Hunt Me! I Crave the Chase (Spooky Boys #3)

I’d chased affection desperately, trying to fill the gaps. Pitiful, and weak, and broken.

Never enough for anyone.

Perpetually unlucky.

This was different.

Mutt was different.

He was the first person who had chased me.

And though it was weird not to be the desperate one, it made me feel settled in a way I never had before. And I missed his attention, even though sometimes I didn’t know what to do with it. Even though sometimes he was so nice I felt like I was dying—because kindness felt like lies, and it was the one thing I’d never been able to stomach.

Maybe one day…if he came back—fuck, the idea of him not coming back was enough to make me sick—I’d stop second-guessing his warmth.

I’d be able to tip into it.

Because I could see webs now, see traps and monsters—and Mutt may have been a werewolf, but he would never hurt me.

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.

Snap, a twig broke somewhere behind me, and I twisted, alarmed. This is what I get for spacing out and not paying attention to where I’m going. The woods were dark and vacant. Stars dripped in the indigo night above. Trees stretched high, high, high toward the waning moon, half covered by rain-heavy clouds. The creak of the branches whistled overhead, and I was alone.

I was alone.

But I could feel eyes anyway.

Stop being paranoid, I scolded myself.

Stop it.

But I couldn’t.

I couldn’t.

More rustling.

Heavy breathing.

Even the crickets were silent.

I had no weapons on me. No way to protect myself. My phone was in my pocket but there wasn’t any service out here—and fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I was so screwed.

“It’s not real,” I promised myself. But it was a lie and I knew it.

So I bolted.

The wind whipped my face, branches swiping at my arms and legs as I tore deeper into the forest, away, away, away from whatever creature had stalked me there. The fuck is following me? I could hear the steady thump of footsteps now. Closer and closer.

And I knew, for once, I hadn’t been acting paranoid.

There was a log up ahead and I launched myself over it, swearing softly under my breath as my knee skimmed its surface.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” I muttered, trying to self-soothe so I wouldn’t full-blown panic. Why the fuck didn’t I bring a weapon with me? I should have. Lydia had taught me to be prepared. Why did I go into the woods on my own? I hadn’t even told Blair where I was going. Rookie move. Rookie fucking move.

I was good at fighting, but even I knew my chances alone out here in the dark with no weapon and no idea how to get home were slim.

I’m fucked.