The Hunt

24. Rhett

24

Rhett

I stalked away from the cabin, the fog curling around me like ghostly fingers. My knife was in my hand, the grip still warm from where Ev’s skin had pressed against it earlier. I flexed my fingers, trying to shake the phantom sensation of her pulse thrumming beneath my touch.

I wasn’t worried about getting in trouble with the other Wilders for fucking her and letting her walk away unscathed afterwards. The area behind the cabin was a dead zone—no cameras—so no one would ever know it happened.

The only thing I was worried about was why the fuck I’d done it in the first place. I’d tried to convince myself that it was just a strategy to get the truth out of Everly, but deep down, I knew that was bullshit.

I fucked her again because I wanted to fuck her. Simple as that.

I clenched my jaw, frustration bubbling up like a wildfire. There’d been something in her eyes when I said Jake’s name a minute ago—a raw, broken vulnerability that didn’t match the image of the scheming, desperate little liar I’d conjured up in my mind. She didn’t look like someone who was trying to manipulate me. She looked like someone who had nothing left.

Fuck.

That damn look had really gotten under my skin.

Stop this shit, dumbass, I told myself, forcing my thoughts into sharp focus. People lie. They fake weakness. Then they stab you in the back the second you let your guard down.

I’d seen it happen to others before, over and over.

But still, the memory of Ev’s shaky voice, her slumped shoulders as she told me to kill her, wouldn’t leave my head. She hadn’t tried to run. She hadn’t tried to fight. She’d just… given up.

I let out a frustrated grunt and ran a hand through my hair, the damp strands slick against my palm. Maybe she was telling the truth. Maybe she really didn’t know what the hell was going on, and maybe Jake had signed her up for The Hunt behind her back.

Or maybe she was the best fucking liar I’d ever met.

Gritting my teeth, I shoved the knife back into its sheath and disappeared deeper into the fog. When I reached a fallen log just beyond the tree line, I sank onto it and pulled out my satellite phone.

I dialed Jake’s number, and he picked up on the second ring, voice edged with excitement. “Hey, man! I’ve been watching you out there!” he said. “How are you doing?”

“I’m okay.” I leaned forward to grab a protein bar from my pack. “Just taking a quick break to eat.”

“Did you know you’re at the top of the leaderboard now? For the most kills.”

“Yup.”

I heard a couple of faint mouse clicks. “I just checked the odds,” he said. “You’re still the favorite to win the whole game too.”

“Nice.”

“It’s better than nice , man. This’ll be the first time a brand-new hunter wins the game. Ever. It’s fucking awesome.” He paused for a beat and let out a groan of frustration. “I really wish my application was accepted. It looks so fucking fun out there.”

“Maybe next year.” I cleared my throat. “I wanted to ask you something.”

“Shoot.”

“You know player 50? Everly Marlowe?”

“Yup. She was originally tipped to be one of the first out, but she’s actually doing really well,” he replied. “A lot of people think she might even win the player prize.”

“Right. Anyway, I know I already asked you this a while back, but do you know her personally?”

“Personally?” Jake sounded confused. When I didn’t respond, he went on. “No, I don’t think I’ve ever met her. How come?”

I chewed on the protein bar as I considered his answer. There hadn’t been the slightest hint of falseness in his voice, so I was pretty sure he wasn’t lying. But it was hard to know for sure when I couldn’t see his eyes.

“Can I ask you something else?” I finally said. “Something personal?”

Jake laughed. “Dude, you cleaned me up in freshman year after I got that food poisoning thing and passed out in a pile of shit and vomit,” he said. “In my book, that means you have a free pass to ask me any personal shit for the rest of your life.”

“I wanted to know—before you came out, did you ever date any girls?”

“Nope. People always pushed me to do it back in high school, because a lot of girls liked me, but I always knew I wasn’t interested in them. So I never did,” he said. “Why do you ask?”

Once again, he sounded like he was telling the truth. Not a hint of deception in his tone—just confusion as to why I was questioning him about the subject.

“Just wondering.”

“ That’s what you’re wondering about in the middle of the fucking Hunt?” Jake said, laughing again. “You’ve got some weird priorities, dude.”

“True. I should probably get back to it.”

