift motion, he moved the knife right under my chin, forcing me to look up at him. “Answer me, princess,” he growled.

My heart pounded as I met his cold gaze, my eyes widening in a strange mix of fear and anticipation. He pressed the tip of the knife a little harder, and I felt a sharp sting, followed by warmth as beads of blood welled up and trickled down my neck in a thin line.

Fear coursed through me like a tidal wave, but beneath it, something far more twisted stirred. My body was betraying me, heat pooling low in my belly despite the sharp bite of the knife at my throat.

Oh, god…

I was actually turned on by this.

What the hell was wrong with me? How could I feel this way when I was staring down death itself? It was insane. Literally fucking insane. And yet… that all-too-familiar rush of exhilaration was pulsing in my veins anyway.

I had to snap out of it. This wasn’t some dark fantasy in my head, happening in the safety of my bed. This was real. The pain was real, the blood was real, the blade digging into my throat was real.

“Please,” I said in a broken whisper.

The corner of Rhett’s mouth lifted. “Please what?” he said, pulling the knife ever-so-slightly back.

My eyes flicked up to his neck as my mind whirled through Cheryl’s self-defense advice. If you end up in close hand-to-hand combat, the eyes, throat, and groin are effective targets. No need to worry about playing fair in a situation like this.

It would be risky, but I could snap my hand up and chop Rhett right in the throat. While he was in that split second of surprise mixed with gasping pain, he’d probably drop the knife. Then I could make a run for it. It would only take me a few seconds to sprint back to the safety of the blue circle around the hatch, and he couldn’t touch me there.

My gaze flicked back to the knife, calculating. Even if Rhett didn’t drop it after I hit him, things could still work out in my favor. He’d pulled the blade just far enough back to give me a bit of breathing room, so as long as I ducked immediately after I hit him, he wouldn’t be able to slash or stab me with it. If he tried, it would probably lodge in the boards behind me instead.

I swallowed hard, trying to steady my trembling hands. Could I really do this? Would I be fast enough, or would he recover from the blow and sink that knife into me before I even got a chance to try?

Fuck it.

I had to try. If I was going to die today, I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

I snapped my hand upward to aim for the center of Rhett’s throat. Before I could even graze it, his free hand shot out, grabbing my wrist in a bruising grip. He twisted it with startling ease and slammed it back against the wall, pinning it above my head. I cried out, tears of frustration instantly springing to my eyes.

“Nice try, baby,” he said, voice dripping with amusement. His face was so close now that I could feel his breath fanning over me. It was warm, but it sent shivers down my spine anyway.

I gritted my teeth, trying not to wince at the pain shooting through my arm. “Let me go,” I hissed. I was trying to sound strong, but the tears were already spilling down my cheeks, betraying my terror and hopelessness.

Unbelievably, my demand worked. Rhett dropped my pinned hand and took a step back, lips spreading in a cold smirk. “You know what, princess? I’m going to give you one shot.”

I blinked. “What?”

His smirk widened, and he lifted both hands in mock surrender. “You obviously want to fight, so I’m giving you a free shot,” he said. “I’ll let you hit me, as hard as you can.”

“Bullshit,” I whispered. He would never allow me to get a punch or slap in. This was all part of his sick game.

“I’m not lying. You can hit me.” His smirk widened. “But if you take me up on the offer, you better be ready to run afterwards, because I'll be chasing you down and fucking all that fight right out of you.”

Something swooped in my belly again; that same treacherous mix of fear and arousal that blurred the lines between pleasure and danger.

“Unless that's what you want,” Rhett went on, lifting a cocky brow. A spark of interest was flashing in his eyes. Or was I simply imagining that?

He lifted the knife back up, taunting me as it hovered mere inches from my face. “Tell me, Everly,” he said in a low voice. “Tell me what you want.”

Fuck you, I wanted to hiss as I stood there, chest heaving.

