Page 19 of Hunted by Them (Primal Desires #1)

RYDER

“You’ve lost your fucking mind. What the hell do you mean you went to her apartment? Are you trying to get us all caught?” Dash’s voice echoed off the cave walls.

I paced, teeth clenched, and heat boiling under my skin. The night air outside smelled of pine and the storm on the horizon. It would probably be just as turbulent as the argument in here.

“Fuck off, man. You know that’s not it, and not only did she welcome me once she woke up, but she came back,” I snapped, pointing toward the woods like Sage was still out there. “She sat on her damn car and stared at the trees. She’s ours, Dash. You felt it. You can’t deny it.”

Dash folded his arms, eyes flashing.

“What I felt was her almost deciding to call the cops and have them come snooping around because some fucker broke into her apartment and fucked her in the middle of the night. You keep chasing her into the city, you’re going to get us all burned.”

“Dash, she’s just as connected to us. She wouldn’t do that,” I argued.

“Oh, you know that for sure, do you? You really think she won’t call the cops? She’s not stupid. The legends of this place will only go so far. At some point, she’ll decide that it’s worth the risk to look crazy and tell someone what happened.”

“She won’t. Not on me. Not on us.”

“How do you know that for sure? She’s never even seen our faces.”

“I just fucking do,” I growled, hands fisted at my sides.

Jaxon leaned against the rock wall, arms loose, eyes flicking between us with the kind of grin that made my blood boil.

“You two fight like an old married couple. Sage came back because of us. She chose us, but we let her go, and Dash isn’t wrong.

Out there…” Jaxon jerked his chin in the direction of the city.

“That’s not our ground. We’re the shadows in the forest, the monsters people whisper about.

We are not the men for her neat little apartment building. ”

I ignored Jaxon. “She belongs here. She’s not like anyone else we’ve taken. She’s meant to be ours, to be part of the woods, to?—”

“What? You really think she wants to leave behind everything she knows, friends, family, job, to be with us?”

“Why does it have to be one or the other? We fucking go into the city all the time. Look…I told you when she was here that I wanted her, and I’m only telling you as a fucking courtesy now…Sage is mine,” I snarled, pointing at Dash.

“You better not get us caught.”

“Tell me something, fucker…have you thought of anyone else since we let her go?”

Dash crossed his arms and looked away. “That’s not the point.”

“You just answered my question. Jaxon, what about you?”

“No, I haven’t,” he answered.

“There you go.”

“I fucking give up,” Dash grumbled and stomped to the fire pit, tossing on a small log.

“She doesn’t belong anywhere near us,” Dash finally declared.

“And if you weren’t thinking with your cock, you’d know that.

I’ll admit that I want her, too. But wanting doesn’t mean she won’t destroy us.

She’s prey, Ryder. Prey runs. We catch. We release. We repeat. We do not keep the prey.”

My fists curled, knuckles tight. “Sage isn’t prey. She’s mine.”

Dash barked a laugh. “Yours? You really think because you slinked into her bed and made her come that she’ll keep your secret? She would hand us over to the authorities the first chance she got.”

I stepped into my best friend’s space until we were chest to chest.

“Say it again.”

Dash didn’t flinch. “You’re being reckless, Ryder.”

For a moment, the cave seemed to shrink, and rage clawed at my throat. Then Jaxon pushed between us, shaking his head.

“Enough. Both of you. If Sage wanted to turn us in, she’d have already done it. She hasn’t so…that means she’s either scared shitless, or she’s hooked and wants more. Either way…” He smirked. “I say we let Ryder keep pushing the envelope. Might get us all what we want.”

Dash sneered but backed off, muttering curses under his breath.

“Do whatever the fuck you want. I’m going for a run.”

I looked at Jaxon and sighed. “I’ll be back. I need some fresh air.”

With the argument still brewing inside of me, I marched out to my truck and hopped inside. I had to see her and prove them wrong. My vision swam red with the thought of my Sweet Daisy moving on and being with anyone else. That couldn’t happen.

The city swallowed me fast as I raced toward the lights. I hated this place. It was an evil necessity, but it didn’t stop me from hating it all the same. Fucking neon, glass, and noisy sirens. By the time I reached her block, my gut twisted, and my heart stopped.

Red and blue lights pulsed against the red brick. Police cruisers lined the street, but it was the silhouettes in Sage’s apartment that gave away that they were here for her. My pulse thumped as my blood ran cold, and fear cut through my earlier rage.