“I put a ton of money on you to win, so don’t let me down, okay?”

I ended the call and finished my snack. I was just about to put the sat phone away when it rang. It was JJ.

I pressed the green answer button. “Hey. What’s up?”

“Hey, man. Are you anywhere near sector G3? And do you happen to have any food on you?”

“Yup. I’m in G2, and I’ve got protein bars and coffee. Why?”

“I’m empty, but someone already raided the supply cache here. There’s literally nothing left,” he said. “Any chance you could share some stuff? I don’t want to walk all the way back to the fucking Lodge.”

“Sure. Send me your coordinates. I’ll come meet you,” I said, rising to my feet.

I arrived at the spot twenty minutes later, finding JJ perched on a large rock. “Oh, thank fuck ,” he muttered as I approached with a handful of snacks. “Thanks, man. I’m starving. I really should’ve packed more shit earlier.”

I raised a brow as he tore open a protein bar. “I don’t rely on the supply caches. I’m pretty sure players find them and raid them all the time.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he said through his mouthful of food.

“How are you doing out here?” I asked. “Apart from the no food thing.”

He swallowed his mouthful, head slightly shaking. “Honestly, man… not so good. I think I’ve got the yips or some shit like that.”

“Why?”

“I’ve only got one kill so far, and it was some chick from Group 2. That’s like shooting fish in a barrel.” He paused for a beat, scrubbing his free hand over his face. “I was tipped to be in the top five, but I’m totally failing. It’s fucking embarrassing. Especially with my dad being the Head Patriarch. People expect me to do well, you know?”

“We’re only two days in. There’s still time to turn things around.”

“I know.” He sighed. “It just feels different out here than it did in the practice sessions. Like… suddenly I can’t do anything properly. You know how bad I fucked up on the first day?”

I shook my head. “What happened?”

“I ran into this chick in sector D8. Tiny thing. Probably five feet and a hundred pounds. I thought she’d be an easy one, but I threw one of my knives at her, and I fucking missed ,” he said. “It lodged in her arm instead of her chest, and then the little bitch took the fucking thing with her when she ran off.”

“Shit,” I said, brows rising. “You never miss with knives.”

JJ threw his hands up. “Well, I do now. That’s what I’m saying—there’s something wrong with me.”

“It’s just newbie nerves. You’ll get over it,” I said. “Besides, a few guys out here haven’t registered any kills at all. So you’re not right at the bottom of the barrel.”

“I guess.” He sighed again and finished the last bite of his protein bar. Then he looked back at me, forehead wrinkling. “You’re doing great. Got any tips for me?”

I scratched my jaw, lips twisting in contemplation. “You already know all the general stuff, but I guess I could give you some tips related to specific targets,” I said. I tilted my head. “Are you going after today’s bounty? Or just anyone?”

“Anyone for now, just to up my kill count. Otherwise they’ll never accept my application for next year’s game,” he replied. “There’s one target I’m hoping to get eventually, though. Number 50.”

I stiffened. “Everly Marlowe?”

“Yup, that’s the one,” JJ said, nodding. “I can’t wait to take that little bitch down. She’s had it coming for a while. Total headcase.”

“How do you know her again?” I asked, cocking my head.

He shrugged. “She’s just some crazy chick from a while back.”

My eyes narrowed. “Didn’t you tell me you met her outside one of your classes a few weeks ago?”

“Yeah, that’s what I meant. Plus you told me she was nuts at the bonfire party, remember?”

I nodded slowly, brows furrowing. “Right.”

He wasn’t wrong—I did say that shit to him at the bonfire party—but his words were hanging in the air like a bad smell anyway, twisting my gut.

A strange mix of thoughts stirred in the back of my mind, blurry and unformed, like fragments of a puzzle I couldn’t quite piece together yet.

Then it hit me, crashing into me like a fucking freight train, and all those blurry puzzle pieces slammed into place with a clarity so stark it made my head spin.

No.

No fucking way.

I ran a hand through my hair, jaw clenching so tightly it felt like my teeth would shatter. How could I have been this goddamned stupid? What the fuck was wrong with me?

