Page 54 of Hunted By Them

SAGE

Two men met us in the middle of a clearing. It looked like something right out of a secret society book where they performed animal sacrifices. Large stones stood tall in a massive circle with lanterns flickering and casting long shadows.

I stared at the two men as we pulled up and I got out of the truck, my eyes bouncing between them. Ryder met me and took my hand, guiding me over to them. My pulse was fast, my heart pounding hard in my chest. The three of them together made me nervous and excited with anticipation.

Ryder pointed at the guy on the left. Short dark hair, onyx eyes, and tattoos that peeked out from his shirt. I knew he was the Elk before Ryder introduced him. The I’m-going-to-eat-you look on his face said it all.

“This is Dash.”

“The Elk,” I stated.

Dash’s lip turned up as he stepped closer and looked down at me. I shivered as he leaned over and breathed in like he was trying to memorize my scent.

“You still smell so fucking good,” he growled, and my body heated. “So, you really want to be with us?”

“Yes,” I said without hesitation.

He cupped my cheek and ran his thumb over the caked dirt. “When we’re done here, I’m going to make sure that you have bruises of my handprints on your thighs. So that everyone knows you didn’t just choose us, but you chose to be wrecked by me.”

He chuckled darkly and stepped back.

I swallowed hard, but my body lit up.

“And this is Jaxon,” Ryder interrupted as the Caribou stepped forward.

“Hello, our beautiful Sweet Daisy,” he said softly, the velvety voice matching him perfectly. Long dark hair brushed his shoulders, intelligent caramel eyes, a square jaw, and sun-kissed skin gave off an aura of calm water.

“Hi,” I murmured, transfixed by Jaxon.

I’d been ruined for anyone else by the three sexiest men I had ever encountered.

“I like you looking at me like that,” he said, pulling a leaf from my hair. “I like that you can see me now.”

“I always saw you, now I just see more of you.”

“Yes, you really are perfect for us.” He smiled.

“Mask up,” Ryder ordered. They walked to the center of the circle, and like a dance or maybe a ritual they’d performed a thousand times, they turned from men into beasts. They pulled off their shirts, swapped out their boots, and smeared black paint around their eyes, onto their necks, and in streaky lines over their tattoos. That was why they looked distorted in the rain, and I couldn’t remember a single one of them clearly.

Jaxon walked over to one of the massive boulders and pulled out the three masks. Antlers rose into the air, swaying as he walked. I held my breath as he handed them out. They were silent as they slipped the masks into place. And just like that, the transformation was complete. Their shadows on the stone looked menacing. When they turned to look at me as one, my body flushed hot, and the hair stood on the back of my neck.

I didn’t believe in magic, or at least I hadn’t until this moment, but there was something different about them when they donned their masks. They became one with the forest. The wind whispered stories as they ran with the animals. I could almost feel the trees’ branches reaching closer as if beckoning them in deeper into the darkness.

“I’m going to get our guest,” Ryder growled, now sounding exactly how I remembered.

He marched to the back of the truck and dropped the tailgate before pulling a half-conscious Connor out of the bed and then along the ground until he reached the circle of lanterns. It was only then that I realized there were smaller stones painted white, creating a symbol I couldn’t make out. Ryder dumped Conner right in the center.

We stood silently, the three men spread out in a semi-circle around Connor. Nothing moved or made a sound. Not the crickets or frogs or even the breeze. We held our collective breath to see what would happen next.

Blood had dried rusty brown down Connor’s sleeve from where I’d stabbed him, and he made small, animal sounds in his throat as he slowly pushed himself up onto his knees.

“What the fuck is this?” Connor snarled, but it was nothing more than fear hidden behind anger. His eyes shifted from Caribou to Elk and finally to Buck. He swallowed loud enough for me to hear it.

The Buck looked at me and held out his hand, beckoning me closer. I stepped up to him, and Connor’s eyes snapped to me. Three men stood with me. Not men…shadows with antlers. The Buck, Elk, and Caribou. Masks on, bodies all hard muscle with a still, ominous presence. I should have been afraid. Instead, I felt a calm rise in me like a tide.

They were mine, and I was theirs.

The Buck’s head tilted, and his antlers caught a stray glint of lantern flame.