Page 1

F aye

Kurt’s scent is all around me, and his scent is suffocating me, like a vice around my neck that just keeps getting tighter and tighter.

Or maybe that’s just my terror. He’s leading me through the woods, a knife pointed at the small of my back.

As though he needs a weapon to have the upper hand.

Without my men, Kurt can kill me as easily as he killed Serra and my brother.

I’m a weak omega on my own. Completely at his mercy.

The forest is supposed to be my happy place.

Surrounded by the trees and wildlife, I’m supposed to feel at home, but now, the smell of mulch, bark, and running water—the very things that soothe me—are drowned out by Kurt's stench. It's everywhere, and it makes me feel like I’m going to be sick. Memories flash through my mind, and I can’t stop myself from thinking back to when all this started, when I was running through the woods, thinking I could outrun the alpha of my pack who came to collect me for The Selection.

If only I had been smarter then. If I’d just left my cabin sooner.

Had I outsmarted that alpha and gotten away from him, I wouldn’t have been dragged to the castle for The Selection, and Kurt wouldn’t have been brought back into my life.

I might have been hauled back the next year, but maybe by then Kurt would’ve left with an omega, and I would’ve been safe.

“Nice day, isn’t it?” Kurt asks happily behind me.

My thoughts instantly deny his words as sweat beads down my back. Nice day? No, this is the furthest thing from a nice day.

When I don’t answer, he pokes me sharply with the knife.

I cry out, feeling the blood already starting to ooze beneath my now torn dress.

“Isn’t it?” he asks again, this time a threat in his words.

Blinking away tears, I say, “Yes.”

I think of my men, back at the castle, heart twisting when I picture them realizing I’m gone.

Ezra will think it’s his fault. Cayson will try to joke and drink through the grief, which will alienate the others and only make him struggle more.

They might not think they’re my mates, but I know they’ll feel guilty when they learn about my fate.

I haven’t known the ferals as long, but they’re absolutely certain I’m their mate and will react accordingly.

I can picture them doing something reckless, like going after the ultimas, for failing to protect me.

A sob rips from my lips at the thought of them learning about my fate. At the pain they might feel if we’re mates. Who am I kidding? We are. Of course we are. I may have never been a mate before, but I know the stories—losing a mate can kill you, if your connection is strong enough.

At least, hopefully, ours isn’t that strong yet. But it could’ve been, with time. I know that.

The worry for my men, for Addilyn, for how my death might affect everyone else, is eclipsed by the potent, ardent fear clogging my airway now. I know, without a doubt, that I’m going to die out here. Whether I have seconds or minutes, I know my end is near.

Kurt is going to kill me. All I can hope is that he’ll do it quickly. That he won’t… that he won’t do anything too terrible.

My heart is beating faster and harder than it ever has in my life, to the point where my eyes are blurring from the impact of the blood rushing through my head.

My mouth tastes like battery acid, and my hands are shaking.

This moment is like every nightmare I’ve ever had about Kurt, come to life.

And like my dreams, I’m helpless against him.

He’s at my back, prodding me every once in a while to keep me moving forward, whistling a little tune that I recognize from the day he killed my brother, Miles, years ago.

I hadn’t remembered it until now, but now it weaves through my mind, blending today with that day long ago.

It’s a tune that’s somehow merry and filled with good cheer, yet it makes me feel like I’m eating glass.

I can’t stop picturing my brother, his neck turned at that awful angle.

Then, years later, Serra, in the woods, her only crime being someone weaker than Kurt, being someone easy to take advantage of.

These two deserved better than Kurt. If the world were just, Kurt would’ve lost his life for his crimes.

Instead, his father's status as a powerful alpha had secured his freedom and he was out here, completely free, and able to kill again.

And no one will punish him for this either. He’ll walk away scott-free.

More than anything, I wish I was stronger.

I wish I could do something to stop this, that I had questioned the note I received, that I had asked Addilyn about her note—anything but just blindly trusting and believing that I would be okay, that this note was like all the other notes The Selection had given me.

Somehow, not living in constant anxiety and trying to calm my constant state of fear had turned me into someone dumb enough to make this mistake, and I hate myself for it.

I the myself for not heeding the warning from my men not to go anywhere without them, for every mistake I made that led to this.

Kurt kicks at my feet, making me trip over a root, then grabs my arms, grinning and whispering in my ear as he pulls me upright again. “Oops, watch your step, Faye. I wouldn’t want you to fall down and get hurt. Not before we can play our little game together.”

The tears are running down my face in a non-stop stream, and I gasp for air, desperate to get away from him.

