Page 10 of Hysteria Rises (Dark Falls Hollow #1)

Exhaling, I rearrange my dick, then carefully check each bed to make sure everyone’s asleep and won’t observe me returning to our room this late.

Dragan, Gannon, Rafe, and Evren’s beds are on the wall on the right, all occupied.

As I glance through the windows on the opposite side, a streak of lightning zigzags through the night sky.

Hayze, Cross, and Malakai are each sprawled across their bunks. The only one that’s empty is mine.

Out of habit, I avoid each and every creaky floorboard on my way over to my small nook of our shared room. The weight of everything that’s transpired today settles over me, heavy like the thunderclouds had been yesterday, full of impending rain.

Daylight is coming, and while I always think any problem is worse at night, this time, I’m not so sure. What’s waiting for our compound when dawn breaks could be as bad as it gets. Drop a new woman into this pit of vipers, and it’s bedlam every time.

In fact, if I don’t force myself to sleep, I won’t be ready to deal with whatever goes down. Too bad shut-eye has been a stranger for many moons now.

When I reach my bedside, I release a heavy sigh and drop my pants.

The assorted sleep sounds of the others echo off the high ceiling.

I grit my teeth and peel the bedding down before climbing in.

I’ll be really fucking glad when Kiefer finishes the restorations on the wing of the building that will one day be ours—the firstborn sons’.

I let out an exhausted breath, then attempt to get comfortable enough to drop off, but knowing it won’t happen easily.

It never does. And even if I do manage to sleep, what bullshit will find me while I’m in that state?

Aggravated that my mind won’t stop churning, I shift, punch a fist into my pillow, then flop back over to stare toward the long window over my head.

The tree outside sways with the wind and rain.

This storm is something else. What could possibly have been the catalyst that brought the new girl to us?

And on a night like this of all fucking nights.

I turn it over and over in my head. It makes no sense that she’d simply appear in the middle of the Full Moon Hunting.

The longer I lie here, the more vividly I’m able to recall every single fucking second of the way she felt beneath me. But at least thoughts of her are a distraction from the nightmares in my head. Perhaps she’s just what I need.

Fiery. Stubborn. Really fucking pretty—when she’s not acting completely deranged.

My lips curve as a reel plays through my head of the heated interaction.

I hadn’t intended any of it to happen, but she left me with no other choice when she decided to lash out.

What’d started as an attempt at subduing her and keeping her quiet had turned into something more.

All the fight in her had made my cock swell and harden.

I can’t say whether it was her spirit or the curves of her body that’d caused fire to flow through my veins, but she felt so good. And I couldn’t stop.

Didn’t want to stop. Ever. What I’d felt there on that cot with her had been tenfold the raging need I feel when participating in the Hunting.

She’d excited me in a way no one ever has before.

I skim a hand down my chest then over the firm muscles of my abdomen.

My skin is hot again. My breath stutters in response.

I wish I were back in that room, pistoning my aching cock against her—finishing what I started.

Dipping my hand under the covers, I take myself in a firm, choking grip. Almost whimpering at how good it feels, I slowly begin to stroke myself. Then, automatic guilt swamps me, every satisfying tug a heady reminder that we aren’t supposed to do this. We’re to save our semen for the women. Period.

My heart thuds heavily inside my chest. I have this hypothesis that they believe it’ll make us work harder toward our …

goals. But it’s my honest guess that there’s not a single one of us who follows that command to the letter.

Just last night, I heard grunting coming from Gannon’s bed.

He was supposedly asleep. But definitely wasn’t. Then, Cross in the shower yesterday.

Groaning, I give myself a mental shake. I don’t want to think about any of them right now.

Instead, I force myself back to the memory of the girl’s smooth, firm backside in my hand.

Assuming the Collective decides to keep her—and they will—I’d love nothing more than the opportunity to chase her down during the New Moon Hunting.

My head fills with the thrill of it—but more to the point, the rush I’ll get from what I’ll do with her when I catch her.

I shudder, overcome with desire and primal fucking need.

Stroking vigorously, my breath comes faster and faster.

I see it in my mind’s eye. I’d take her up against a tree while the sounds of the wilderness surround us.

Fill her cunt with every inch of my cock.

Spill my seed inside her womb. Fuck. I’m close.

I shuttle my hand from root to tip and swipe my thumb over the slit where my ejaculate has begun to seep in anticipation.

Feels so fucking good. Fuck. Fuuuck. And at the next flash of lightning, I let go, allowing myself to roar, my strangled shout disguised by the boom of thunder.

With my body spent and my dick softening, a troubling thought rolls through my mind. What’s mine is yours. And what’s yours is mine.

I want her. But how am I going to keep her from the animals that walk these halls?