Chapter 33
KNOX
Shocked silence greeted me for a second before Tara’s lips twitched, and Samaira laughed. “If we’re playing hunt, I’m not staying on the sidelines.”
I quirked my eyebrows. “Whoever catches their target and kills them first wins?”
Lena tilted her head. “The targets are already weak. You think they can run?”
I kicked one of them and leaned over him. “Do you think you can run? If you escape the woods, we’ll let you go.” The fucker was already nodding before I even finished my sentence.
My eyes flicked to Lena, and she folded her arms. “Who’s in for the hunt?”
Tara, Samaira, and I raised our hands.
When Samaira looked at Lena in surprise, she shrugged. “I couldn’t be bothered. I’d rather just shoot them in the head and be done with it.”
“Spoilsport.” Samaira pouted.
She shrugged. “Knox and Samaira each get two targets. Tara, you already picked yours.”
Tara cracked her knuckles, a ruthless smile on her face. “Yep.”
Lena walked to the cage and opened it. “Alright then, fuckers. You get a thirty-second head start. Off you go.”
The five men somehow gathered their strength and were sprinting up the stairs before I could even blink. A rough chuckle escaped me. “Thank you, Lena. You just made my day even sweeter.”
I gave my Tara a wink as I licked my lips, remembering the taste of her sweet cunt.
She shook her head and rolled her shoulders. “You ready?”
I twisted my neck and cracked my knuckles. “Oh, you’ve no idea.”
I stepped outside the cage and looked through the weapons strewn across a table. I picked a knife. Tara came right beside me and immediately went for a lighter and an axe.
Samaira already stood facing the stairway leading upstairs, with a pair of brass knuckles slotted in her fingers.
Lena cleared her throat and looked at her watch. “And the hunt is on. Off you go. Don’t let a single guy escape.” Her last sentence was a shout, considering the three of us were already running.
While Samaira led the way, I followed Tara. More than wanting to hunt my targets, I wanted to watch my beauty in action.
I was fairly certain the five idiots would have chosen to run in the same direction rather than split up. Morons.
With Tara by my side, we bolted toward the dusty trail we’d entered through, following the footsteps of our targets. Dense thickets surrounded the entire area. I picked up speed and dashed into the woods the moment the trail of the multiple footprints stopped.
My heart hammered in my chest, adrenaline of a lifelong dream coming true, crashing into my body like a fucking storm. Samaira was far ahead of me while my footsteps thundered right at Tara’s heels.
A cracking of branches on our left had us both skidding to a stop. Up ahead, a man in a red shirt ran through the bushes. A monstrous gleam lit up Tara’s eyes as she flicked the lighter. “See you in a bit, Lieutenant.”
I watched her retreating form for a second before I turned to charge toward the other footprints. I closed in on Samaira and then overtook her as my feet pounded on the ground. The men’s screaming reached my ears first. I could hear the faint cries of “Help” from up ahead.
My lips stretched in a smile, the song of the hunt humming through my veins.
The breathless anticipation of reaching my target and the scent of fear that they left behind lit my soul on fire.
It brought me back to the carefree days of my childhood when I thrived in my sickness of chasing little animals.
This—chasing sick little humans—was my calling. My blood rushed under my skin as I closed in on the guy running ahead of me. He turned his head, and his gaze clashed with mine. The terror in them had a laugh bursting out of me. I charged faster, hunting his screams.
With a quick pump of steps, I lunged and crashed us to the ground.
Before he could scream or flop around under me, I slammed the tip of my knife straight into his gut.
He choked with a gurgle as I tore through his chest up to his throat, coating my hand in the warm rush of his blood.
Pure ecstasy flowed through my veins, the need for more blood, more chase, more hunt, pumping through my body.
I checked the pulse of the dead guy staring at me, just to confirm the kill, and stood. I charged once again, crossing Samaira, who was busy punching the ever-loving shit out of a guy under her.
It took me barely a minute to track down my next target. The thought of taking my time to toy with him crossed my mind, but the need to watch my little beauty take down a fucker overrode my own need for the hunt.
With a quick burst of speed, I grabbed the fucker in front of me, pushed him against a tree, and sliced his neck. The rush of his blood against my palm and his lifeless eyes staring at me exhilarated the dark, beastly part inside me, setting my blood on fire.
