Page 70 of The King has Fallen (The Kingdom of the Krow #1)

brIDGET

I dropped into the driver’s seat in my car considering whether or not to stop for coffee on the way home when that heavenly smell washed over me and my entire body thrilled.

I gasped, tensing, beginning to turn just as a thick, man-hand whipped out from behind my seat and clapped over my mouth and pulled my head back against the headrest. I struggled for a second, kicking against the floor of the car, fingers clawing into that hand as I screamed behind it, but then that scent got stronger and warm, and a smooth cheek brushed my jaw at the same time a very deep, gravely male voice whispered.

“I told you I’d see you soon.”

I froze, eyes wide, my breath tearing audibly in and out of my nose.

“Just breathe,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his tone. But my pulse was so loud in my ears it made it hard to hear him.

I tried to take in every detail I could—the scent, the size of his hand over my mouth, the callouses on his palms, the unique timbre of his voice. My senses were heightened, but focus was impossible, my heart racing so fast I was glad I’d already taken the monitor off because the doctors would have flipped. Lights sparkled at the edge of my vision.

“Relax, Bridget. I’m not going to hurt you—I just wanted to introduce myself.”

He knew my real name already?

I stopped trying to claw his hand off my face and after a few heaving breaths through my nose, made myself drop my hands to my lap, gripping the hem of the hoodie instead, but my heart was still going a mile a minute, and my panting was loud in the car.

I felt something brush the side of my head and realized he’d buried his nose in my hair and was inhaling deeply. I didn’t know whether to blush or fistpump.

“Are you calm enough to remember what I’m about to tell you?” he rasped a minute later.

I nodded. My breath was still coming in deep pants and my hands had started to shake, but I was gripping the hoodie and praying he wouldn’t notice that.

“Very good.” He was still whispering, still keeping his voice in a gravel barely above the volume of my pulse so that his actual voice was masked. “We’re going to have a few rules. Blink once to tell me you understand what I’m saying.”

I blinked hard, squeezing my eyes shut for a second then opening them again to stare through the windshield at the blank, cinderblock wall of the gym, feeling both idiotic and ecstatic that I’d parked back here. But as he continued to speak, I couldn’t help smiling behind his hand. The initial panic was quickly being replaced by a rush that was going to leave me shaking for hours, I was sure.

“First rule: No one knows the game we’re playing. No one. Do you understand? The moment I learn that you’ve spoken to anyone about me—and I will find out, trust me—I’ll disappear and you’ll never hear from me again. Blink once if you understand.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again, bolt upright in the chair, my feet planted hard on the floor.

“Second rule: Until the final hunt, either of us can stop this game at any time. I’ll send you a message before the first hunt with a safeword that I’m assigning you. That word crosses your lips in my hearing—or on any communication we might have—just once, and you’ll never see me again. Blink once if you understand.”

I blinked again.

“See how easy this is? Third rule: Tomorrow I’m going to send you a list. Within 48 hours of receiving that, you’ll visit a pharmacy or drugstore and pick up every item. Every single one—and in the quantities that I assign to each. Even if you have to visit more than one store. When you have all of it, you’ll take a picture of all of it on your kitchen counter and post it as a unique post in the forum where we met. If you have skipped anything or don’t have enough of something, you’ll never seen me again. So don’t post it until you have everything. Blink once if you understand.”

I squeezed my eyes closed, my mind whirring with curiosity. When I opened them again it was just as he moved, turning his head to look out the passenger window to see if there was anyone who could see us. I realized then that I could make out a very faint reflection of him in the windshield. I locked eyes on it and tried desperately to memorize the details, but couldn’t see much more than a strong, square jaw that was cleanshaven, full lips, and the tip of his nose because he was wearing a hoodie that shadowed most of his face.

When he turned back, he kept his chin low so I didn’t see anything more. Disappointment fluttered in my stomach.

