Chapter Sixteen – Laina #3
Will that mask always hold such power over me?
Will it always make my knees feel weak and the breath catch in my lungs?
Probably. That mask was a part of my metamorphosis.
That mask helped me change, become who I was today: a girl who wasn’t afraid of staring darkness in the eyes, a girl who welcomed said darkness inside her.
That mask and the man holding it changed my life. I would be dead without them.
Kieran ran his fingers over the mask, then locked eyes with me as he slammed the trunk shut and brought that mask to his face.
His movements were slow and steady, deliberate and unbelievably sexy, and when he spoke next, I hardly recognized his muffled, rugged voice: “You better be ready to run for me.”
I shivered. It was like he put on that mask and became a whole different person, like his inner monster was finally unleashed and had complete control of him. There was nothing sexier than that, take it from me.
It took me a ridiculous amount of willpower to say, “You better time me, Devil. No cheating. I want to give you a run for your money.”
He pulled out his phone and hit a few buttons, then turned the screen toward me. I saw the seconds ticking, and an immediate thrill ran through me. I said not another word as I turned around and darted away, running in the opposite direction of where we pulled in.
Away from the car, away from Kieran and that mask, I ran and didn’t look back.
Thankfully I wasn’t the frail girl I was when I first emerged from my two-year kidnapping.
My legs had a bit of muscle on them now, so I didn’t get out of breath quickly.
I had some stamina, and I put that stamina to good use.
It may or may not surprise you to know that sprinting through the woods in the utter darkness wasn’t the easiest thing in the world.
The ground was dry, which was good—meant less slipping overall on mud and wet leaves on the forest floor—but you never knew when there might be a stick buried beneath the leaves, a stick that would either try to catch you by the ankle or attempt to impale your leg when you stepped on it and the other half of the stick jerked upward and came right at you.
I supposed I wasn’t as prepared as I thought I was. I didn’t have much experience racing through the woods at nighttime, although I didn’t know a single person that did. Something like this wasn’t a situation most people ever found themselves in, let alone voluntarily.
Even with all that, it was fun. God, was it fun.
Though Kieran would be the one who had the true thrill of the hunt coursing through his veins, I was still having a kickass time.
A girl could get used to nights like this, where she had not a care in the world, where the night would end with a carnal, animalistic claiming that only nature would see.
Oh, yes, I was beyond excited for the culmination, the climax of this chase. I was ready for my Devil to have me again, to give my all to that man and let him devour me.
The only thing that would make tonight hotter would be having all my guys out there, giving chase to me. Have them start in different locations or something, so it was a competition instead of a simple hunt. Whoever got to me first would be the winner, and they’d get to call the shots that night.
Fang would probably do it, but Mike? I didn’t know. He still liked being told what to do most of the time.
And then, because lately I couldn’t seem to think about my guys without also thinking about the one man I shouldn’t, I started to wonder if Jason would enjoy something like this.
I knew next to nothing about the man, other than what I was told from Lola and Kieran, so I didn’t know if he’d participate.
Hell, some men would never share their woman. Maybe he was one of them, and all these thoughts about him were just a waste on my part.
That was a sad, depressing thought, one I quickly pushed from my mind. Tonight wasn’t about Fang or Mike or even Jason. Tonight was about Kieran and that mask. My Devil. It was high time we stopped pretending there was distance between us and let our darkness mingle.
I tried to run in a semi-straight line, just to make sure I didn’t get too lost. It became semi-difficult to hop over fallen trees and logs while sticking to that line; after a while, I was almost certain I’d started to turn either left or right.
I hoped my Devil would still find me, otherwise… otherwise it’d be a long night.
Had it been five minutes yet? I had no idea. I couldn’t keep counting the seconds in my head while also focusing on not tripping and falling as I ran. Some things I could multi-task, but counting and running were two opposing things, apparently.
Hmm. I wondered how long it would be, once five minutes was up, for Kieran to find me.
The man was taller than me, which meant he could move quicker, his steps were larger.
He was probably used to hunting in the darkness like this, or at least more accustomed to it than I was.
I hoped I was giving him a run for his money.
For kicks, mostly to see if I could hear him, I skidded to a halt near a rather large tree. I moved to lean against the tree, giving myself a few moments to catch my breath while I listened to the sounds of the forest.
Turned out, in the middle of the night, there weren’t many sounds.
Most animals were asleep, and those that weren’t were clearly not around.
I didn’t hear any owls or any birds, no insects either.
It was eerily silent, so much more quiet than the city could ever hope to be.
In fact, the only time I’d ever heard such silence was when I was chained to that bed and the TV was off.
Goosebumps rose on my flesh, and the only way to shake them off was to push off the tree and continue running.
I had no idea how long the hunt actually lasted, but when Kieran found me, let’s just say I was beyond ready for him to take me.