Chapter 15
Bowen
The rabbit was a lot quicker than I’d imagined a rabbit would be.
I almost lost it a few times, but it had a fluffy white tail that gave it away.
It reminded me of the rabbit I’d found that Hayes had destroyed—except it was gray, not pink. This time he wasn’t around to ruin it for me.
No, only Cain was around, and he was only capable of making everything better.
I crouched and held my breath when the rabbit paused near a tree. Its nose twitched, but the rest of it was frozen. Then it tilted its ear, as if it heard a sound, and darted into a nearby bush.
“Shit,” I muttered. Should I keep following it? It had already been a while, and I didn’t want Cain to worry about me. Besides, it was way too fast. I wasn’t ever gonna get to pet it or touch that fluffy tail.
I paused when I sensed the infected nearby.
Here? How?
I looked toward the pit trap, but it was undisturbed. That wasn’t the direction I was feeling them, either.
It was more toward the nearby cliff.
I should get Cain. No, I—
Something hard pressed against the back of my skull, and a choked sound erupted from my chest.
“Found you.”
That voice.
I would never forget that voice.
Hunter.
The stark terror that exploded through my body completely froze me, and in an instant I was dragged back into the past, to every feeling and thought that had ever run through me when this man was around.
I was a hound and he was my master.
Days of endless nothing filled my mind, days of lying around, sleeping, getting yelled at, being pissed on. Days of hunting the Corrupted for them, being shoved and hit with guns and hands and feet. Days of wishing there were no more days, that an endless night would come and sweep me away.
Hunter’s laugh was cold and cruel and crawled beneath my skin, coiling around my bones and holding me frozen in place.
“You thought you could just run away and that was it?” His voice was closer when he bit out, “You never should’ve come to that town, you worthless dog.
But thanks, I wouldn’t have found you otherwise.
I didn’t even recognize you ’til I saw those freaky fucking eyes.
” He laughed again. “I thought you’d crawled into a hole and died somewhere, considering I fucking shot you.
You’ll wish you had when I’m through with you.
I’ve been watching you for weeks now, waiting to get you alone.
Who’s the big guy, your new owner? Too busy getting fucked to notice me, huh? Disgusting.”
He shoved roughly at my head with the barrel of the gun, and a sharp, stinging pain sliced through my skull.
But it snapped me out of whatever terrified daze I’d been stuck in, and I started to sprint away. When the first shot rang out, I fell to my stomach, covering my head with my arms and trembling like the pathetic dog I was.
“Move again, and the next one goes in your head. That was a warning. I’m not fucking around, Three.” Leaves crunched beneath his boots as he stalked over to me. “You thought you could just run off after killing my brother?”
The clink of metal on metal filled me with dread, and I couldn’t stop myself from begging him. “No, please, please don’t—”
Pain exploded through my head and hands when he struck me with the butt of his rifle, and then he was stomping on the back of my thighs with his heavy boots.
“Shut. Up,” he gritted out. “Just shut the fuck up, you piece of shit. Oh, I can’t fucking wait to chain you up.
Maybe I’ll cut off your hands. No, your feet.
How’s that, huh? Good luck trying to escape after that.
” Something cold was slipped around my wrists as he laughed, and when he sat down hard on my back, I wasn’t thinking about the chains anymore. Now I was just trying to breathe.
I hoped I died. Death would be better than being caged again.
I didn’t fight it. Didn’t try to get out from under him as he kept talking to me, saying words that were muffled and fading away, sounding more and more distant the longer he sat on me.
When he briefly lifted himself off me and turned me over, I gasped in air, trying to focus my fuzzy vision on him.
He’d chained my hands up behind my head and attached them to a collar around my throat. The only thing I had to fight him with was my mouth and—
He grinned down at me as he pulled something from his belt.
A muzzle.
But I was also seeing him for the first time, and…
The right side of his face was practically gone. It was burned away, all the hair gone, the skin just melted pink scar tissue.