But it’s like my body knows we can’t, and so I just keep walking along, going where he points me.

Ice runs through my veins, and a strange acceptance of my coming death creeps through my mind.

“Okay, stop.” He walks around to stand in front of me, his eyes roaming up and down my body, cold and calculating. “This is all your fault, you know that, right? Serra’s death. Miles’ death. You have no one to blame but yourself.”

“Yes,” I whisper, afraid of what will happen if I don’t answer.

His eyes narrow, and his voice is low and lethal. “All I wanted was a chance, Faye, but you pushed me away at every turn.” He turns on his heel, starting to pace in front of me. “You humiliated me in front of the council, in front of everyone.”

I swallow thickly, watching as he works himself up, the vein in his neck growing more prominent as he spits his words. And it’s weird. I’m just trying to decide if him being angry is a good thing or not. Will it make him kill me faster? Or will it make him drag it out?

“I killed your brother, okay? We both know that. But telling on me wasn’t going to bring him back, so I kept asking myself, why would that bitch do it?”

I just stare.

He advances on me, his breath hot on my face. “Why did you do it, Faye?”

I swallow around the lump in my throat. “You. Killed. My. Brother.”

He stares. “And?”

He doesn’t get it. “I loved him.”

And you killed him to show off to your friends. For the stupidest damn reason in the world.

“So?” His hand waves, like he’s waving away the idea. “I’m a man, Faye. A great man. Our… disagreement shouldn’t have led to you not wanting me. I mean, look at me. I’m big, strong, good-looking, and from a powerful pack. Everyone should want me.”

I don’t know what he wants me to say to that, but my tears finally stop as my brain tries to work out an answer that makes sense.

When I don't speak, his eyes flash with rage. “You’re just like that bitch, Serra. She fucks me one night, but then won’t let me fuck her again.

She said I was too rough. That it didn’t feel good.

” His tone becomes more dismissive, a quiet mumbling.

“Like it's supposed to be good for the woman. But I’m the one who decides when to stop fucking someone. Not her. All you women are the same. Only good for one damn thing.”

My heart races faster.

His dark eyes meet mine, and pure hatred fills their depths. “You wanted to cut me out of The Selection? Keep me from participating with your little group of guys? Well, now me and you are going to play our own little game.”

A whimper slips from my lips, and he delights in it, a wide smile spreading across his face.

I suck in a breath, desperate for oxygen, but it’s like my cells have forgotten how to use it, how to acquire it in the first place.

Anxiety courses through me, and I wonder if I’m simply going to pass out from fear and never wake up again.

Or if maybe that’s the best way this could end.

“I’m even going to be kind enough to give you a few minutes’ head start,” he says, grinning, his teeth startlingly white in the rising sun. “See? I can be fair, reasonable. You would have seen that if you had even given me a chance, Faye, darling.”

I swallow hard. I know it’s not true. I know that had I given him a chance, he would have proved exactly who I already know him to be.

But there’s a small piece of me, far in the back of my head, that keeps questioning what I did to deserve this treatment.

The death of my brother, the constant abuse from Kurt since then—surely, I must have done something wrong to warrant all this punishment.

Because the only alternative is that the universe is just random and cruel, and that’s even more terrifying.

He steps closer to me, his eyes sparking, his finger grazing over the pulse point on my neck.

“You smell so good, Faye,” he growls, and a new fear courses through my veins. Suddenly, I fervently hope that I die before he gets his hands on me. I would rather be dead than let him touch me. “And I want to chase you.”

“Are you going to kill me?” I ask, feeling defiance rise in my chest. I lift my chin up to meet his eyes, knowing it might be a mistake. I’m just an omega, out here in the woods, with nobody to defend me, but I’ll regret it forever if I die lying down. “When you catch me, are you going to kill me?”

“That’s a great question,” Kurt says, his breath rancid as it fans over my cheeks. “You always were a smart one.”

He stands there for a moment, his eyes roaming over me, his fingers just centimeters from my skin. Then he laughs to himself and turns away.

“Eventually,” he says, tilting his head when he looks at me over his shoulder. “But we don’t want to rush things, do we?”

“I—”

“One, two…”

I stiffen, eyes wide, watching as Kurt laughs through the next few numbers.

“Eight, nine, ten…”

When I realize he’s serious, that he’s counting down, giving me a chance to run, I turn, bolting through the trees as fast as I can, my mind racing just as fast, trying to figure out what the hell I’m going to do to get myself out of this mess.

Except, no solution comes to my mind. None. All I can do is run.