Chapter 6
Dalton
With every breath I take, my lungs are closer to turning into a block of ice.
Dense vapor clouds the air in front of me each time I exhale, fighting my way through the deep snow covering everything in sight.
I have no fucking idea where I am, but my captors wouldn’t be hunting people for sport if their neighbors weren’t like-minded.
At this point, my legs feel numb under my ripped jeans, and the sneakers I wore on the day Van der Horn goons captured me are soaked through with icy moisture.
Though maybe my nerve endings have already frozen over?
How long does it take to lose one’s digits to frostbite?
Am I there yet, or will it not happen before one of the armed hunters in tactical gear hangs me up on the tree for gutting?
The bare trees are like rotten skeletons reaching for me, but this is not a haunted house, and if I fail to run away, the one person laughing with relief will be the guy who promised me a chance at survival if I plow him just right.
In the corner of my eye I spot a fallen tree and dash for it like a rabbit in search of a hideout. I have no idea where I can escape to, but I’ll worry about that when immediate survival is no longer my main concern.
I jump over the tree and as soon as I land on the other side, I meet a pair of wide eyes.
All I know about this guy is that he’s even more ragged-looking than me, and that I saw him for a few minutes before we were all let out to run for our lives. At least I had a shower yesterday. If our hunters have dogs with them, they’ll scent this guy from miles away.
“Get your own damn hiding spot,” he snarls and pushes me back
In any other circumstances, I’d fight him, get into a shouting match, and haul him over the tree for good measure. But that would only create the kind of commotion to bring the hunt closer to us.
So I clench my chattering teeth and slide down the hill behind the tree.
The snow gets under my bomber jacket, then under my hoodie, making me stiffen, but there is no point in feeling sorry for myself.
I have to run. Run. Run. Run, and hide. I’m in the holly bushes at the bottom of the slope when the swish of a crossbow bolt makes me spin around, with frost on my lips instead of air.
The fucker who just pushed me away collapses, spraying blood all over the snow as he rolls after me.
One of the hunters must be close. I need to run. I need to hide. Find a cave, or an abandoned mine, and survive this day… somehow.
If only I don’t freeze, I’ll have a chance none of the other hunted will. Because unless Corvus lied to me, I won’t die from poisoning. If any of the others escape or hide, they’ll perish anyway. What’s a few fingers lost to frostbite if I get to live?
“I got him!” The hunter on the hill yells to someone about his victory. “Come and see!”
While he’s distracted, I get moving. I’m leaving obvious tracks, but it’s snowing, so there’s a chance they’ll be hidden in a while. I stay low, crawling between the bushes despite the cold.
Why did I have to gamble away all that money? My shitty life choices come back to haunt me any time I’m not busy looking around. Why did I think that this one time I’d be lucky? Hasn’t life proven to me that’s never the case? I should have been content with my lot.
I still, heart in throat when I hear a voice.
“I think I saw movement,” says what sounds like a younger man.
“Where?”
“In the bushes?”
My bushes?
I bite my tongue when I hear a swish, and a crossbow bolt passes right next to my ear, planting itself by my hand.
A deer jumps out from between the trees nearby and almost tramples me in its escape.
“See? It’s just a deer,” the older guy says.
A groan. “Well, it was worth checking.”
“You’re not the one hunting, Aspen!”
But they’re riding away. My heart beats in a frenzy, and I dash from my hideout as soon as they’re not visible anymore, because for all I know, they might descend the hill to mark the body somehow.
A few paces later, I’m on a path carrying traces of use—it’s an empty space cutting across the forest, and the snow on it is uneven, as if fresh layers covered those already disturbed.
I lift my feet as high as I can, attempting to traverse a large swath of snow-covered land, and soon enough, I hear nothing but the thud of my own heart.
Maybe that’s why I hear the thumping of hooves that late.
I turn around, and there he is. Another hunter. His outfit is as black as the coat of his horse. It’s as if they’re one creature, and whether it chooses to send a crossbow bolt straight in my throat or trample me, my life is over.
In the pristine white woodland, the huge animal is an aberration, even darker than the naked branches reaching out for me from under caps of snow. When it rises to its hind legs, I fall onto my ass, ready for a painful death.
