35. Rhett
35
Rhett
Night had fully descended by the time I crossed the threshold of the hunting grounds and stepped back onto the estate. The air was damp and biting, with the kind of cold that seeped into my bones despite the adrenaline still coursing through my veins.
I’d managed to locate and incapacitate fifteen hunters before an announcement from the Patriarchs came over the radio. All hunters must return to the Lodge immediately, and if you see Rhett Sinclair, he is to be shot on sight. Do not shoot to kill. Bring him in alive.
Obviously, they’d finally figured out that I was the mystery hunter taking shots at the competition. They didn’t seem to know it was too late to stop what I’d started, though. Thanks to Everly’s plan, everything that was necessary to take down The Wild Hunt was already set in motion. Even if those Patriarch fuckers killed me right now… it wouldn’t change a thing.
It was over for them.
My boots crunched softly against the gravel as I approached the west wing of Wildercliff. The grounds were eerily quiet here, save for the occasional rustle of wind through the trees, but that was a good thing. It meant the society hadn’t caught onto Everly’s presence yet. She was safe, quietly holed up in the room, with Nikki by her side.
When I finally arrived at the door, I found it ajar. Every instinct in me immediately screamed that something was wrong, and I hurried inside and switched on the light to see Nikki lying motionless on the bed with a pool of blood around her head.
Shit. I hadn’t trusted that girl at first, but she’d really come through to help us in the end. She didn’t deserve this shit.
“Ev!” I shouted, dashing into the bathroom. She wasn’t there. She wasn’t anywhere in the room.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. Someone had found her after all. Taken her. I had no idea who, or how they—
“Mmph.”
My train of thought derailed as I heard a grunt escaping Nikki’s mouth. Holy shit. She wasn’t dead.
I rushed to the bed, my heart pounding as I took in the scene. At first glance, the pool of blood around Nikki’s head made me assume she’d been shot there, but now that I was closer, I could see the bullet had struck her just below her left collarbone. The blood had trailed upward, spilling over her shoulder and soaking into the mattress behind her head, creating the illusion of a head wound.
“Nikki!” I leaned over her, pressing my hand on the wound. The bleeding had already slowed, but a steady trickle was still seeping out, draining her strength with every passing second. Her pale face and barely-there breaths sent a spike of worry through me. “Just hold on, okay?”
I tore off my belt and looped it around her upper-left side, angling the thick leather strap to cover the wound. I yanked it tight, applying as much pressure as I could. She let out a faint groan, her eyelids fluttering, but I pushed aside the guilt clawing at my chest. Pain meant she was still alive.
She groaned again, and I pressed two fingers to her neck. As I suspected, her pulse was thready. She needed serious help.
“Nikki, can you hear me?” I asked, leaning closer.
Her eyelids fluttered open. When she caught sight of me, her eyes widened, and she began to struggle weakly beneath me.
Shit. I’d forgotten about my skull mask.
I ripped it off and tossed it aside. “It’s okay. It’s just me.”
She stopped struggling and let out another pained grunt. “Rhett….”
“You’re okay. I’m going to get you out of here. I just need to find Everly first,” I said hurriedly. “Do you know who took her? Who shot you?”
“W-water,” was all Nikki could rasp in response.
I grabbed a bottle and tilted it to her lips, slowly pouring the water into her mouth. Once she’d swallowed a couple of mouthfuls, she tried to sit up.
“Careful,” I muttered. “You shouldn’t try to move.”
She blinked slowly, looking more than a little disoriented, and then she looked up at me. “Everly…”
“She’s gone,” I said bluntly before repeating my earlier questions. “Do you know who took her? Or who shot you?”
“I… I thought it was a nightmare,” she said in a ragged whisper. “I was sleeping, and then I heard voices.”
“Whose voice was it?”
She grimaced, eyes darting downward to the blood-soaked bed. “I was only half-awake, so I didn’t know what was going on. I thought Everly was just talking to Tessa again,” she murmured. “But then I realized it was a man’s voice. It sounded like… Peter .”
My heart lurched. “Peter Jennings?”
“Yes. I’m sure of it.” Nikki had raised her voice slightly, and she sounded a little clearer now. “It was him. Before I could sit up or even open my eyes, I felt something hit me, and then… I don’t remember anything after that. Not until you came in.”
“Do you have any idea where he could’ve taken Everly?”
Nikki’s eyelids fluttered weakly, her gaze struggling to focus. “No. I’m sorry,” she said, each word fading into a faint murmur. “I… I shouldn’t have gone to sleep.”
I gritted my teeth and sucked in a deep breath. “It’s not your fault,” I muttered. “I shouldn’t have left.”
“You had to. We needed you to go out and—”
I cut her off. “Don’t try to talk anymore. You need to conserve your energy,” I said, snatching up my mask from the bed beside her. “I’m going to find Ev, and then I’m going to get us all out of here. Don’t you dare die on me before that happens.”
