Chapter 42
Chapter Forty-Two
Chloe
M y lungs burn as I sprint through the dense forest, branches whipping across my face and tangling in my pink hair.
I have to keep going. Have to find a place to hide.
My soaked underclothes cling to my skin, the wet fabric chafing and heavy. Thorny underbrush tears at my legs, but the sting barely registers. Exhaustion turns my limbs to lead, but pure desperation and fear keep me going.
If Louie catches me now, I won’t have a chance to warn the others.
Brush cracks behind me, sending me veering off to the side, crashing through a bush to escape.
Keep running. Don’t look back. Just run.
My heartbeat crashes in my ears like waves, almost drowning out the sound of Louie’s angry shout, but I can’t figure out which direction it comes from.
A whimper escapes my lips as I stumble over a protruding root. I catch myself on the rough bark of a tree, splinters piercing my palms. My muscles quiver, aching for rest, but I force myself upright.
The crunch of heavy footfalls behind me grows louder, closer, and terror claws at my throat. I risk a glance over my shoulder, pink hair whipping across my face.
Louie’s broad form crashes through the underbrush, his face twisted in a snarl. His usually perfectly-styled blond hair stands up on end, and bloody scratches mar his cheeks from the chase.
Icy blue eyes lock on me, glinting with triumph. “You can’t run forever, little Omega. And when I catch you?—”
I tear my gaze away, pouring every ounce of energy into my burning legs. Branches slash at my face, leaves catching in my hair. The spongy forest floor sucks at my feet, and my lungs scream for air.
There has to be somewhere to hide?—
“Got you!” Louie’s body slams into my back.
A scream rips from my throat as we crash to the ground in a tangle of limbs, and pain explodes through me as rocks and sticks jab into my flesh.
“No!” I thrash beneath him, desperate to escape. “Get off me!”
Louie captures my wrists with ease, pinning them above my head with one large hand while he grips my jaw with the other. “Stupid little Omega. Did you really think you could escape me?”
Revulsion ripples through me as his eyes rove over my face and body, filled with sick hunger. Possessive. Predatory. I writhe and kick, but it’s useless. He’s too strong. Panic claws at my mind, tears streaming down my face.
This can’t be happening. It can’t end like this.
Someone help me. Please!
He reaches for my underwear, ready to yank it down. “Time to teach you who you belong to, Omega.”
“Let her go!” The roar splits the air, and Louie’s head whips up as a dark blur slams into him, ripping him off of me.
Dominic! My heart leaps as I scramble backward, my chest heaving.
The two Alphas roll across the forest floor in a vicious tangle of fists and snarls. Dominic lands a solid punch to Louie’s face, snapping his head back, and blood spurts from the blond Alpha’s nose.
“She’s mine!” Louie roars, retaliating with a brutal uppercut that sends Dominic reeling.
“No!” I lurch to my feet, leaves sticking to my skin and undergarments.
My body screams in protest, battered and exhausted, but I can’t just watch. I have to help Dominic.
Before I can move, though, Louie slams my childhood friend into a tree with vicious force. His head cracks against the trunk, and he crumples to the ground, unmoving.
“Dominic!” I scream, my voice cracking.
Louie turns to me, breathing hard, blood smeared across his smug face. “I should have done that from the start. So much less work.”
I stumble back, the strap of my bra slipping off my shoulder.
Louie advances on me, each step deliberate, taunting, knowing I can’t escape. I glance wildly at Dominic’s motionless form, begging him to get up. To save me.
But he doesn’t move. Stupid, stupid. I never should have dragged him into this. Now he’s hurt, and it’s all my fault.
“P-please…” My back hits a tree, the rough bark digging into my bare skin. “Don’t do this…”
Louie chuckles, trapping me with his arms on either side of my head, and his hot breath washes over my face. “Oh, I’m going to enjoy breaking you.”
His fingers dig into my jaw as he forces my head back, exposing my throat. I whimper, bracing myself for pain.
But it doesn’t come. Instead, Louie’s body suddenly goes rigid as a sickening crack rends the air, and then his grip on me loosens.
I gasp as the Alpha crumples to the ground at my feet, his eyes rolling back in his head.
Stunned, I stare down at his twitching form, my brain struggling to process what just happened. Did Dominic get back up?
Relief sweeps through me, and I lift my head. But it’s not Dominic who saved me.
“Simon?”
He stands a few feet away, tall and lanky in a rumpled dress shirt, a bolo tie with a blue stone at his throat. The itchy, artificial scent of vanilla and pine wafts from him, making me want to sneeze.
Simon meets my astonished eyes as he inclines his head in a little bow. “Princess. I’ve come to save you.”
I gape at him, my mind struggling to place my superfan here , on the island.
Before I can form a coherent response, a low groan draws our attention back to Louie. He stirs on the ground, blinking back to consciousness.
Simon’s face hardens, his brown eyes glinting with an unsettling light behind his limp, dirty-blond fringe. He steps forward, raising the thick tree branch in his hands.
“Simon, wait—” I start to say, but he brings the makeshift weapon down on Louie’s skull with a sickening crack.
Again and again, he strikes the fallen Alpha, his blows methodical and merciless.
In growing horror, I watch as blood pools beneath Louie’s head, spreading across the forest floor. His body goes limp, staring sightlessly up at the canopy.
