Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Gabriel
Gabriel woke to the slamming of a door, alarm bells going off in his head as he tensed. Immediately turning on the light, he glanced over and found Eris’ side of the bed empty.
Well, she must have left on her own. If someone had come in here, he would have heard that, and the Ranch had too much security for some stranger to sneak all the way across the property and find Eris here.
There were no signs of a struggle either, and as he climbed out of the bed in nothing but his boxers, he stepped to the doorway of the room and peered towards the front of the cabin.
Her cowboy boots were gone, and there was a new note taped to the glass of their door.
“My little vixen thinks she can play games,” he hissed beneath his breath, turning back to throw on dark sweats, his boots, and a pullover hoodie.
Lastly, he grabbed that mask she was obsessed with and carried it out of the room.
The nights out here got cool, and he didn’t waste the effort trying to figure out what the hell Eris wore before she took off.
He had worked up a good sweat running around with the plastic mask over his face, and if he ventured outside, he had a good idea what was on her mind.
Huffing, he stepped to the front door and tried to wipe sleep from his eyes.
The paper taped to the door had the mask on the back and the words facing the door.
He ripped it down, unsure if having Derek print up the logo had been a good idea or not.
Creative, sure, but now it might be working against him.
Little vixens don’t go to bed just because a masked man wants them to. Come play in the maze, Master.
He swore beneath his breath, pushing open the door before stepping out.
It was too dark once again to see Eris, and now he truly did have to hunt her instead of setting the trap himself.
That was the general plan for the week; he would lure her out to play, and they’d make a mad dash through the darkness until he caught and fucked her.
With her setting the trap, it left a lot of possibilities.
They hadn’t ended up going to look at more of the maze after stopping by the main lodge.
Eris had wanted to cat nap, and he’d spent the afternoon replying to emails and working through changes in the market to keep his investments profitable.
It might be a job that allowed him to work from anywhere, but it was never ending.
Eris was far more rested this evening than he was, and he didn’t think his alarm had gone off yet to go outside and set the night’s game up.
“Little vixen indeed,” he mumbled behind the plastic. After running around after her yesterday, he’d grown accustomed to the mask and the little neon lines that cut through his eyeline. He reached the trees in record time, pausing to glare at the dark, wooded area.
Knowing Eris, she was probably looking for where the man-made hedges turned into actual hedges and formed the rest of the maze.
It was a dense, large area, stretching over two miles with all the turns and parallel aisles, and Lucas had given him a vague description when he’d asked about it last week.
The whole place was designed to make it difficult to escape, while keeping people semi protected as they ran around in the dark.
Gabriel noticed all her scrapes and cuts each time they returned to the cabin, and he knew she was taking the primal play seriously.
Eris never held back, not now that she was letting herself be free.
Jogging into the trees, he followed along the path at a leisurely pace, keeping his ears peeled for sounds of Eris.
There were occasional sounds of critters too, squirrels and birds who made their homes in the wooded areas and came alive at night.
He ignored the softer sounds, listening for Eris’ panted breaths and heavier footsteps.
It might take some time, but she was out here, someplace.
He moved further into the maze, backtracking a few times when he came across a dead end. There was an eerie feel to the place when he wasn’t the one watching the area, and in his head, he imagined Eris watching him.
He almost laughed. Would she tackle him and turn the tables in the dark?
Eris didn’t want to be the Dominant, but he damn well knew she liked testing him and pushing boundaries where she could.
If he could fuck her harder as a punishment, there was absolutely a chance that she would try and jump on him, just to earn the fucking she craved.
It wasn’t like he’d been gentle on her any time they’d played outside. She had to be sore, but it had yet to deter her.
His head whipped to the left when he heard scrambling steps, and the disadvantage of wearing the mask was she might see him before he saw her. She could try and climb something, or scramble away in the night, but he stopped moving and just listened to her next move.
Those heaving, panting breaths made his cock stir, and now that he’d found Eris, he knew it was only a matter of time before he could fuck her, too.
He charged in the direction of her heavy breathing, and his quick, sharp steps on the ground made her squeal before he could hear her running. Letting his hands guide him, he veered left when the path curved and it sounded like she turned too, chasing her down through the dark.
The sounds moved with them, reminding him of yesterday, but this time was different. There was no preplanning, no lying in wait until she stumbled outside and followed his guiding hand. He had yet to make her out, but she was so close now he could almost taste her.
And god did he miss tasting her. He only had his lips on her pussy one time, but fucking her mouth, pussy and tip-fucking her ass was great fun. He hadn’t returned the favor of the blowjob she gave him this morning, and that would need to be remedied sooner than later.
Now, for instance.
Charging deeper into the woods, he wondered if maybe playing chase tomorrow during the day would be a fine idea. The day after he had plans to go chase her near the water…
And that was it. After that, she would head back home. To Virginia, apparently.
Rustling up ahead and quiet curses caught his attention, and as he pivoted around the next corner, he nearly collided with her.
Eris screamed, and Gabriel chuckled behind his mask.
He reached out, dragging his fingertips down her face until he teased her lip, pulling down as her jaw fell open.
The scream morphed into a moan that turned his twitching cock rock hard in an instant.
He pressed against her, and this time, there was no reason to run at her and take her down.
She was already trapped here, and he could feel something stopping her from moving back.
A tree, or maybe another of those vine-covered hedges.
“M-my hair,” she gasped, and he wondered if she put it up before coming outside or not. Skating his fingers from the base of her head, he found the long locks had tangled in what felt like a hedge.
If they had reached the hedges, they’d run further through the maze than he’d first thought.
“When are you going to learn that the hunter always catches his prey?” Gabriel growled, tilting the mask back.
He couldn’t kiss her with it in the way, and her desperate whimper was more than enough of a reason to keep going.
When he pulled back, a devious thought occurred to him.
“Now hold on to this for me, little vixen.”