But then I meet the blue eyes visible through the slit in the rider’s balaclava and I’m frozen in ways the snow and ice couldn’t make me.
“Seriously?” I choke out.
I didn’t expect Corvus to take part in the hunt. But I guess he wants to make sure I take his secret to my grave.
I roll to my hands and knees, ready to fight for my life when he reaches his gloved hand toward me and slides his foot out of the stirrup.
“Get on!”
My brain jams, as if one of the few cogs inside has finally gotten rusty. “What?”
“On. The. Horse. Before they spot us,” Corvus hisses.
The only horse I’ve ever been on was on a merry-go-round, but I don’t hesitate. I get to my feet, grab his hand, and let him help me climb onto the massive beast. If the devil rode a horse, it would be this one.
I wrap my arms around Corvus, my mind unable to comprehend what’s going on, so I focus on his warmth and the elegant smell of him I loved so much last night.
Unlike me, he’s dressed appropriately for the weather, in a thick yet somehow slick black jacket, and riding boots.
He reminds me to hold on tightly, but I only understand why when the stallion moves, and I have to slide down the uncomfortable slope at the back of the saddle, pressing closer to the other man.
Just like that, the landscape I’ve trudged through with such great difficulty is left behind, replaced by more snow and trees. I close my eyes when the constant motion starts making me sick, because this is not the time to complain about minor issues like that.
Corvus rides as if he’s one with the horse, and several times I worry I’ll fall off and break my neck, so I try to distract myself with memories of last night, of how beautifully he yielded under me. In the quiet of his office, I was a rider taming a wild mount.
I don’t know how long we ride for, but with my hands against his chest, I’m so much warmer than before, even if still wet. I open my eyes for longer than a split second when we slow down.
Corvus stops the horse in front of a snowed-over cabin. It looks ancient, and the porch on one side seems to be crumbling, but it does still stand. Is this a secret garage, where Corvus is hiding his limo? Does it mark an underground bunker?
I don’t get to ponder it any more before my savior prompts me to dismount. The damn hell horse is so tall I freak out a bit on my way down, but in the end my feet hit the ground, and I manage not to fall over.
Corvus slides off with the grace of a gymnast and quickly ties the animal to a ring attached to the wall of the cabin. I’m next to be dealt with. He grabs the front of my jacket and pulls me inside the dusty cabin.
“You will stay here—”
But I don’t let him finish. “The fuck is this? You knew how this hunt would look like. I don’t stand a chance!”
Corvus squints at me, then pulls off his balaclava, revealing a flushed face. “Well, I’m here now, am I not?”
Fuck he’s handsome. High-class asshole. Just my type.
I huff in frustration, taking a quick glance around the single-room cabin with bare necessities, frosted windows, and a log burner. It looks like no one’s been here in months.
I try to give him the benefit of the doubt and crack my neck with agitation. “So what? You’re gonna help me?”
Corvus sheds his gloves next, even though the cabin is as cold as a freezer. His hair is still messy from being tucked under the balaclava, and the rosy flush on his cheeks reminds me of the way he writhed as I fucked him, whimpering my name as if I was his new chief deity.
“Yes. You will just need to stay here for about a week,” he tells me matter-of-factly.
My heart erupts with hope. I’m gonna live. Do I look forward to a week in this frozen jail? No, but unlike the other fuckers, I won’t die poisoned, vomiting my guts out into the snow.
I step closer and slide my freezing hands over his smooth face. “Anything in particular made you change your mind?” I’m surprised by how raspy my voice comes out. I guess I’m just that excited.
He wants me. This handsome, classy guy thinks I’m worth keeping alive despite his family’s wishes.
I’m simply too hot to waste on a hunt. Did he sense the same connection between us as I did last night?
As I pumped my dick into his warm, willing insides, all I could think of was how much I’d love to do that over and over again.
He was so tense, so very embarrassed by his needs, and all I want is to peel off all the layers to taste his raw insides.
Corvus blinks, leaning back like a spooked animal. “We don’t have time for chats…”
“Hope we have time for this though,” I say and go right in for a kiss, greedy to taste his soft lips again. I love how he yields. It makes my dick hard even in the wet jeans. I wrap my arms around his waist, so he can’t pull away, and use my tongue to show him what I want.