All along, I’d been so focused on Everly’s apparent hatred for my best friend, Jake Kelly, that I’d totally failed to consider that she could actually be referring to one of my other society brothers.

JJ. Jacob Jennings.

I’d honestly forgotten about his real name until this exact moment, because most people called him JJ. Hell, everyone called him JJ, and they always had as long as I’d known him, which was nearly twenty fucking years.

But another old friend I’d never met? Or an old girlfriend? They might refer to him by his real name… or Jake as another nickname.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

My stomach churned as the implications settled in. Everly had begged me to listen to her. Begged me not to dismiss her. And all along, I’d fucking ignored her and treated her like shit because of a stupid misunderstanding; one that I’d caused by jumping to conclusions and stubbornly refusing to listen when she tried to explain.

Idiot.

My mind flashed back to the night of the bonfire party. Ev’s shaky finger had pointed to the fire with all the Wilders sitting or standing around it, and I’d followed her gaze to Jake and asked if she was talking about the tall blond guy. She’d confirmed it instantly, and it hadn’t even occurred to me that JJ, who was also tall with blond hair, was standing right next to him.

All a misunderstanding. All my fucking fault. I’d tortured the poor girl over it. Almost wrecked her fucking life by trying to run her off campus. And now… shit, now her life was at stake.

“Hey, Rhett…” JJ’s forehead creased as he stared at me. “Everything okay?”

I rearranged my face into a neutral expression. “Yeah, I was just thinking of some tips I could give you. I actually might have something.”

“Yeah?” His eyes widened slightly, and he jumped off the rock, holding his palms out. “Anything you’ve got would be great.”

I forced an amiable smile, masking the disgust and unease creeping under my skin as I tugged at the left cuff of my jacket. “This’ll probably sound stupid, but it works for me,” I said. “Whenever I roll up my sleeves before I shoot, I hit the target every single time.”

JJ blinked at me. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. Maybe it’s wind resistance or some shit like that. Makes me more streamlined,” I said. “Or maybe it’s a placebo effect. I believe it makes me better, so it does.”

“Right.”

I motioned to his camo sweatshirt. “Give it a try. We’ll use that tree behind you as a target.”

“Okay.” He grinned. “Not gonna lie, it sounds weird as fuck, but I’m willing to try anything at this point.”

My jaw tightened as he rolled his sleeves up, and I took a step closer, eyes narrowing on the underside of his forearms. There it is.

The scar was faint, but I could still see it—a crescent-shaped mark just below his left wrist, unmistakable in its jagged imperfection. Teeth marks.

My mind flashed back to Everly’s trembling voice as she recounted the attack in her dorm. How she’d fought back. How she’d bitten the masked intruder in desperation, hard enough to draw blood. Hard enough to leave a mark that still wouldn’t have faded two weeks later.

My fists clenched, nails digging into my palms as dark fury bubbled up inside me.

Everly had never lied to me. She wasn’t crazy, either. JJ had been messing with her all along, and now he’d brought her here to Wildercliff Island. The exact details of why and how were still blurry, but I intended to find out.

“Go on, then,” I muttered through gritted teeth. ‘Try it.”

JJ grabbed one of his guns and aimed it at the tree in front of us. There was a loud crack, and the bullet met its mark, right in the center of the trunk.

“Holy shit!” JJ whooped victoriously. “It works!”

“Told you,” I said, forcing another smile as my eyes lingered on his wrist.

He nodded. “Thanks, man. That was really helpful.”

“I actually might be able to help you even more,” I said, eyeing the camera perched on a nearby branch. I had to get him the fuck out of here. Had to get him into a dead zone where no one could possibly see us.

“How?”

“You said you want to get number 50, right? That blonde girl?” I said in a casual tone, as if I barely knew Ev. As if my dick hadn’t been in all three of her holes today.

“Yup.”

“I actually saw her about half an hour ago, not far from here. Sector F3. She was with a few others, but I couldn’t get any of them, because they were already in the safe zone.”

JJ’s eyes glimmered with excitement. “F3? That’s really close.”

“Yup.” I glanced at my watch. “The safe zone is closed now, but I overheard them saying they might hide in the cabin right next to it so they can get some sleep. I was gonna head back there and get them all myself. But I’m willing to let you have 50, as long as you let me get the rest.”