I hated him. Hated that he was right. The thought of him chasing me down and pinning me to the ground to viciously fuck the fight out of me… oh, lord. The thrill it sent through me was intoxicating, making my head spin as bolts of electricity shot between my thighs.

Stop it.

I gritted my teeth, begging my brain to take back control from my reckless, treacherous body. Every part of my mind was screaming at me to fight, to resist, but Rhett’s cocky, infuriating smirk, along with the dark allure of his words, held me frozen.

“Go on,” he said, stepping back just enough to tempt me. “Make it count, princess. I’ll even close my eyes if it helps.”

True to his word, he shut them, tilting his head slightly, exposing his neck as though daring me to aim there again.

My heart pounded, adrenaline coursing through me. I could do it. I should do it. My hands were itching to lash out, to strike him while I had the chance. But when I tried to lift them… they wouldn’t move.

If I actually hit him, or even dared to try, I knew he wouldn’t hesitate to make good on his promise. And I couldn’t do that. Couldn’t give him the satisfaction, even if I was dripping with desire for it.

“You’re sick,” I whispered.

His eyes snapped open. “Maybe. But you are too, because you didn’t run,” he said. “You could’ve done it at any point in the last minute, couldn’t you?”

Once more, he was right. He’d taken a few steps back. Lifted his hands. Instead of standing here considering whether or not to hit him, I could’ve bolted away to the safe zone. But something had held me back, held me with him, and it wasn’t just fear.

Rhett took a step closer. “Tell me what you want to do, Everly,” he said, echoing his words from earlier. He was looking at me so intensely now that I couldn't tell if he wanted to kiss me or kill me. Perhaps it was both.

I sucked in a deep breath. “What do you want?” I asked, voice barely above a whisper.

There was a flash of something in his eyes. Something unreadable. Then he dropped the knife with a clatter and closed the space between us, his hands bracing on either side of my head as he pushed me up against the cabin wall.

My breath caught as his lips crashed into mine, rough and demanding, stealing the air from my lungs and any coherent thought from my mind. He was kissing me like he owned me, rough and commanding, claiming what was his, and I was willingly giving myself to him, wanting to be used in whatever way he wanted.

I tried to tell myself it was just about survival. That as long as he was kissing me or fucking me, he wasn't killing me. But that wasn't true. I wanted him to fuck me, and the only thing killing me right now was the overwhelming desire to have him everywhere. My mouth, my hands, my pussy, my ass. Everywhere. Everything.

Rhett grunted into my mouth as one hand moved to grip the back of my neck. He was so strong, so possessive, so powerful. It was making me melt. Making me pant and drip with need as pleasure curled inside me. My thighs squeezed together, trying to soothe the desperate ache between them, but it only grew deeper, forcing a whimper from my lips.

Rhett let out another throaty grunt in response, and I started grinding against him, wanting to elicit more of those tantalizing sounds from him. His cock was rock-hard. I could feel it pressing up against me, teasing me, driving me wild.

Suddenly he pulled back, gazing down at me as he drew in a ragged breath. His pupils were dilated, eyes darker than ever. In them I saw a strange mix of lust, confusion, and shame. “Fuck,” he muttered. “ Fuck. ”

He stooped to pick up the knife again, and my stomach lurched. For a second, I thought he’d changed his mind, thought he’d decided to kill me after all. But then he rose back up to his full height and pressed the tip of the blade to my chest.

“I’m going to give you a chance, princess,” he said, slowly dragging the knife down the damp fabric of my sweatshirt. “A chance to prove your worth to me. To prove why I shouldn’t kill you right now.”

I knew exactly what I had to do. With trembling hands, I reached for the hem of the sweatshirt and slowly lifted it up over my head before tossing it aside. The air around me was still frigid, but I barely registered it. I was too hot, too hungry.

“Good girl,” Rhett muttered, letting the tip of the blade drop slightly.

Keeping my eyes on him, I unclipped my bra and let that fall to the ground too, feeling my nipples stiffen instantly under his wild gaze. I followed that with my shoes, pants, and underwear.