He looked like the monster he was.
And this monster was going to take me away from Cain. Take me away from this new life, take away my freedom.
He wanted to chain me up, and I’d never see Cain again—I’d never—I’d—
Terror seized my chest, and I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. It felt like the ground was falling out from beneath me all over again, except this time I was going to hit every single spike.
No.
I needed to fight him. To get away. I couldn’t let him take me.
I’d die before I’d let him take me away from Cain.
Hunter leaned over me, dangling the muzzle above my face. “This is all your fucking fault. It was those bastards from the lab we stole you from that attacked us. Did you know that? They came to take you back. You. A worthless fucking—”
I lunged up and sank my teeth into his neck, biting down as hard as I could. He ripped the hair from my head as he tried to pull me off him, but I was latched on hard. The taste of metal flooded my mouth, thick and wet. Hunter punched my ribs, and I almost lost my grip.
I bit down harder, growling like an animal, gnawing at his tendon, wanting to crush it between my teeth, rip it from his throat.
“Get off—”
A black blur came crashing through the foliage with a vicious snarl. I was knocked off Hunter when Luna sank her teeth into his arm, snarling ferociously. He fell back with a scream and dropped the gun.
“What the fuck—get off me, you fucking—”
There was a sharp whimper when he kicked Luna. She bounced back quickly, latched onto his ankle and violently shook her head. Hunter screamed, reaching for his rifle, but before he could get ahold of it, Cain crashed through the brush.
His face was a hard mask of pure rage as he lunged at Hunter, and the relief that slammed into me was so intense that I immediately started sobbing.
He raised his machete and sliced clean through Hunter’s arm—the one with the muzzle still clenched in his hand. The severed limb dropped to the ground as he screamed, blood gushing from the stump.
When Hunter reached for his rifle again, Cain stabbed the machete into his other arm, pinning him to the ground. He kicked the gun out of Hunter’s reach, then left him like that and turned to face me. His chest and shoulders heaved as his wild eyes flitted over every inch of my face and body.
“Cain,” I whispered, my voice a faint, soft sound against Hunter’s screaming.
Luna was still snarling, holding onto Hunter’s leg, but I wasn’t sure he even knew what was happening anymore.
I didn’t care, either. All I cared about was Cain. Blood was splattered across his face, his clothes, and he looked utterly barbaric in that moment.
The deadliest predator with the gentlest hands. A walking weapon and a sturdy shield, born to protect me.
He blinked, like he was coming out of some kind of trance. “Bowen. Bowen.” He was shaking as he stepped toward me, those big, gentle hands trembling as he reached for me. He picked me up, holding me tightly, murmuring words I could barely hear over my own sobs.
“Tell me you’re okay. You’re okay, right Bow? Please, please, please be okay, you’re okay, you’re okay, please, Bow, please.”
I cried into his throat as he held me, stroking his hand up and down my back, kissing my head, rocking me slowly. He kept asking me if I was okay and telling me I was and asking me again. I finally choked out, “I’m o-okay. I’m okay.”
Cain fell to his knees, squeezing me tighter and burying his face in my hair.
“Thank god. Thank fucking god, I was so worried, I was—I thought—” His breath hitched and he trembled.
The fact that he was so shaken up was pulling me from the intense emotions I’d been trapped in.
I wanted to make him feel better, he needed me right now.
I went to embrace him, forgetting my hands were chained to the collar, and growled in frustration when I couldn’t move them. Damn it, I needed to hold him!
Cain quickly realized my hands had been cuffed behind my head to a collar, and he gently set me down. His hands curled into fists as he turned toward Hunter, who had stopped screaming and was crying softly as he stared up at the canopy.
Cain crouched at his side and rifled through Hunter’s pockets for the key, muttering under his breath.
“You fucking son of a bitch. Fucking bastard. Motherfucking pile of goddamn shit.”
