Page 149 of Beautiful Prey

For one second, the old fear crawls straight up my spine.

But this time I know who’s hunting me.

Inside, the hall is enormous and half-lit. The sound of the door closing behind me echoes through the empty space, and I glance up at the railing where the Adjudicators used to stand.

Ash watched me from up there. Now I’ve married him. Something hot, stupid, and enormous surges through me, kicking my heart into a faster rhythm.

“You coming?” The driver has the far door open now, cold air spilling through from the corridor that leads towards the forest.

“Yeah. Sure.” I cross the hall, my shoes echoing against the floor while I tell myself I’m not going to be afraid of this place again.

Outside, the cold catches at my face. The pines rise beyond the glass exactly as I remember them, and my stomach tightens.

At the treeline, the driver stops and opens the gate. “Good luck, sir.”

I step through. When the gate bangs shut behind me, I jump at the sound, half expecting the driver to still be there. He’s already walking away.

He’s just leaving me here?

Cold air settles against my skin as I start down the path, the lights behind me fading with each step. I take the first rise at a walk, but my heart is already hammering.

Come on, Jade. This is what you wanted.

Except I’m not entirely sure I’m enjoying it yet.

It’ll get better when he finds me.

I weave between the pines, listening to water moving somewhere through the trees as my body remembers the route before my head does.

Back then, I was trying to avoid being found. Now, I’m hoping Ash finds me quickly.

And yet, the farther I go, the more the old fear starts creeping back in. Nothing has happened. Nothing is wrong.

So why did the driver leave me alone?

I keep walking, but something keeps nagging me. Ash’s people don’t call me sir. Never. Not at Ash’s place, not at the hospital, not when we’re together at the house. They call me Jade.

Either that man is new, or he isn’t ours.

Or I’m just losing my fucking mind.

Still, my pace picks up.

If he isn’t ours, then Ash didn’t send him.

A rush of fear climbs my spine.

The path rises through the trees as darkness gathers between the trunks. I start looking ahead for movement, listening harder than I need to, waiting for the familiar flash of black and gold that never comes.

“Ash?” I call, trying to make it sound lighter than it feels. “You can come out now.”

When no one answers, I keep moving, faster now, following the path as it bends deeper into the forest. The trees briefly open around me before closing in again, and the silence starts pressing too hard against my ears.

I pull out my slate without slowing down, but there’s no signal. No bars. Nothing.

“All right,” I mutter. “All right, no. I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.”

I turn and head back the way I came. I’ll go back to the gate and wait there. Ash can laugh at me for a year if he wants. I don’t care.