Bile rises in my throat, and I press a hand to my mouth, fighting down nausea as my stomach heaves at the coppery scent of blood.
Simon straightens up, lowering the gore-streaked branch, and turns back to me with a grin, his angular features splattered with flecks of crimson. “The evil dragon has been defeated, my princess!”
I swallow hard against the sourness coating my tongue. “Simon…what are you doing here? On Misty Pines?”
He steps closer with an unsettling smile. “I was sent to protect you, of course. To keep you safe from unworthy suitors.”
A creeping unease prickles down my spine at the fevered gleam in his eyes.
His grin falters, twisting into a scowl. “That other one. He tried to keep me from you. Always hovering around, blocking my way.”
Bile rises in my throat as his meaning sinks in. “Grady? Are you talking about Grady?”
Simon’s fingers flex around the bloodied branch. “Yes. That Beta. He wasn’t worthy of you, my princess. Not an Alpha. Not good enough.”
Icy fear trickles through my veins. How did he lure Grady out and catch him off guard? How did Simon even get on the island?
Questions swirl through my pounding head as I stare at the stranger wearing my superfan’s face. The man who “saved” me, who killed for me. Who stares at me with wild, worship-filled eyes.
My skin crawls, every instinct screaming for me to get away from him, from Louie’s body and… God, please let Dominic be alive. He lies so still only a few yards away. I need to go to him, to check if he’s okay. To escape this nightmare. But how?
With a shaky breath, I take a careful step forward, hands raised in a placating gesture. “Simon…”
A soft groan draws his attention from me, and he whips around, zeroing in on Dominic’s stirring form.
My heart leaps into my throat. “No, wait!”
“This one, too.” Simon stalks toward Dominic’s prone body. “He’s not worthy, either. I heard him, my princess. He admitted he hurt you.”
His grip on the branch tightens, knuckles going white as he raises it.
Panic surges through me, and I lunge forward. “Simon, wait!”
I throw myself between him and Dominic. “Please, you don’t have to do this. You already saved me, see? You were so brave…”
I reach out a trembling hand, resting it on his chest. Beneath the rumpled, blood-spattered dress shirt, his heart hammers wildly.
Simon’s face softens, lips curving into a boyish smile. “I did, didn’t I? I saved you from the monster, my princess. Now we can be together. I’ll take you to the king, and he’ll see how faithful I’ve been, how I’ve protected you. He’ll give me your hand in marriage.”
His free hand comes up to cover mine, pressing it harder against his chest, and I suppress a shudder at the contact, skin crawling.
I need to keep him talking and distracted. “The king? What king, Simon?”
He blinks at me, brow furrowing in confusion. “Why, your father, of course! Who else would it be?”
Not knowing how to respond, I open my mouth when a distant shout cuts through the forest. “Chloe! Chloe, where are you?”
Nathaniel. At the sound of his voice, my knees nearly buckle in relief. If I can just keep Simon occupied…
But his eyes sharpen, head swiveling toward the noise, and he drops the branch as he turns in the opposite direction. “We need to go, Princess. Now. Before he tries to keep us apart.”
He tugs on my hand insistently, but I plant my feet, heart racing.
Nathaniel’s voice rings out again, closer this time. “Chloe, love, where are you?”
I suck in a deep breath and meet Simon’s fervent stare, praying I’m not about to make a terrible mistake.
Then I wrench my hand free and dive to Dominic’s side, screaming with every ounce of desperation and fear pulsing through my veins. “Nathaniel! We’re over here! Hurry!”
Simon’s face twists with a look of betrayal. “You… you ungrateful…”
But before he can finish, Nathaniel barrels through the underbrush, nostrils flared. He assesses the scene, my disheveled state, Louie Santaro’s body spread eagle and lifeless on the ground, and Dominic, weakly sitting up.
“Chloe! Dom!” Nathaniel crashes down beside us, his arms come around me, crushing me to his chest.
With a choked sob, I melt into his embrace, trembling. I bury my face against his flannel, inhaling the intoxicating mixture of leather and cloves that signaled safety and home. He smells like a life I’d almost given up on having.
Dominic groans as he leans against us, and Nathaniel’s embrace opens to include him. “I’ve got you.” One hand rubs soothing circles on my back as he checks Dom’s head for a wound. “I’ve got you both. You’re okay.”
“I’m so sorry!” Tears spill down my cheeks. “I didn’t want to leave, but Louie said he would destroy your pack unless I went back to him. But he lied. He was going to hurt you, anyway.”
“Shh, it’s okay.” He smoothes a hand over the back of my head and shrugs out of his flannel to wrap it around my shoulders. “Tell me what happened here.”
“It… it was… Simon… he…” I try to speak, but the words dissolve into a half-sob, half-moan as reality sets in.
Nathaniel pulls back to cup my face. “What did he do?”
I can’t face him as I point a trembling hand at the bloody branch on the ground. “He… He stopped Louie from… But he’s also the one who hurt Grady. He’s the one who’s been sneaking around the island. He… He was going to…”
I turn to clutch at Dominic, who winces but holds me back. “He was going to kill Dominic, too, before you arrived.”
A growl rips from Nathaniel’s throat as he looks around. “Where is he now?”
Heart pounding, I turn toward the last place I saw Simon, but all that remains is the bloody tree branch and the itchy scent of vanilla and pine.