“Everly’s gonna kill me.”
I frowned, wondering if the blood loss had made her delusional. “What?”
“She said… if I got myself killed, she’d never forgive me. She was so mad at me.”
I nodded slowly, realizing she was talking about a past moment. “You’re right. Ev will be seriously mad if anything happens to you. So you damn well better stay alive. Okay?”
“Okay,” she muttered, forcing her eyes open again. “I’ll try.”
I put my mask back on, grabbed my stuff, and left the room, boots pounding on the floorboards as I hurried down the hall. Once I was outside again, I sprinted across the estate grounds, this time making my way toward the north wing.
The closer I got, the more obvious it became that total chaos had broken out. The building’s grand windows were lit up like a beacon, giving it the appearance of a palace, but the sights and sounds surrounding it made it seem more like a prison plagued with riots.
Staff were darting frantically in all directions, their shouts and hurried footsteps filling the frigid air, and several men lay scattered on the lawn outside. Some were doubled over and heaving, while others groaned with pain as they clutched at their stomachs. To the distant right, I could see a group of Wilders rushing toward the small marina, weapons pointlessly slung over their shoulders.
Clearly, Ev and Nikki’s food poisoning scheme had worked very effectively.
My eyes snapped back to the glowing north wing, its grand entrance thrown wide open as more staff poured out, their faces stricken.
My gut churned with fear for Everly. If Peter Jennings had her in there—
I didn’t let myself finish the thought. Instead, I surged forward, jaw clenched and focus razor-sharp. Whatever it took, I would find her, and if Peter had harmed a single hair on her head, he would live to regret it.
Actually, no… he wouldn’t fucking live to regret it. I would burn that motherfucker’s whole life to the ground and make sure his last moments were spent begging for mercy he’d never receive.
As I sprinted across the lawn, drawing closer to the entrance, I spotted my friend Ari racing toward the path that led to the marina. I stopped and waved to draw his gaze toward me. “Ari! What’s going on?”
He ran over to me. “Shit’s hit the fan. Literally. There’s some sort of salmonella outbreak, and most of the guys are sick,” he said hurriedly, eyes wide with a mix of shock and panic. “But it’s not just that. JJ’s fucking dead, and there’s a hit out on Rhett . And have you seen all this shit about the Patriarchs?”
“No.”
He fished his phone out of his pocket, tapped on the screen a few times, and handed it to me. “See for yourself,” he said bitterly. He still didn’t seem to know who he was talking to, even though I’d made no attempt to disguise my voice. “I don’t know about you, but I’m getting on a boat and getting the fuck out of here.”
I smiled thinly as I stared down at his screen. Apparently, Tessa had come through on her end. Several famous content creators had posted videos that were currently sitting on millions of views, all containing information about the data I’d stolen from my father’s phone.
“Wait…” Ari frowned and took a slight step backward, suspicion suddenly flickering in his eyes. “Rhett? Is that you?”
“Yes,” I said calmly, handing his phone back to him.
He looked at the screen, then back at me. “Was this you ? Did you leak all this stuff?”
“Yup.” I tilted my head. “You’re supposed to shoot me now, aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” Ari said stiffly. “I am.”
I smiled, though he couldn’t see it beneath my mask. “Do you wanna give it a shot?” I asked, one hand sliding toward my pocket.
He was silent for a moment, throat bobbing as he stared at me. Then he shook his head. “Go and finish what you started, man,” he muttered. “I won’t tell anyone I saw you.”
He turned away, and I called out. “Wait!”
“Yeah?” Ari looked back at me, brows furrowing.
I took a step closer. “Over in the west wing, there’s a woman on the first floor, four doors down. Nikki Hahn. She’s been shot, and she needs care,” I said. “So before you leave, go and get her. Take her with you and get her to a hospital as soon as you can.”
He nodded. “Got it.”
“One more thing. Have you seen Peter Jennings anywhere?”
“Yeah, a few minutes ago. He was with all the other Patriarchs.”
“Where were they?” I asked sharply. “And was there a girl with them?”
Ari jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “They were heading for the northeast tunnel,” he said. “I didn’t see a girl, but a couple of them were carrying something wrapped in a sheet, and it looked pretty big. So… maybe that was a girl?”
I swallowed hard. “They’re going to the hunting grounds?”
“Yeah, I think so. But I have no idea why,” he said, slowly shaking his head. “It’s over, man. It’s so fucking over.”
Something clicked in my mind, and I pointed to the west. “Go. Get Nikki.”
“Okay.” Ari turned away again, but then he hesitated and looked at me over his shoulder. “Good luck.”
I nodded, set my jaw and strode away, heading for the northeast tunnels entrance.
I knew exactly where Everly was.