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We don’t want Thomas and Jade to search for us, so we informed them to meet us an hour before sundown. I can already tell Micah’s mood will be complete shit if we go back with nothing.

Without saying a word, he rises and keeps going, staying a good few feet ahead. He surveys the forest with predatory eyes, bearing the weight of the world. And it kind of is—we need something big to sustain us. Plus, his leadership is in question. Slowly, over the past couple of weeks, his hold on the group has slipped. Like either he just doesn’t care, or Ezra is really taking over. Micah doesn’t seem to fight it as much, either, especially since he’s built a home elsewhere.

Micah finally stiffens and lifts his hand, and my stomach twists. Micah turns back to look at us, and waves me over. I try to let go of Maison’s hand, but he doesn’t let go this time. “You don’t owe him anything,” he whispers.

My eyebrows arch. “I want to, Maison. I’ll be okay this time.” I reach up for a quick kiss before he can argue and slide over to Micah, who’s crouched ten feet away from us. I join him so I am eye level with whatever he is looking at, letting my spear rest on the ground.

The buck is twenty feet away, a silent beauty. Micah shifts and hovers above me, resting his head on my shoulder.

“Do you see him?” he asks.

I nod, watching the big creature and acutely aware of Micah pressed in behind me.

His voice is a mere whisper. “I’ll aim for the heart, right behind the shoulder, and I’ll kill it quickly.”

I hold my breath as the deer silently moves toward us. “Stay here, London. Block it in if it runs.” He reaches his fingers down my arm and squeezes my hand, causing my whole body to tremble. “Remember everything I’ve taught you.”

Focus.

Keep my breath steady.

His lips graze my neck and for a moment, I think he might press them into me. Instead, he slides away, leaving phantom tingles I feel all the way down to my stomach.

I check back for Maison, who is not in sight, but I know he’s close—watching me probably over the buck. We’ve got it cornered; I just need to not mess up again to end this.

Micah glides over to the buck, his bone weapon in one hand, his knife in the other. My heart is in my throat as a guy, not even twenty years old, is about to take down a deer with his own hands. I can’t take my eyes off him as he circles and stalks his unknowing prey.

God, the way he moves…

Maison might have the edge on fishing, but Micah was born a hunter. A silent stalker—patient and deadly. Maison told me they did this every fall with their dad, which I’m guessing is why Micah feels so at home out here.

Micah gets so close to it, and it has no idea. Every heartbeat in my chest is drumming as I watch him silently dance around his prey, angling, edging closer and closer.

Micah’s a few feet away from it now, mere seconds from killing. The buck notices him at the last second, but it’s too late. In one swift motion, Micah leaps up and jabs the weapon right into its heart, then swipes his knife across its throat for good measure.

The animal dies on the spot. It’s a clean, swift kill, and humane as possible given the circumstances. He leaps out of the way as the buck falls.

“Yes, Micah!” I jump up right at the same time Maison leaps up, too, smiling ear to ear, and runs to his brother, wrapping his arms around him. Then they both start yelling at the top of their lungs—raw emotion running deep in both of them. Screaming and dancing around like they are fucking animals. Their love for each other is heartwarming and beautiful. I can imagine this is what it used to be like between them—before Olivia happened. Playfully jabbing and wrestling like children and giggling like schoolgirls.

Maison’s eyes find mine, and he frowns, standing up and alert. “London, watch out,” he cries out, leaping over to me. I hear it before I see it—a swirl of fur and sharp growls. A furry animal comes lunging at me, and I lift my spear and jab it hard into the chest of what is attacking me.

A small yelp fills the air before deafening silence.

Just as quickly, I’m thrown off balance by a six-foot-two hockey player as he pushes me out of the way before the animal can get at me. We land hard, but he takes all the impact, and I know by the way he’s gripping me with his entire body wrapped around me, it’s Maison who saved me. Blood splatters all over my face. As I glance up, Micah pulls out the spear, finishing the kill with the knife. One final yelp and the beast is dead.

Wolf blood… A small silver wolf attacked me.

We stare at the lifeless deer, then at one another. The only sound is the wind rustling the leaves above.

I was mere seconds from getting ripped apart by that thing, and I’m only in one piece because of Maison. He protected me as promised, and now I want to hold on to him forever.

Micah’s the one to break the silence. “Fuck yeah, London!”

My heart is in my throat as I lay on the ground with Maison on top of me, my breath heavy. He rolls off and helps me up, and I stand up, shaky and frozen, unable to believe what I was seeing.

Not one, but two kills.

A wolf… I killed a fucking wolf.