Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 127484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
“Well what’s the issue, then?” I folded my arms in front of me. “Even if I’m some damsel in distress, lost in the woods, you’ll come rescue me.”
Again, there was a long pause while he gave me that unyielding stare that turned my limbs to jelly and my skin ablaze. “You are not a damsel in distress,” he eventually replied. “And I’m not someone who rescues damsels. I kill them.”
I forced my expression to remain unaffected. He was trying to scare me. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing that it worked.
He stayed stock-still, as he had the entire time. It was unnatural for a person to stand like that, without any kind of physical tic, shifting of their weight, needing to scratch an itch, clenching their fists. He had complete control over every inch of his body. It was a finely-tuned weapon, that much was clear. “You wouldn’t want to deal with the consequences of me having to find you if you get lost.”
A threat.
“I’m not lost.” A flat-out lie. I wasn’t lost in these woods. But in life? Yeah, I’d never been more lost in my life.
His silence conveyed his disbelief. In his eyes, I was a damsel. If I wasn’t a damsel, I wouldn’t be here, would I? I would’ve found a way to escape Stone’s attention, to outsmart him. Defeat him.
I read books about women overcoming all odds, slaying dragons or riding them then laying waste to entire regimes. Yet there I was, face-to-face with a monstrosity I was powerless against.
“Fine.” I turned on my heel, even though it went against all my survival
instincts to give him my back.
I started running.
“Try to keep up. And don’t break an ankle on a protruding tree root,” I called over my shoulder, willing him to do just that.
The crackling of detritus behind me was the only thing that told me he was running behind me. That was it, though. The initial crunch of boots against the forest floor, then … nothing. I listened for him with an experienced ear, but I couldn’t hear him. He moved through the brush like a hunter. Impossible. Even me, someone accustomed to these woods made small missteps, making my presence known.
Even though he made no sound, I didn’t need to turn to know he was behind me. I felt him. The hairs on the nape of my neck were raised in fear.
My heart slammed against my breastbone as I pushed my already burning legs to go faster. I kept mind of the roots, rocks, the uneven terrain. Even nature was primed to test you to see if you could survive there.
The woods flashed by; my previously cold body warmed up, more sweat running down my skin, my pulse pounding in my ears.
It was an eternity and a second when the small cabin came into view. I let out a fractured breath of relief, of victory.
This had been what I wanted, wasn’t it? To prove to Knox that I was no damsel in distress. To prove to myself that I wasn’t afraid of him. I turned, panting with a self-satisfied smile, planning on gloating.
Until I saw the expression on Knox’s face.
There was no longer cold calculation holding his features captive. No, there was a wild animal, a demon glowing behind his ferocious eyes.
Reflexively, I scuttled back, almost tripping on the uneven ground of the cobbled walk to the cabin.
Knox advanced, prowling toward me like a feral animal. And the animal inside of me responded with a singular instinct—to run.
The door to the cabin hit my back hard, stopping my retreat. Just as I was about to dart to the left to run toward the overgrown garden, Knox’s arms caged me in. His palms rested on the wood of the door as he leaned forward, his face inches from mine but not touching me.
Still, my body trembled. Fear was a physical, tangible thing inside of me, squeezing at my throat.
He didn’t speak immediately; he just stood there, hovering close to my face, eyes locked onto mine, pupils dilated, his entire being a threat to my very existence.
My heart must’ve been beating because I didn’t drop dead there and then, but my lungs shrank. Not from the run but from the pressure that was burgeoning inside my body, the very air being sucked from them.
“Don’t ever run from me again.” Knox’s voice was featherlight. But there was a tension there, as if he was about to snap. The pulsating cords in his neck told me that he was having trouble holding himself back.
I couldn’t tear my gaze from him.
Nor could I speak.
I just stood there in the cage of his arms, breathing rapidly like the prey I was. Like a scared rabbit. It didn’t seem out of the question that I was going to have a heart attack from terror.