12. Swan Dive
“ O w.”
One, unemotional word. That’s it.
I’ve planned this big cinematic moment from the second I saw the dart in the passenger seat—a sneak attack to tranquilize Orion so I could steal his SUV and drive back to New Orleans—and this is the only reaction I get?
I expected him to start stumbling like my dad did last night. But as I pivot on the ball of my foot to run, Orion grabs my wrists and tugs me in, as strong as ever. The hard angles of his face are carved with annoyance, hurt, and… pleasure?
What the hell?
“Did you… did you like being stabbed ?”
My inner muscles clench as he grins. “I told you I like it when you fight back.”
Rain pelts us, and he leans over me almost like he’s trying to block the cold drops from landing on my head rather than intimidate me—which he’s clearly trying to do.
Holding both my tulle-cuffed hands with one of his large ones, his jaw clenches as he pulls the tranq out and holds it up.
Lightning streaks across the sky beyond a mountain up ahead.
“Funny thing about these tranquilizer darts,” he muses. “I made them myself. The crossbow’s force depresses the dart’s plunger, delivering the sedative to the prey.” His brow raises at me as his thumb rests over the bottom of the tranq. “Like it did with your father.”
I gulp.
“Unfortunately for your little stunt, you didn’t do that part.
” He depresses the plunger and the sedative I’d hoped would jam straight into his heart shoots into the sky, mingling with the rain.
“So, all you did, you reckless little thing, was stab me with the equivalent of a needle,” he growls.
“Here’s a little rule of the woods. If you’re taking out a predator, finish the fucking job. ”
He tosses the spent tranq inside the SUV.
“So, I’ll give you two options. The first is to get into the damn car without a fight.”
I swallow. “And the second?”
His lips tick up. “I’ll give you a chance to make your wish come true. Try to escape me. I’ll even give you a five-minute head start.”
My eyes flit around, scanning the surroundings before meeting his gaze again. “What if I scream?”
“During a thunderstorm in the middle of the woods, miles from anyone? Good luck.” He chuckles darkly. “Your call, though.”
Then he pulls my wrists in with one hand and digs behind his back with the other, pulling out his knife.
“No!” I try to jolt away, but he knicks the tulle, well away from my hand, setting me free.
I rub my wrists, and he scowls at the red marks. He takes them in hand, massaging them before I can stop him, forcing me to bite back a moan.
“Let me say this, little bird. When I catch you? I’ll show you exactly how you crave to be fucked.”
When he lets go, his eyes flick to the SUV and back to me. “So, what’ll it be? Get in or flee?”
I shake my head, taking a step away from him.
“I was hoping you’d say that.” He chuckles so deeply that the heady depth of it stops me in my tracks. Then he rocks toward me on his toes, his lips a whisper away from mine as he taunts me, “Fly away little bird. I crave the hunt.”
I fly.
Raindrops are sharp pellets on my skin, coming down so hard I can barely see ahead of me, and I barely have enough time to dodge trees after I see them. As treacherous as it is, I can’t help but look behind me, to see if he makes good on his word.
But he leans against the SUV, filling his crossbow quiver.
Why on earth does he look kind of hot doing that? Is something wrong with me that I like seeing him nonchalantly waiting to run after me and ravage me as he checks a weapon, inserting another dart into?—
Oh my God, run!
Orion stuffs one hand into his pocket and gives me a little two finger salute off his forehead before calling playfully, “Watch where you’re going, fiancée. Stay safe! Don’t want you to get hurt!”
“Well, I’m certainly not safe with you!” I shout back, turning around anyway.
He laughs nervously. “Just… give me a challenge, not a concussion, yeah?”
Run. Run. Run.
My heart races as I navigate the woods in ballet flats, slipping and tripping on mud and dirt, and trees, and roots, and?—
A thwick through the trees has me stopping like a big dummy, and a dart lands in a trunk a foot away from me.
My eyes widen at the sight of the arrow embedded in the tree, the plunger depressed inside.
I hear him rack and reload the crossbow as he whistles.
“You have three more minutes, and this next dart goes into that sexy ass cheek.”
“Keep dreaming!” I shout, but my adrenaline kicks up as I start running again and snap at myself. “No excuses, Bordeaux.”
It’s the mantra every ballet instructor has drilled into me my whole life, and it helps me focus on my flight.
I have no idea where I’m going, but all I know is it’s downhill and it’s away from him, so I push on, boomeranging from one tree to another, holding onto trunks to keep from falling.
“Just keep thinking about how I’m gonna find you, then fuck you,” he calls behind me. “Fill you with my cock and give us both what we need, because we’ve waited long enough. It’s time I claim my bride, little bird, and fuck you how we need it.”
An embarrassing, needy whimper rushes out of me.
Is it wrong that I feel more alive than ever at the mere thought of him catching me?
My adrenaline pumps all to one place, and I don’t think about how my nipples peak behind my bodice, how desire pools in my lower belly, or what it’ll feel like once he finds me.
“Be careful!” Orion growls way behind me, but I ignore it, trying to see through the plummeting, torrential rainfall. Visibility’s so difficult that I can’t even see the ground a few feet in front of?—
The ground drops away beneath my feet.
“ Luna! ” Orion’s guttural shout follows me as I fall, voice full of the same terror that lurches from my belly up to my throat and out into a scream.
“Orion!”
I scramble in the air, but there’s nothing to grab onto.
Orion’s horrified face appears over the ledge. He stretches out his arm, but there’s no use. A feather drifts off my bodice up to him in a cruel joke as I slam into the rushing waters below.
Frigid cold engulfs me. Shock makes me gasp, and water floods my throat, choking me.
I thrash, but the rapids roll me under, smashing me against boulders.
Branches catch my hair, tear my tutu, and whip me around.
My lungs burn as I fight not to cough, but a rock twists my ankle and my muscles seize from agony, losing all the fight in me.
Water roars in my ears, blinds me, and crushes the breath from my sternum.
Something grabs my arm, yanking me up, and it’s only then that I realize I’ve been screaming his name.
“ O-ri-on ,” I beg for relief.
“I’ve got you, baby. It’s okay, I’ve got you.” He clutches me to his chest. I cough and sputter as we bob in the current. “There you go, cough it out.”
My body racks with the effort as it obeys. I look up through burning eyes, my lashes heavy with water.
Orion’s face is hard with worry, before his focus shifts to the river violently rolling us. “Shit. Hold on.”
He grabs the back of my head, curling over me as I grip to his jacket. We sail through the water until we crash into something, making his body tense at the impact, then the current wrenches us from the boulder he protected me from.
I want to ask if he’s okay, help somehow, but I’m still fighting for breath and clinging to him like a life raft. Hell, he is my life raft.
“Fuck,” he mutters. “Alright, whatever you do, don’t let go, okay?”
I nod but can’t help looking over his shoulder. My eyes widen.
Just ahead, the water stops. There’s nothing on the horizon but dark, blue-gray clouds, sheets of rain, and surging brown and white waves.
“There’s a waterf?—”
“I know,” he grits out, huddling over me. “Close your eyes, hold your breath, and make a wish. Pretend it’s like the tunnel, okay?”
The water crests. I suck in my last breath as he one-arm hugs me to the point of pain and wraps the other around me to cover my nose and mouth with his hand.
Keep us alive.
Then we fall.