Page 27 of Echo (A Monster’s Prey #2)

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

I’d done that more times than I could count, and it seemed I was on a streak of playing higher and higher stakes with bigger games.

Last time, I’d ended up in the hospital with broken ribs and stitches. Where would it get me this time?

I scrambled to get my feet under me and bolted out the door without thinking, leaving behind my keys, or anything of value. Flight grabbed me by the scruff and sent me racing through the trees without a lick of sense.

My heart banged against my chest and my breath came in ragged pants that had nothing to do with running. Panic gripped me tight in its grasp.

Another person I cared about was going to hurt me.

Run. Run. Run!

The earth fell out from under me and I hit the ground with a painful thump, landing in a deep ditch on my hands and knees.

Get out!

I jumped and tried to climb up the dirt walls, but the dirt crumbled in my grasp and there were no solid hand holds.

The anger, frustration, and pain I’d been stuffing deep down inside finally bubbled over. “Fuck!”

Tears dropped from my eyes, and I sat down at the bottom of this hole and screamed at the top of my lungs, needing the release. That was probably why Echo roared as much as he did. It was cleansing.

I kept my head on straight, no matter what. I was used to the fucked up things that happened. I’d been abandoned, abused, and tortured. I’d seen even worse happen to others.

Nothing could get to me.

I was so tired of being strong for people who didn’t see how bad it hurt me. And yet I keep putting myself in these situations, hoping it would turn out differently than before.

Because on the inside, I was still the little girl crying for her daddy to stay by her side, wishing she was enough to keep him from leaving her. I was doomed to relive that over and over again, hoping for a different ending.

Whether it was my father slapping me across the mouth for getting too mouthy for my own good.

Aurelio’s enemy burning his brand into me to make a statement, or Mark sending me to the hospital for saying I wasn’t in the mood, after I’d caught him cheating on me, I chased tragic stories as if I could change the script.

Some were worth more than others, but I always sold my soul.

I pulled my knees to my chest to sob into my knees. I whispered, “Echo.”

It was useless. He wouldn’t save me. I always screamed for some man or another to help pull me out of the water that they drowned me in, and ended up disappointed every time.

A thump landed in front of me with a heavy clop.

Slowly, I lifted my head to find Echo standing before me.

The light behind him glinted on something wet and shiny covering his shadowy fur. My best guess was blood, but who knew for sure?

“Do what you have to do,” I told him. He’d warned me what would happen if I tried to escape. That I’d be punished.

His glowing eyes were brighter here in the dark, and I could see how his teeth were bared at me.

“Do it.” I grabbed a fist full of dirt and threw it at his feet to further prove what a nuisance I was. “I’ve become more hassle than I’m worth. So do it.”

“I’m angry.”

“I know,” I hissed.

“I promised you I wouldn’t touch you while I was angry,” he said.

My eyes jerked up to his face. The growl laced every word he said.

“You can’t become more trouble than you are worth, because you are a rare treasure that might never exist again.

If your intention is to see what will make me stop pursuing you, have at it. I’ll follow you through hell itself.”

“That’s not what you said yesterday.”

He growled at my words. “I apologize for hurting your feelings.”

I scoffed.

“I mean it.” The growl grew louder, but it sounded different than before. Like he was desperately protecting something rather than taking something away from another. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like less. I am the lucky one here.”

“Then why did you say that?”

“Because you scare me,” he mumbled so quietly that I barely heard him. “You’re the only person in hundreds of years to see me as a person, and it gives you a lot of control over me. In that moment, I needed to diminish you to reclaim my power.”

I could swear he was blushing, based on how he steadily refused to look at me and how he crossed his arms.

“It’s poor form as a man, and I am ashamed of myself.” The monster who ate a man in my living room was ashamed? “I vow to do better in the future.”

Had a man ever fully taken responsibility for what he’d done to me? No.

Yet this monster was willing to stand here and tell me he was sorry and that he was scared.

“If you hadn’t locked me out, I could have protected you.

” His mouth twisted as he took a deep breath.

There it was, the finger pointing. How if I’d only done things differently something wouldn’t have happened.

But then he continued, “If I’d been paying better attention, he wouldn’t have even gotten in the house. We can both do better.”

The admission of his own oversight caught me off guard, and I blinked up at him for a solid ten seconds to come up with some type of response.

“Yeah,” I croaked.

“Are you damaged?”

“I don’t know. Probably.” I let out a breath.

He put out his hands for me to grab, and I accepted them easily. If he was going to kill me, he would have already done it. He pulled me to my feet and yanked me into his arms.

Air whipped around us as we went through the air, landing on solid land. “You apologized to me, saying you went too far, when you thought it was me killing you.”

His claws caressed my cheek. “As if I wasn’t playing the game right with you.”

Relief flooded my heart and made everything lighter.

“Now, run.” He released me. “Like you intended to.”

“Ranger.”

“The dog is fine,” he promised. “He’s got a limp where he was probably kicked down the cellar stairs, when he was locked in there.”

“Really?”

He nodded.

I took stock of myself. My knees complained from the fall and my nerves were battered. Maybe he was right. Maybe a run through the woods to get the last of this energy out of me. To let him prove that he wouldn’t harm me.

To help him, get his anger out of his system.

I turned on my heel and ran. I didn’t bother trying to get my wits about me. The direction I ran in didn’t matter. If I got lost, Echo would know how to get me home. He knew these woods better than anyone.

“Ten,” he announced loudly behind me. I pushed my body as hard as it would go, knowing I needed every bit of space I could get. “Nine.”

The cool mountain air made shivers roll through me, but not as much as the howling coming from behind me. A stupid smile came onto my face as I dodged trees.

It was freeing to know that no matter how I struggled the monster would catch me. But that I’d make him fight for it. That he was willing to work for it.

I wasn’t supposed to stand and be strong. I was safe to let my instincts take control.

“Eight,” echoed off the trees.

Echo’s loud hooves dashed off, and my heart thundered. He wasn’t going to do the entire countdown?

The desperate cry of a bear’s last breath to my right told me where he went. That even as we played our games, he’d protect me.

“Seven.” His voice came from the general direction of where he started.

The adrenaline coursing through my veins from the attack enjoyed the run, even as the big muscles of my thighs burned. No doubt, every inch of my body would hurt in the morning once it wore off, but for now, I’d ride the high it gave me.

What would my punishment be for calling out another man’s name as I came?

I hadn’t let him finish his warning before.

His dark chuckle bounced off the trees and made my nipples grow taunt and sensitive. “Six.”

He needed to learn how to properly count down. The seconds were too long. Why was I complaining? It gave me more time.

Branches scraped my arms as I passed, and hot fluid dripped down my sweaty skin. It didn’t matter; a few scrapes were nothing compared to what was behind me.

“Five.”

“Four,” I yelled out to push my boundaries. Like a child testing their father.

“Three.” Amusement managed to come through on the echo of his voice.

I’d lost time, pushing him, but it made my smile grow. I knew that would pass. Echo would have to do something to scare me, but I looked forward to seeing how he’d get the fear going again.

“Two.”

This was it. Ready or not…

“One.”