Page 42 of Hunted By Them

Shit.

Pulling out my cell, I held it like a weapon. Dumb, but I still pushed the door open with trembling fingers.

Inside was utter chaos, but it was silent. My couch cushions had been sliced open, the foam tossed around, and my favorite coffee mug was smashed in the middle of the kitchen floor. I slowly walked into my bedroom and gasped. All of my clothes were out of the closet and shredded. The drawers were yanked open and dumped. The lamps shattered. Papers were strewn across the floor like confetti at a wedding.

My pulse pounded in my ears.

In the middle of the area rug, a photograph lay torn in half. Connor and me, smiling stiffly at a barbecue two summers ago. It had been at his mother’s mansion, and the entire time she had picked me apart.

Connor’s half of the picture was still intact. My side was shredded through the middle.

A snarl built in my throat.

“Connor,” I hissed.

Scared and furious, I dialed 911. My voice wavered as they answered, but I swallowed it down.

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”

“This is Sage Harlow. My apartment’s been broken into. I know who did it.”

As I gave my address, my eyes stayed locked on the torn photo.

Connor wanted me back. And if he couldn’t have me…he wanted to intimidate me, but fuck him. Fuck him and his arrogant, entitled ass.

RYDER

“You’ve lost your fucking mind. What the hell do you mean you went to her apartment? Are you trying to get us all caught?” Dash’s voice echoed off the cave walls.

I paced, teeth clenched, and heat boiling under my skin. The night air outside smelled of pine and the storm on the horizon. It would probably be just as turbulent as the argument in here.

“Fuck off, man. You know that’s not it, and not only did she welcome me once she woke up, but she came back,” I snapped, pointing toward the woods like Sage was still out there. “She sat on her damn car and stared at the trees. She’s ours, Dash. You felt it. You can’t deny it.”

Dash folded his arms, eyes flashing.

“What I felt was her almost deciding to call the cops and have them come snooping around because some fucker broke into her apartment and fucked her in the middle of the night. You keep chasing her into the city, you’re going to get us all burned.”

“Dash, she’s just as connected to us. She wouldn’t do that,” I argued.

“Oh, you know that for sure, do you? You really think she won’t call the cops? She’s not stupid. The legends of this place will only go so far. At some point, she’ll decide that it’s worth the risk to look crazy and tell someone what happened.”

“She won’t. Not on me. Not on us.”

“How do you know that for sure? She’s never even seen our faces.”

“I just fucking do,” I growled, hands fisted at my sides.

Jaxon leaned against the rock wall, arms loose, eyes flicking between us with the kind of grin that made my blood boil.

“You two fight like an old married couple. Sage came back because of us. She chose us, but we let her go, and Dash isn’t wrong. Out there…” Jaxon jerked his chin in the direction of the city. “That’s not our ground. We’re the shadows in the forest, the monsters people whisper about. We are not the men for her neat little apartment building.”

I ignored Jaxon. “She belongs here. She’s not like anyone else we’ve taken. She’s meant to be ours, to be part of the woods, to⁠—”

“What? You really think she wants to leave behind everything she knows, friends, family, job, to be with us?”

“Why does it have to be one or the other? We fucking go into the city all the time. Look…I told you when she was here that I wanted her, and I’m only telling you as a fucking courtesy now…Sage is mine,” I snarled, pointing at Dash.

“You better not get us caught.”