He found the keys, and the chains and cuffs and collar were carefully removed, then flung into the brush with a violent whip of his arm.
He framed my face with those big hands, and when his fingers brushed against the spot Hunter had hit me with the gun, I winced. He gently turned my head, prodding with cautious fingers to feel for the bump. When he found it, he sighed, then kissed my forehead.
“Are you hurt anywhere else? Was there anyone else with him?”
I shook my head. “No. I think he was alone. And he just…he only hit my head. I’m okay.” I didn’t want him to worry, but I could see in his eyes that nothing I said right now would chase away any of the concern and fear that had wrapped itself around him.
“He was one of them.”
It wasn’t a question because he already knew, but I nodded anyway.
A muscle in his jaw appeared and disappeared, like he was grinding his molars together. “Alright. What do you want to do with him?”
I looked over at Hunter, who was writhing in the dead leaves. Luna still had her teeth embedded in his ankle.
I didn’t want his death to be on Cain’s hands. Didn’t want them stained with the blood of a monster.
But…
What about the infected? I could feel them down there. Had they followed Hunter here? Well they could have him. Let them tear him to pieces.
“Can you look down the cliff over there?”
Confusion marred his features, but he didn’t question me.
“Yeah. Wait here for a minute.” He set me gently on the ground.
I nodded again, watching as he turned and headed toward the cliff’s edge. He peered over, raked a hand through his hair, then came back to me.
“Fuck. There’s tons of—”
“Throw him over. Let them have him,” I said.
His gaze bored into mine, then he nodded, gave me a rough kiss on the forehead, and stalked over to Hunter, who screamed when Cain ripped the machete from his arm.
“Luna, back.”
Luna released Hunter’s leg and came over to me, sitting at my side.
Without a word, Cain grabbed Hunter’s ankle and dragged him to the edge of the cliff.
Hunter scraped at the ground, trying to grab onto something. “No, wait, wait—”
He tossed him over with a ferocious yell, then stood and watched as the infected ripped him to pieces.
Hunter’s screams rang out from below, mixing with the excited growls of the infected. I petted Luna’s head, feeling the silky ends of her ears, watching Cain as he watched Hunter.
When the screams stopped, Cain turned back to me.
I held my arms out to him, more tears spilling down my cheeks as the deepest sense of peace and belonging settled in my soul.
I didn’t need to see the rest of the world, to experience the things I’d heard in stories over the years. I didn’t need anything other than what was right in front of me.
“Cain,” I rasped, needing him to hold me. I just needed his arms around me, needed to know he was real. He was alive. I was alive. “Cain, I need you.”
He was on me in an instant, cradling me in his arms, and I was clinging to him as tightly as he was holding me.
“Okay. Come on, let’s get you home. I’ll fix you up. I’ll fix this. I can fix this. I promise, I’ll fix it.”
“Cain. It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”
He pulled back, looking down at me with the most wide-eyed, untamed expression I’d ever seen on him. His gaze kept darting around my face, like he really couldn’t believe I was okay, like he was still looking for some wound he’d missed.
I lifted my hand and brushed my fingers over his cheek. “I’m okay. You came, and—I’m okay.” He closed his eyes, then placed his hand over mine, turning his head and kissing my fingers one by one. “I’m okay. I promise.”
“You’re not okay. He hurt you. He hurt you, and I wasn’t there. You got hurt and you’re not—you’re never supposed to—to—”
“Cain.” I cradled his face in my hands as his eyes welled with tears. “You found me. I’m okay now. I promise.”
His fat bottom lip quivered, and then he shut his eyes and pressed his forehead to mine, squeezing those thick arms around me so tight I couldn’t move at all.
I didn’t want to.
“Carry me home,” I whispered, tipping my head up and pressing my lips against his.
Cain carried me home and kept holding me for the rest of the day.
That was fine with me. The only place I was happy to be imprisoned was in his arms.
Only his.