I dragged the dead body of the fucker and threw it on top of the one I’d previously killed. Samaira came rushing after me, dragging both of her targets. “Where’s Tara?” she asked.
I looked at the way she’d gone, the need to find her and chase her and hunt her running rampant in my brain. I turned to Samaira. “Take your targets to the safe house. I’ll find her. We’ll be there in a bit. Don’t come back out unless you want to watch something you’d rather not.”
An unhinged smile lit up her face, and she waggled her eyebrows. “I gotchu. Adrenaline, huh? I should’ve brought Dom with me.”
She was certifiably crazy.
Before she could start chatting with me, I ran in the direction where Tara had gone. Dry branches cracked under my feet as the smell of the woods washed over my lungs. The hum of the adrenaline burning through my system rang in my ears as my eyes scanned every direction.
A muffled whimper came from my right, and I immediately gave chase.
My feet skidded to a halt at the sight in front of me. My little monster had her knees digging into the pinned hands at the back of the whimpering man, her one hand covered his mouth, while the other hand held a lighter to his ear.
My cock stood ramrod straight at the vicious gleam in her eyes.
Her head snapped to me as I walked closer, her eyes scanning me from top to bottom. “Had a little too much fun, did ya?”
I leaned my shoulders against the tree closest to her, giving me the perfect view of my beauty in her violet dress riding up her thighs, her bare skin coated with blood, as she dragged the flame near her target’s neck. “Not nearly as much as you’re having.”
She grabbed her axe from the side and ran the little flame under the blade.
Her eyes met mine, and my blood turned to lava.
She was death incarnate. A violent, bloody sin dipped in sex.
My cock hardened, and I gave it a slow stroke through my pants to ease the ache, keeping my gaze glued to her face.
Her gaze dropped to my bulge, and with a low moan, she licked her lips.
My jaw hardened, and I snapped. “Don’t you get turned on while on top of another man. Stop playing with him so I can play with you.”
She gave me a bratty smile and winked at me before slitting the throat of her target. “Happy now?”
My cock throbbed with the blinding need to slam her on the ground and fuck her tight little hole. I grabbed my handcuffs from the back of my pocket and twirled them around my finger. “Now, run, little criminal. Don’t let me catch you.”
Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second, and then she jumped off the dead body and bolted into the woods, her axe clutched in her hand. She certainly was prepared to fight if she carried that thing with her.
I checked the body she left behind, confirming he was dead, then ran in the direction Tara went.
A kind of mania rode my senses, the arousal rampaging through my veins almost maddening. I’d never felt this rush of feelings before. Never felt this euphoria, the violent need to snarl and hunt and rut into my beauty.
Knowing that she was an equally frightening predator, I kept my footsteps light. She wasn’t like those idiots who created a ruckus as they ran. My Shadow Panther lived up to her name. My skin sizzled as I felt eyes upon me.
My cock throbbed and leaked precum. That predatory urge fired up in my system, my senses sharpening as I calmed my racing heart. Then I heard it. The small exhale of a breath. “Is that you, my beauty?”
A sharp breath came from my right, and I whirled, moving toward the source. “Run now, baby. Or be ready with the axe.”
The woods stilled as if in anticipation of my little beauty’s move. Silence greeted me. “As you wish.”
With that, I ran, jumping behind trees, looking around the short but dense shrubs, scanning the foliage in case my panther had decided to climb up and hide. Until my body froze as the blade of a sharp axe touched my throat.
A wicked smile greeted me. “Caught you.”
Before I could grab my girl, she swung her axe at my face, almost catching my shirt, but I ducked.
I grabbed her waist, slamming her back against the tree.
She retaliated with a knee to my stomach.
She grabbed my shirt in her fist and pulled me closer.
“That would’ve been your cock if I didn’t want it so much. ”
I gave her lips a bite in return and went to grab her throat. But she dropped down and pushed me with her shoulder, knocking me back. Fighting and fucking spirit collided in my veins, burning me alive.
She made a run for it again, but I lunged at her and took her down.
She fell face-first onto the dirt with an “oomph” and tried to climb out from under me.
But she must’ve forgotten that she wore only a tight, little purple dress that had driven me batshit crazy throughout the evening.
That with her ass turned up, she smelled of her sweet, squirty pussy and blood-soaked death.