When I was finally naked, I sank to my knees on the rough ground, staring up at Rhett with wide eyes as I reached for the zipper on his pants. I slid it down slowly, teasingly, and he let out a groan, making a fist in my hair with his free hand. He pulled the strands tight until I felt a familiar sting of pain across my scalp; one that only intensified the desperate ache in my pussy.

I reached into his pants and pulled out his cock, practically salivating at the thought of having it in my mouth again. It was hot under my fingertips, apart from the metal piercings that ran along the underside. I leaned forward, sliding my tongue from the base right up along those piercings, before darting it over and around his frenulum until he let out a low growl.

“Oh, fuck, baby,” he muttered, yanking my hair. “Fuck, fuck, fuck .”

I was on my knees for a man who held my life in his hands… and yet, I’d never felt so powerful. I knew he hated me, knew he wanted me gone from this world, but the pleasure I brought him was enough to make him forget all that.

I opened my mouth wider to take all of him, and he gripped my hair even tighter, making my eyes sting with tears as he forced himself deeper. I made myself relax, stopping my gag reflex, but then he muttered a command down at me.

“Choke on it,” he said, voice dripping with power and possession. “Choke on my cock like the good little slut you are.”

Oh my god. This was even better than my dream.

The pulse between my legs was almost unbearable now, screaming for release. I let the tears spill, streaming down my cheeks as Rhett’s cock pushed in past the point of no return. My airway was so constricted that I couldn’t breathe properly, but I kept going, letting myself gag and choke until strings of saliva were hanging out of my mouth, drenching my chin.

“Fuck, baby, you're so good. So. Fucking. Good,” Rhett grunted, punctuating each word with a thrust that hit the back of my throat hard enough to make me moan. “If you keep going like this, I'm gonna come.”

I let his cock pop out of my mouth and tilted my head upward, panting to catch my breath. “Come,” I gasped out. “Let me swallow it all.”

“No,” he said, eyes narrowing on the saliva dripping off my chin. “Not until I've had my fill of you. Not until I've tasted every inch of you and fucked every one of your holes.”

The hand that was tangled in my hair lifted, hauling me to my feet as pain shot across my scalp once again. He dragged me back to the cabin wall and turned me around, commanding me to place my hands on it, just above my head.

I did as he said, and he brought the knife around to hover in front of my face. “Bite down on the handle,” he ordered. “Unless you want to wake those little friends of yours with your screams.”

Before I could reply, he shoved the black handle between my lips. I followed his command, clamping my jaw around the thick, hard rubber.

I expected him to slide his cock into me from behind, but instead, he lowered himself to his knees and grabbed my ass cheeks, spreading them open. “Arch your back,” he commanded. “I want to see every bit of you.”

I let out a whimper through the knife handle and arched, exposing myself to him as much as possible. I could feel his hot breath on my pussy and asshole, and part of me wanted to start bucking my hips, forcing his mouth onto me until I finally found my release. I stayed still, though, waiting for his orders.

“So fucking beautiful,” he muttered.

I couldn’t see him, but I knew he was staring right at my pussy as he slid a thick finger between my legs, moving it all the way under me to brush at my clit. He rubbed the throbbing bundle of nerves, slowly, torturously, before dragging his finger back through to tease my entrance.

“So wet,” he said as he slid the finger inside, eliciting another whimper from me. “I can see how desperate you are, baby. I can smell it too. So fucking sweet.”

Suddenly his mouth was on me, devouring me with his lips and tongue, swiping all the way from my ass to my dripping pussy and clit. Then his fingers were working at me again, three of them shoving into me as his tongue continued its magic, lapping at my asshole.

Holy hell.

I’d been eaten out before, but never from behind, and never anything involving my ass. It felt right, though. Felt incredible. When his free hand reached between my legs to rub at my clit again, I moaned through the knife handle, slipping right over the edge.

“That’s it, baby,” Rhett muttered. “Come for me.”