“Shit, yeah. Of course.”

I jerked my head toward the east. “Let’s go.”

JJ’s cocky grin never wavered as we walked through the woods, his swagger practically screaming that he genuinely believed this would be an easy score. Fucking idiot.

We reached the cabin, shrouded in fog, and I gestured for him to step around to the far side, where the dead zone was. “They’ve probably locked the door, but there’s a broken window around the back. We can get in there. Take them by surprise.”

JJ glanced back at me, suspicion flickering in his eyes for a split second, but his arrogance won out. He stepped around to the side of the cabin and leaned his face against the window. “They’re not in there,” he said, pulling back with a frown.

“Huh. Guess they already left.”

“Hang on.” He spun around to face me, frowning. “I thought you said this window was bro—”

I didn’t give him the chance to finish his sentence. Instead, I drove my fist into his jaw, the impact cracking through the silence like a gunshot.

JJ stumbled back, slamming into the wall, his shock giving me the opening I needed. I didn’t hesitate, following up with a punch to his stomach that doubled him over, a wheeze escaping his lips.

“You son of a—” he started, but I grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall again, cutting him off. His head hit the wood with a dull thud, and his face twisted into a grimace of pain. “Stop,” he spluttered. “ Stop. ”

As he spoke, he tried to swing at me, but I caught his arm and twisted it behind his back, forcing him to his knees. He let out a strangled yelp, but I didn’t let up, yanking his other arm and tying his wrists together with the rope I’d surreptitiously pulled out of my pocket as we trudged over here earlier.

He struggled hard, but I was stronger, fueled by rage and the cold, bitter satisfaction of finally cornering him. Once he was secure, I dragged him to the wall, shoving him into a sitting position. Blood trickled from his split lip, and he glared up at me, defiance still simmering beneath his pain. I tied his ankles together next, then stepped back, breathing hard.

JJ spat blood onto the floor, and a smirk appeared on his face as he leaned his head against the wall. “You’re gonna regret this,” he said, voice low and venomous. “Do you think the others can’t see what you’re doing?”

My lips spread in a cold smirk of my own. “This is a dead zone, dumbass. No cameras,” I said, crouching down in front of him. I pulled my knife out, letting it glint in the faint light. There was still a drop of blood on the end from where I’d pressed it against Ev’s smooth skin earlier. “I thought you’d know about all the dead zones, given how your family owns this whole fucking island. But I guess you’ve never taken the time to study it properly, huh?”

JJ’s smirk faltered, and a flicker of fear crossed his face. “Why are you doing this?” he said. “You’re already winning. You don’t need to take out the competition.”

I laughed. “You’re not my competition, JJ. You’re fucking useless, and you’ve already proved that,” I said. I twisted the knife in my hand, letting the blade catch the light again. “I brought you here because of Ev.”

His eyes widened. “ Ev? You mean… number 50?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know her.”

“I don’t! She’s just some gi—”

I plunged the knife into his left leg, a few inches above his knee. He howled, face contorting in agony as I pulled it back out.

“Don’t worry, I made sure not to hit any veins or arteries,” I said, my voice dropping to a deadly calm. “But next time, I might not be so careful.”

“Okay, okay!” JJ spluttered, face turning pale as he stared down at his bleeding leg. “You’re right! I know Ev!”

I pressed a hand on his wound to stem the flow, making him wince. “Tell me about her. I want to know every detail. How you met, why you pretended you’ve never met her, why you broke into her dorm and attacked her. Why you’re trying to kill her now.”

“I… we met when we were kids. Her dad works for mine.” JJ paused, wincing again. “She actually came to the island one summer. You were here too. Don’t you remember?”

I froze, my grip tightening involuntarily on my knife as my mind raced, rifling through dusty memories. A week on the island… kids running wild under the sun… a blonde girl, smaller than the rest of us, with big blue eyes and a perpetually nervous expression.

Everly.

Of fucking course.

That was why she’d always seemed so familiar to me. We’d met years ago, when we were just kids. So much had happened since then, so many new faces and new names, that I’d forgotten all about our short-lived friendship until now.