The hunt might as well be a figment of my imagination, because I already see him on hands and knees on the dusty bed in the corner, letting me cream his tight pink hole this time.
He gasps, molding his body to mine despite the claims he’s just made, and while he’s been outside too, his skin feels supple, warm, like the flesh of a peach.
His lips open, he licks along the seam of my mouth, shivering, as if this is what he’s truly saved me for.
“I only have a moment,” he mumbles, and before I can respond, he slides down and lands on his knees. The shuttered windows let in very little light, but it’s bright enough for me to see his head in front of my crotch, right before he seeks the shape of my cock with his mouth.
Holy hell. He’s fucking perfect like this, and I can’t open my jeans fast enough. My mind is a one-way street to coming down his throat as I look into his eyes. And I didn’t even need to ask. This is what he wants. This is what he’s saved me for.
I should probably be offended that I’m just a hot body to him, but I’ll take that if that is the reason he spares my life.
“All yours,” I whisper as I pull my pants down to let my cock out, and I’m already getting hard for his pretty lips.
‘Suck me. Suck me. Suck me.’ is all my brain is capable of.
He drags my jeans halfway down my thighs, eyes focused on the front of my briefs, where my cock is already poking at the waistband, ever larger.
Corvus’s eyes are so dark even an experienced diver might have doubts before taking a plunge into their depths. He pants, releasing hot air over my dick.
“Fuck… yes… you smell so wild,” he mumbles in a choked voice, and licks from the base of my cock all the way to the head. His expression’s blissful. He’s quivering, and when I push my fingers into his messy hair, he swirls that clever tongue around the top.
The heat of his mouth is melting all inhibitions, and I let my head fall back when Corvus Van der Horn takes my cock with a sigh that sounds suspiciously like relief.
"Caught red-handed, cheater!" A man yells, kicking the door open and barging in. "You're not allowed to take part in the hunt either, and now everyone knows…"
I stare back into the blue eyes of a young man in tactical gear, bewildered by what’s going on, but when I spot the phone in his hand, pointed right at us with its camera, I reflexively bend over to cover Corvus’s face.
My cock falls from his mouth, feeling colder than before now that it’s wet, and Corvus scrambles to his feet, staggering toward the young man.
“What the fuck are you doing here? Get lost, Aspen!” he roars, forcing the other man back with his presence alone as I cover my dick with my hand. “And delete that!”
Aspen looks between him and me with his mouth open. “I… I just… I can’t delete it! It’s live! I wanted to show everyone… and… you—”
“Corvus! What on earth?” An older man’s voice comes from the phone, and I see Corvus stumble as he tries to retreat. But there’s no escaping this. When Aspen turns the phone to us, I see several different people on the partitioned screen, and they’ve all seen Corvus suck my cock.
“This… this is private,” Corvus mumbles, his hands twitching in the cool light coming through the open door. “Get the fuck out!” He reaches to his belt, and a small curved knife glints in the faint sunshine.
“Don’t you dare hurt my son!” The older man yells through the phone as Aspen takes a step back and someone else on the call starts laughing like a maniac.
“What is this, Corvus? What’s happening?” A pretty, teary-eyed woman asks, making Corvus stop in his tracks.
At least by now my dick is soft and back in my pants.
“Isn’t that….” a young man’s face takes up most of the screen. He’s got a pierced nose and green hair. “Is that the hot prisoner we discussed earlier?”
“You would remember that jawline,” a woman laughs, but here time’s standing still, and I wonder if I shouldn’t help Corvus somehow. Too bad he might end up gutting me by accident.
“I’s unsportsmanlike to lie!” the older man pipes up again.
Aspen stands in the doorway, looking increasingly lost, but a sneaky smile is slipping onto his face. “You want me to turn it off, or…?”
The question isn’t meant for me, but I still decide to show Corvus my support by putting my hand on his shoulder, and I kiss the side of his head.
He yields, as if we’ve known each other for months, not less than a day, and the knife falls to the dusty floor as he blindly grabs my open jacket.
“He—” Corvus swallows so loudly I hear it despite the chatter coming from the phone. “He’s my fiancé.”
Am I…?
I look at him as the world slows down around us. My heart beats ever faster, and fireworks erupt in my head and dick.