“Oh, fuck… yes!” I cried out as my legs trembled, letting the knife drop from my mouth. In a moment like this, I didn’t give a shit if anyone heard me screaming.

Rhett pulled back and rose to his feet, breathing hard. He grabbed me and spun me around to face him again, and with a ragged inhale, he lifted me up, forcing me to wrap my legs around him as my bare back hit the cold wall behind me.

Then he was there , the cold metal piercing on his cock rubbing over my still-throbbing clit. “I won’t be gentle with you,” he muttered.

That was all the warning I had before he thrust hard inside my pussy. He was so big, so thick, but my body welcomed the burn. I was utterly desperate for this, desperate for him. I wanted nothing more than to submit to him, give him anything and everything he demanded, scream for him, kneel for him, crawl for him.

He held me up in his strong arms, slamming me against the wall with every rough movement. He was stretching me so much. Stretching me so good. I was so close, so ready, so fucking desperate to drop over the edge. My pussy started pulsing around his cock, a sign of my impending second climax; one I knew would be utterly earthshattering.

“Don’t stop,” I gasped out. “Please… don’t fucking stop. Don’t… ever… stop…”

Rhett’s lips closed over mine again, letting me taste myself on him as he swallowed my words. He let out a low groan into my mouth as he brutally thrust into me one more time. Then he pulled out and set me back on my feet.

“Please!” I begged, eyes wide as my body ached with frustration. He couldn’t stop now. Not when I was so damn close.

“I told you,” he said in a low voice, eyes flaring with heat as he picked up the knife again. “I want every last piece of you. Now be a good girl and turn around. Hands back on the wall. Legs as far apart as you can.”

As I followed his orders, his free hand went between my legs again, thick fingers pushing into my pussy to gather up the wetness and spread it around my asshole. Then his cock was there, nudging the tight ring.

At the same time, something cold suddenly pressed against my thigh. It was the knife, slowly rising up my bare legs, just hard enough to sting without breaking the skin. My eyes widened, and I inhaled lightly, too scared to take a proper breath.

The blade paused, resting just above the back of my knee. “Stay still,” Rhett said, his tone low and dripping with menace.

My breathing hitched as the knife shifted, pressing harder now, enough to leave a trail of fire along my skin as he dragged it in a deliberate motion.

I didn’t understand what he was doing at first, not until the pain sharpened, and then I realized he wasn’t just dragging the blade. He was carving. Marking me with the letter R .

Marking me as his.

As the knife cut the final line, I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek to keep from crying out. The pain was sharp, relentless, but my desire to be claimed in such a brutal way burned far hotter.

“Good girl,” Rhett finally muttered. He’d finished cutting now, and his free hand was clamped down on my hip, pinning me in place with a bruising grip.

With that, his cock pushed inside my ass. This time, he didn’t have to warn me that it would hurt. I knew it would, like hell, but I welcomed the pain. It made me feel alive, and that was exactly what I wanted right now. To know I was still alive. Still here.

I felt my muscles burning as my asshole tried to push his cock out, but I gritted my teeth and exhaled, trying to relax around the thick intrusion.

“Good girl,” Rhett whispered against my ear. “Let it happen.”

He pushed in all the way before slowly withdrawing, and then he dropped the knife and began to fuck my ass relentlessly, punishing me with his cock, no longer allowing me any time to adjust. I gasped and cried out from the pain and pleasure combined, head spinning with mad lust.

“Your ass is mine,” Rhett growled. “Every part of you is mine. ”

“Yes!” I moaned. “Fuck me!”

It suddenly occurred to me that this island was under surveillance, but I couldn’t bring myself to care if anyone was watching. Not even if it was the whole world. All that mattered in this moment was the fact that I belonged to Rhett, letting him do whatever he wanted with my body. Letting him claim every inch of me.

“Such a good girl,” he muttered. “Look how well you’re taking me already. So fucking tight but so fucking needy.”

I nodded fervently, unable to form coherent sentences any longer. Rhett kept fucking me like I was his property, and I loved every second of it.