“She had a sick mom, right?” I said, my thoughts a storm of old memories now. “We tried to cheer her up by sneaking out to explore the tunnels. But we ended up running into one of the trials.”

JJ let out a pained laugh, his breath hitching as the pressure of my hand dug into his wound. “Good times,” he said. “We were so innocent back then.”

I leaned in close, letting him see the fury in my eyes. “Keep talking.”

“Ev and I always got along well. Kept in touch online and saw each other every summer. Her parents thought it was cute, and my parents thought it was good for me to have a normal friend. As in, a friend who wasn’t from a family of billionaires like all the other kids I knew.” He grimaced and went on. “And it was good, you know. Ev was my best friend. We told each other everything, and eventually things turned romantic. But…”

“But then you changed your mind and decided to kill her?” I said scornfully.

JJ lifted a shaky hand. “Shit got hard when we were teenagers. I loved her, but it was hard doing the whole long-distance thing. You know what it’s like in high school. Raging hormones and constant boners. I needed something more.”

“My heart bleeds for you,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Truly.”

“Look, it was hard, okay? But I tried my best to stay loyal. It just… it wasn’t enough,” he muttered. “So when I started college, I decided to tell everyone I was single. That way I could fuck around and have fun without her ever knowing better. I spared her a lot of pain that way.”

I scoffed. “How nice of you to consider her feelings like that.”

JJ ignored my dig and went on. “I still wanted to be with her long-term, and I knew I’d have to introduce her to people eventually. But I wasn’t too worried, because the only people who’d really know what I’d been up to behind her back were other Wilders, and I knew none of you would ever tell her I cheated. Bro code and all.”

That’s what you think, motherfucker.

I narrowed my eyes. “So what happened, then?”

“We broke up a few months ago, and she went totally nuts and transferred to Hollingsworth like a fucking stalker. Ever since then, she’s been trying to ruin my life as revenge. I told you, she’s crazy.”

I plunged the knife back into his leg, twisting it this time. “I think you might’ve missed a major part of that story, JJ.”

He howled as I removed the knife again. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“You conveniently skipped over why you broke up. It was obviously something bad, given her reaction to it.”

“She caught me cheating. That’s all.”

There was a flash of something odd in his expression as he spoke, and he wouldn’t meet my eyes, either. He was lying for sure.

I cast my mind back to the bonfire party. What was it Ev tried to say before I told her to fuck off?

Jake is sick. He hates women deep down, and he has a disgusting way of showing that hatred. When I caught him doing it, he tried to claim it was some sort of sexual fetish.

“She didn’t catch you cheating,” I said in a hollow voice. “You hurt a woman, didn’t you? That’s what she caught you doing.”

JJ’s face blanched. “She told you about that?”

“No, but you just did, you stupid motherfucker,” I snarled, smashing my fist into his jaw.

His head reeled back, hitting the cabin wall, and he cried out. “Fuck, man! Stop hitting me!”

“Stop fucking lying to me, then,” I said through gritted teeth. “I said I wanted the whole story. The real story. Not your bullshit version.”

“Okay, okay! I… I’ll tell you. Just stop hurting me, okay?”

I blinked. “No.”

JJ stared up at me, eyes wide and beseeching. When he realized I wasn’t going to change my mind and promise not to hurt him, his shoulders sagged.

“Fine,” he muttered. “There’s a hot maid at my house. I wanted to try something with her. Something… new. So I slipped some stuff in her drink. But she had no idea it was happening, so it wasn’t even that ba—”

I cut him off. “So you’re a dirty fucking rapist,” I said, stomach roiling with disgust. “That’s why Ev hates you.”

JJ swallowed hard. “She walked in on it,” he said, averting his eyes again. “The only reason she didn’t call the cops was because the maid didn’t want her to cause any trouble. But ever since then, she’s been trying to bait me. Trying to get me to admit what I did so she can nail me with it.”

“Is that supposed to make me see her as the bad guy in this situation?” I said, scornfully shaking my head.

“You don’t get it!” JJ said. “Ev is… was my best friend. I trusted her with everything. I even told her why I did it! There’s something wrong with my head, and I thought she’d at least try to understand it after all those years together. But she didn’t care. She fucking abandoned me anyway, and now she’s waiting around for the chance to tell the whole world—”

I couldn’t help myself. I plunged the knife into JJ’s other leg, just above the knee. He shrieked in agony, and a damp spot appeared on his khaki pants as he pissed himself. Pathetic little coward.

