Hunt Me! (I Crave The Chase) - Page 173

I broke then.

I’d stayed still the entire time he’d been demonstrating, flinching as each target was struck, because the sound of the weapons making impact rattled around inside my head. Reminded me of what I was about to experience. Of the decision I’d made.

Of the hunters who would find glee in my death.

I know what he wants. He wants me to trust him. To believe in him.

To believe that he is capable of finding a solution for us.

Jeffrey’s eyes searched mine. I wasn’t sure what he saw there, but it probably wasn’t good. He wilted, his hands clenched into fists as he glared to the side. “I…” he sucked in a breath. “I wouldn’t hurt you,” he repeated, voice hoarse. “I swear. I never did any of this shit because I liked it. She…she made me. I know I had a choice. That I could’ve said no. But I?—”

I had asked Jeffrey once, who had hurt him. And while Lydia had done a lot of damage, it had become increasingly clear over the last few months that the person who hurt him most was himself.

“No,” I disagreed. “You didn’t.”

“I had a choice.” Jeffrey wavered.

“What kind of choice was that?” My words must’ve struck a chord, because he stopped fiddling with his guitar pick, his entire body frozen. “Lydia does not strike me as the kind of woman who takes no lightly. You did what you had to do. You protected your family. You survived. There was no better choice you could have made.”

“I wouldn’t hurt you,” Jeffrey repeated, like a broken record, trembling as he processed this new information.

“I know.” I reached for him, my hands shaking. Desperately, I curled tightly around his body, my face pressed into his hair. He smelled like home and I breathed him in, my thoughts going haywire. “I know.”

“I won’t hurt you,” he repeated again, still frozen. “I won’t?—”

“I know, sweet one.” I shushed him softly, enjoying the way he sagged into me, though it took him a moment to thaw. This dangerous, wicked man. Covered in scars, and full of secrets. Secrets that I was now privy to. Every last one. “But what if I…”

My head was spinning.

Spinning.

Spinning.

Don’t do it.

Don’t ask.

My moon mother hadn’t risen but even now I could feel the ache of her touch. Feel the wolf threatening to burst beneath my skin. Feel the hungry hollow in my belly, and the way my claws were two seconds from bursting out of my skin.

My last moon.

This would be my last.

“But what if you…?” Jeffrey trailed off, head tipping back to look at me. I cupped his cheek, stroking over it to cover his ear. When I pressed a kiss to his sweet forehead and the wrinkle there, he sighed.

And then I fell to my knees at his feet.

His scent was confused-alarmed-worried, but I spoke anyway. Spoke even though this would be the end for us, and I knew that. But I…I just…I needed him. I needed him so very badly.

Dirt clung to my bare skin, grass tickling my body as I tipped my head up.

It was my turn to be lost.

“But what if I want you to?”

“W-what?” Jeffrey’s voice broke.

“Please,” I said softly, grabbing his wrists, and pulling them to me so I could press a kiss to each palm. “I need you to.”