Finally, it was enough for him. He withdrew and drove back into my ass with a low grunt, and then he came, still thrusting as his cum spurted deep inside me. I gasped and let my hands drop, legs shaking. I was barely able to hold myself upright as he pulled out, but somehow I managed anyway, chest heaving as I caught my breath.

As the pleasure slowly faded, I watched Rhett tuck himself back in his pants. His cum was dripping out of my stinging ass and sliding down my legs, warm on my cold skin, and I could still feel the bruising imprints of his fingertips on my arms, neck, and hips, a constant reminder of his rough touch.

I wondered what I would see in his eyes when he finally looked at me again. Regret? Anger? Shame?

Part of me didn’t even want to know. It would hurt too much.

My eyes darted to the knife he’d dropped earlier, and without even thinking, I lunged to grab it, falling to my knees in the process. Rhett was too quick for me. He kicked it away from me, and then he stalked over and picked it up, lips pulling into that familiar cold smirk of his.

“Nice try,” he said, waving the blade in my face to signal for me to get up.

“It was worth a shot,” I muttered as I rose to my feet. “Out here, you never know when you might suddenly need to defend yourself.”

Rhett’s head tilted slightly, eyes narrowing. “What are you even doing here, Ev?” he asked in a low voice. “I’ve wondered for so long. But I just can’t figure it out.”

I frowned, confused. “There’s a safe zone here. I was just looking for—”

“No, I meant the Hunt. Why did you sign up? What the fuck did you do ?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Oh, please.” Rhett’s nostrils flared. “Everyone here did something bad enough to make the Patriarchs accept them into the game. Either that or they’re sick. Are you sick?”

“No.”

“So there was no mistake then. You’re in the right group.” He stepped closer, eyes cold and assessing. “Do you remember the second player to die?”

I racked my brains, thinking back to the fraught moments after we all scrambled away from the beach. As Nikki and I crept through the woods, we’d heard someone sprinting not far from us, followed by a gunshot.

“I think so,” I said.

‘That was my first kill of the game,” Rhett said. “You know what he did?”

“No. I don’t even know who he was,” I said in a hollow voice.

“He was married. Wife was six months pregnant with twins. He decided he didn’t want to be a father anymore, so he dosed her tea with an abortifacient drug,” Rhett said. “She bled out on the floor. Slowly. Painfully. Died along with the babies.”

Nausea rose in my throat, and I winced, sucking in a deep breath. I was glad I hadn’t eaten anything in a few hours, because if I had, I’d be vomiting right now.

“That’s horrible,” I murmured.

“Yeah. It is.” Rhett cocked his head again. “So I’ll ask again. What did you do to end up here?”

“I told you, I didn’t do anything,” I said. “I didn’t apply for this shit. Someone else signed me up.”

“That’s not possible.”

I threw my hands up. “Well, clearly it is, because it happened to me!”

“Who the fuck would do that to you, Ev? Who would want you dead that badly?”

I opened my mouth to speak, and the knife went under my throat again.

“The next fucking thing out of your mouth better not be Jake’s name,” Rhett hissed.

Suddenly I was exhausted. Beyond exhausted. I was just… done. No more protests. No more defending myself. I couldn’t do it anymore. Not in a place where I could be killed at any second for stating the truth. Or simply for existing.

“Fine. You win,” I muttered, shoulders slumping as all the fight drained out of me. “Just do it.”

Rhett frowned. “Do what?”

“Kill me,” I said. “I can’t take it anymore. Can’t take this place. So do it. Put me out of my fucking misery. Just… please… have enough mercy to make it quick.”

I closed my eyes, tears stinging behind my lids. My chest rose and fell in uneven breaths as I braced myself, waiting for the sharp, final pain that would end this nightmare.

Seconds stretched into an eternity, the sound of the wind around me amplifying the eerie silence from Rhett. I hesitated, then cracked one eye open, followed by the other.

He was gone.