“Let me get this straight,” I said loudly over his cries as I yanked the knife out again. “You attacked a woman who was too frightened to turn you in. Then your girlfriend caught you, and you were afraid that she’d tell the world what a piece of shit you are, so you signed her up to die in the Hunt. Is that about it?”

“Y-yes,” he whimpered.

“How the fuck did you do it?” I asked, shaking my head. “The Patriarchs have to sign off on every player. Confirm their background stories. And the players themselves have to sign a whole lot of shit too, so they know what they’re getting into.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” JJ muttered.

“Huh?”

“Everly didn’t sign anything, okay?” he said shakily. “I… I managed to fake it all. Got her signature off something else and invented a fake backstory for the Patriarchs. I told them she was involved in a hit and run that killed three kids.”

“Bullshit.” I sneered at him. “There’s no way you managed to do all of that. Too much could’ve gone wrong.”

“I had help, okay?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Oh, no,” I said, slowly shaking my head. “Don’t fucking tell me you actually managed to convince your father to arrange it all for you.”

JJ’s father, Peter Jennings, was the High Patriarch—the very pinnacle of The Wild Hunt, holding the ultimate authority over the society’s clandestine operations.

“I came up with the plan myself, okay?” JJ said indignantly. “Dad just helped me with the arrangements and made sure things went smoothly.”

My nostrils flared. “I can’t believe he would do something so stupid,” I said in an acid tone. “Does he honestly think the other Patriarchs won’t find out that the two of you orchestrated a plot to install your fucking ex-girlfriend in the Hunt, all because she dumped you and might tell people the truth about you?”

“The others won’t find out.”

“Oh, they will, and the consequences will be fucking dire for both of you,” I spat out.

“Actually… I’m pretty sure they won’t care all that much.”

“They will. There’s a code in The Wild Hunt, and you know it.”

“That’s what you think,” JJ mumbled.

I sneered, head slightly shaking as I stared down at him. “You really are the most pathetic fucking coward I’ve ever met.”

I expected him to keep glowering at me. I didn’t expect him to fucking laugh. But he did, tipping his bleeding head backward as his mouth dropped open in a low, mocking chuckle.

“Look at you, Rhett. Up there on your high horse,” he said. “You know you can’t do shit to take me down. Or my father. You’re already in too deep.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

His lips curled in a mocking smile. “Remember our first-year proving ceremony? Where we had to confess our deepest secret to the whole society?”

“Yeah,” I muttered, rubbing my jaw. “I’m guessing yours was bullshit.”

“Doesn’t matter. My point is, I remember yours ,’ he said, smile morphing into a cold sneer. “We all do. We all know what happened to you when you were a kid.”

“So fucking what?”

“Well, you know what they say about abused kids. They often grow up to be abusers themselves. And you really proved that one right, didn’t you?” JJ said, tilting his head. “You’re a predator. Just like the rest of us.”

“I’m not that sort of predator,” I said through gritted teeth. “Not like you, you sick fuck.”

He scoffed. “You’ve killed seven people in the last two days. So like I said… you’re in too deep. Try to take me or my father down, and you’ll go down too,” he said. “Also, if you try to embark on some sort of white-knight crusade against the society as a whole, you might not like what you find out about the other Patriarchs. And that includes your father.”

I rose to my feet, hands shaking with rage.

Fear flashed in JJ’s eyes. “Look, Rhett, I know you hate me now. But we’re brothers through the society, whether you like it or not,” he said in a low voice. “That means you owe me something.”

“What the fuck do you think I owe you?”

His gaze shifted to the knife. “Well, you obviously want to kill me. But grant me the courtesy of making it quick, okay?”

It was my turn to laugh. “Oh, no. You’re mistaken, man,” I said. “ Very fucking mistaken. I’m not going to kill you.”

Hope flared in his eyes. “Really?”

“Yeah. Really . You’re not my kill.” My lips spread in a mirthless grin. “You’re Everly’s kill.”