Page 25 of Hunted by Them (Primal Desires #1)

SAGE

Two men met us in the middle of a clearing. It looked like something right out of a secret society book where they performed animal sacrifices. Large stones stood tall in a massive circle with lanterns flickering and casting long shadows.

I stared at the two men as we pulled up and I got out of the truck, my eyes bouncing between them. Ryder met me and took my hand, guiding me over to them. My pulse was fast, my heart pounding hard in my chest. The three of them together made me nervous and excited with anticipation.

Ryder pointed at the guy on the left. Short dark hair, onyx eyes, and tattoos that peeked out from his shirt. I knew he was the Elk before Ryder introduced him. The I’m-going-to-eat-you look on his face said it all.

“This is Dash.”

“The Elk,” I stated.

Dash’s lip turned up as he stepped closer and looked down at me. I shivered as he leaned over and breathed in like he was trying to memorize my scent.

“You still smell so fucking good,” he growled, and my body heated. “So, you really want to be with us?”

“Yes,” I said without hesitation.

He cupped my cheek and ran his thumb over the caked dirt. “When we’re done here, I’m going to make sure that you have bruises of my handprints on your thighs. So that everyone knows you didn’t just choose us, but you chose to be wrecked by me.”

He chuckled darkly and stepped back.

I swallowed hard, but my body lit up.

“And this is Jaxon,” Ryder interrupted as the Caribou stepped forward.

“Hello, our beautiful Sweet Daisy,” he said softly, the velvety voice matching him perfectly. Long dark hair brushed his shoulders, intelligent caramel eyes, a square jaw, and sun-kissed skin gave off an aura of calm water.

“Hi,” I murmured, transfixed by Jaxon.

I’d been ruined for anyone else by the three sexiest men I had ever encountered.

“I like you looking at me like that,” he said, pulling a leaf from my hair. “I like that you can see me now.”

“I always saw you, now I just see more of you.”

“Yes, you really are perfect for us.” He smiled.

“Mask up,” Ryder ordered. They walked to the center of the circle, and like a dance or maybe a ritual they’d performed a thousand times, they turned from men into beasts.

They pulled off their shirts, swapped out their boots, and smeared black paint around their eyes, onto their necks, and in streaky lines over their tattoos.

That was why they looked distorted in the rain, and I couldn’t remember a single one of them clearly.

Jaxon walked over to one of the massive boulders and pulled out the three masks.

Antlers rose into the air, swaying as he walked.

I held my breath as he handed them out. They were silent as they slipped the masks into place.

And just like that, the transformation was complete.

Their shadows on the stone looked menacing.

When they turned to look at me as one, my body flushed hot, and the hair stood on the back of my neck.

I didn’t believe in magic, or at least I hadn’t until this moment, but there was something different about them when they donned their masks.

They became one with the forest. The wind whispered stories as they ran with the animals.

I could almost feel the trees’ branches reaching closer as if beckoning them in deeper into the darkness.

“I’m going to get our guest,” Ryder growled, now sounding exactly how I remembered.

He marched to the back of the truck and dropped the tailgate before pulling a half-conscious Connor out of the bed and then along the ground until he reached the circle of lanterns.

It was only then that I realized there were smaller stones painted white, creating a symbol I couldn’t make out.

Ryder dumped Conner right in the center.

We stood silently, the three men spread out in a semi-circle around Connor. Nothing moved or made a sound. Not the crickets or frogs or even the breeze. We held our collective breath to see what would happen next.

Blood had dried rusty brown down Connor’s sleeve from where I’d stabbed him, and he made small, animal sounds in his throat as he slowly pushed himself up onto his knees.

“What the fuck is this?” Connor snarled, but it was nothing more than fear hidden behind anger. His eyes shifted from Caribou to Elk and finally to Buck. He swallowed loud enough for me to hear it.

The Buck looked at me and held out his hand, beckoning me closer.

I stepped up to him, and Connor’s eyes snapped to me.

Three men stood with me. Not men…shadows with antlers.

The Buck, Elk, and Caribou. Masks on, bodies all hard muscle with a still, ominous presence.

I should have been afraid. Instead, I felt a calm rise in me like a tide.

They were mine, and I was theirs.

The Buck’s head tilted, and his antlers caught a stray glint of lantern flame.