Driving around the block, I found a perfect spot to park and hopped out. Keeping to the shadows, I watched and waited, every nerve screaming to rush in there. If someone hurt my Sweet Daisy, they were going to meet the darkest parts of my soul, and no one would ever find their mutilated corpse.

Half an hour later, the final cruiser pulled away, vanishing down the street.

Darting out of my hiding spot, I jogged for the front door, reminding myself not to look suspicious.

I moved quickly and quietly, slipping up the back stairwell, not bothering with the way-too-slow elevator.

Taking the stairs two at a time, I finally reached her floor and peeked out into the hall, freezing as the little old lady I’d seen in the lobby before came out of her apartment.

Her little dog looked my way, and I growled low at it. It hid its head.

“Why are you being so weird, Bear? Was it all those strange policemen,” she asked the dog that could fit into my hand.

What the hell was this woman doing going out this late?

The elevator dinged, and I waited until I heard it moving before walking out into the hallway and straight for Sweet Daisy’s apartment.

There was yellow caution tape on the door, which only made my heart hammer faster.

The lock had been busted. I pulled on my leather gloves and pushed open her door.

Inside was destruction. I stepped around the debris. The air was heavy with the stink of sweat and someone else’s rage. There was no blood so far, but I held my breath as I walked down the short hallway and looked in the bathroom and then the bedroom.

I breathed a sigh of relief when there wasn’t a speck of blood. Then again, the scene wouldn’t have been released so quickly if there had been a murder or a kidnapping. No, this looked more like a home invasion where someone decided to treat the place like their own personal rage room.

The bed where I’d spent a few hours with my Sweet Daisy was shredded. I was just about to leave when I noticed a torn photograph on the floor. The man’s face was intact, but Sage’s face had been torn right down the middle. Squatting, I flipped the picture over.

Me and Connor

A growl ripped from my chest before I could stop it. I snatched the picture from the floor and memorized this fucker’s face. My blood roared in my veins. If Connor was responsible…he would pay.

He’d been here. He’d destroyed her things. He’d touched what was mine and dared to threaten my Sweet Daisy.

“Stupid fucking bastard,” I muttered, shoving the photo into my pocket.

Sage wasn’t here. She was probably staying at a friend’s or at a hotel until the door was fixed. She was safe…for now, but this kind of rage…I glanced around. It was unpredictable, and that made Connor very dangerous.

I stood in the wreckage of her apartment and swore to myself. Connor was breathing on borrowed time.

Sage

The hotel water scalded like Hades, but I didn’t care. I stood under the spray until my skin was red. Scrubbing until I didn’t know if I was washing off my anger or wishing that it were hands making my skin sting.

The cops’ questions still echoed like an interrogation tape.

“Did you notice anyone suspicious? Do you have enemies, Ms. Harlow? Why do you think it’s your ex? You’ve recently been through a traumatic experience. Could this have something to do with that?”

I’d almost laughed at the last question and had to rub my face to hide my reaction.

No, it definitely didn’t have anything to do with my three masked men.

If all three of them had broken in, the apartment might have been tossed, but not like that.

And unless my boss hated me enough to risk breaking a nail terrorizing my apartment, this was Connor.

Shutting off the tap, I leaned against the tile, breath fogging the sliding doors. My hands still trembled with anger. Anger at Connor, at the cops, at the universe that kept yanking me around.

I felt trapped in the strange space between the hollow normal life I didn’t want and the wild storm I couldn’t stop craving.

Toweling off, I pulled on the thin hotel robe and padded into the room.

I’d splurged and decided to stay at the nicest hotel in the city, and that meant they had a minibar.

But tonight, I was calling it my guilt-free friend.

I poured a tiny bottle of vodka into a plastic cup, topped it with cranberry juice, and swallowed half of it in one go. The burn grounded me.

My phone buzzed with another message. I didn’t have to look to know it was Mom.

Sighing and grumbling under my breath, I called her.

Mom answered on the first ring, voice filled with panic.

“Sage? Thank God. Are you okay? You said there was a break-in? What happened? Did they hurt you?”

“I’m fine.” I sank onto the bed. “I wasn’t there at the time, and there was no they. It was Connor. My lock is busted, so I’m at a hotel for tonight while maintenance replaces my door.”

“I’m flying out. I’ll be there tomorrow.”

“No.” The word came out harder than I meant. “You’re not.”