“What do you want, Sweet Daisy?” Ryder’s voice was edged and menacing behind the bone. “You decide what we do with him.”

The world went still in that single sentence. The life that had held me by the throat dropped away like I was shedding my old skin. I looked at the three of them and felt the line I’d been walking snap.

Connor laughed, too loud and filled with panic. “This is insane. Whoever you are, this is kidnapping.”

They didn’t say a word as they waited for me. I locked eyes with Connor.

“You’re going to end up in jail for the rest of your life, Sage. I’ll make sure that they lock you up in a padded cell and throw away the key…unless you let me go right this second.”

I smiled and took a small step forward, careful not to enter the symbol. “Is that so?”

“Yes, I forgive you for stabbing and embarrassing me. We’ll wipe the slate clean.”

“I want you to admit it.”

“Admit what?”

“That you broke into my apartment and destroyed all my things. That you are so fucking petty and couldn’t take no for an answer. That you acted out like a toddler having a tantrum. You want to be set free, then tell the truth.”

He snorted, his ego getting in the way of life and death. “This is stupid,” he said, and started to get off his knees.

“Stay on your knees,” Buck bellowed from beside me, and the sound echoed off the trees. Connor froze. A knife flashed in the light as Buck threw it, and it lodged in the ground right in front of Connor’s knee. His face turned ashen as he resumed the perfect kneeling position.

He was shaking.

“Sage…please.”

“Stop saying my name like you own it,” I ordered.

His mouth clamped shut. In the quiet that followed, I heard an owl call twice, then fall still.

“Say the words, Connor, or I’ll have them slice your throat open right where you are,” I said, surprising myself that I meant it. I didn’t care if he lived or died.

He licked his lips and sighed. “Yes, I did it, okay? I was pissed. No one leaves me.”

My eyebrow arched. There was relief that came with his words. The police might not have been able to do anything about Connor, but justice would be served.

“Why did you follow me into the forest?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I was angry and wanted to confront you.”

“Confront me? You planned to kill me, didn’t you?”

Connor shook his head. “I…I…” He looked at the three men. “I wanted you to pay. I didn’t plan on killing you.”

“But you thought about it. Didn’t you?” My tone was firmer than I’d ever been with anyone.

He hesitated.

“Answer. The. Question,” Dash snarled, and a shiver raced down my spine.

Connor shook harder. “Yes. There, I said it. You got what you wanted, now let me go.”

Caribou stepped closer, voice soft enough for only me to hear. “We can make him disappear. No one will find him. Not rangers. Not dogs. Not time. Tell us what you want.”

My choice.

I squatted, but Connor looked down.

“Look at me,” I snapped.

He slowly lifted his head, and even though he had admitted to committing multiple crimes, arrogance still glittered in his eyes.

His jaw jutted out, and I knew what would happen if he were set free.

No matter what he said, he would run straight to the police and have every member of law enforcement in this forest looking for me and my men.

That couldn’t happen. Not now. Not ever.

“Please, Sage,” Connor begged, almost sounding sincere, but he wasn’t.

I took a breath. I’d thought that if given this chance, I would want to scream. To hurl every ugly thing back at him, to make him small with words the way he’d tried to make me small with manipulation, gaslighting, and fear. But that wasn’t the language this place spoke.

And I had a choice. Not the men. Not the antlers. Me.

He swallowed when I didn’t speak. “I lost my temper. I fucked up, but I can do better. I can be better.”

“You were jealous. You were scared. You were cruel. You are nothing more than a child in a thousand-dollar suit. And…I’m done being small so that you can feel big.”

He flinched as if I’d struck him.

I stood, turning to the antlered silhouettes. The Buck didn’t move. It wasn’t necessary. I felt the question pouring off him.

Who are you now?

I answered.

“Make him disappear.” My voice didn’t shake. “I don’t want to see him again. I don’t want to hear his name. I want the forest to remember his screams, for him to die knowing all he did to get to this point.” My pulse thundered, but my words felt carved into me

The Buck’s exhale was dark and satisfied. The Elk inclined his head once, a courtly gesture that should have looked out of place in a clearing with a man on his knees, but didn’t. The Caribou made a soft, pleased sound as if a blade had been tested and was now perfect.