“Final rule,” he growled. “You give no indication to anyone in your life that you know you’re going to die. If you have legal or financial details to put in place, you do so casually—you’re just being responsible. But you don’t say goodbye. You don’t give things away. And you don’t breathe a word to anyone in your life that you wish to die, or that you plan to. Leave notes or instructions with a lawyer if you need to. If I hear even a hint that someone suspects what we’re doing, I will disappear and you’ll never see me again. Blink once if you understand.”

I blinked again, my breath still coming in short, sharp puffs through my nose.

“Now… I told you that I knew how to make you feel alive. I wasn’t lying. I’m not a liar. Remember that. It’ll be important later. But for now, just know that I won’t warn you when a new hunt begins. Between hunts you may go days, or even weeks without seeing or hearing anything from me. But just because you don’t see me doesn’t mean I don’t see you . At times I might choose to leave you signs that I’m near, or I might not. But I will always be near. Whether you’re aware of it or not. So don’t get complacent and break the rules, or you won’t see me again. Blink twice if you understand.”

I did as he asked, my heart trilling in my chest.

“Good girl,” he purred and a zing of need like I hadn’t felt for years jolted behind my navel. He leaned closer again and I swallowed hard, inhaling that scent deeply, crystalizing it in my senses, knowing for as long as I lived I’d associate that smell with him.

There was a pause, and the clunk of the car door handle. My stomach dipped, but he didn’t let me go even when he swung the door open and the cool morning air rushed in, taking some of his scent away and replacing it with the smell of warming cement.

He paused again, and I braced, expecting him to run and getting ready to turn and look as quickly as possible, see if I could catch a glimpse of his face. But he gave a low, disapproving growl like he knew what I was thinking.

“You won’t see my face, Bridget. Ever. When we meet it will be darkness, and I’ll wear a mask. And if it’s the latter and you try to remove it, it will be the last thing you ever do… do you understand?”

I nodded quickly and he paused again, sinking down a hair behind me as if he might be about to leave, but then he froze.

“I almost forgot,” he whispered. “As the hunt progresses it will get… aggressive. I don’t expect you to submit. You can fight, you can resist, you can run—you can try to escape me any way you want. In fact, I encourage it. But our agreement involves no weapons. Everything that happens between us, happens organically. We use our bodies, and anything we find in the vicinity of wherever we meet. If I find you carrying a weapon, you’ll never see me again. And if you bring a weapon against me, it will be the end. Do you agree?”

I swallowed hard and nodded under his hand.

For a moment, he was still and quiet, then his thumb moved to stroke my cheekbone.

“You’re a very beautiful woman, Bridget. What a waste to take you from this world.” Then his other hand snaked around the seat, his fingertips stroking down my throat, then along my collarbone as he audibly inhaled. His hand over my mouth loosened just a hair.

“This is your one and only chance to prove you’ll play by the rules, Bridget. If you don’t, you’ll never see me again. I’m going to remove my hand from your mouth, and you’re not going to scream. You’re not going to move at all. You’ll keep your eyes on that wall in front of you and answer my questions. Then, when I leave, you will give a slow count of thirty during which time you won’t turn around to watch me go.”

I waited for the instruction on whether to blink or nod, but then he gave a little rumble in his chest and suddenly the deathgrip he had on my face loosened, then his hand was gone. But he was still there, breathing in my ear.

I froze, my heart hammering.

“Very good girl,” he whispered hoarsely.

My stomach thrummed. I swallowed and breathed through my mouth, gulping at the air, my heart pounding like it might actually break through my ribs.

“Now, answer my questions quietly, but quickly. Do you know the man who was leering at you in the gym today?”

I blinked. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected, but that wasn’t it. “No,” I said quickly.

“Have you seen him there before, or spoken to him at all?”

“I’ve seen him, but we haven’t spoken before. Except… like that.”

He was silent for a second. He cleared his throat and I thought I heard a hint of his actual voice, but when he spoke again it was still in a whisper.

“Why do you want to die?”

I blinked. “I told you, I have—”

“There are plenty of people in this world who would happily take every day of health that was available to them. There’s something else in your life that makes you want to die. What is it?”

My heart rammed at my ribs. I gripped the hem of the hoodie tighter. “Life is… empty,” I said. “Boring. Hollow. Whatever you want to call it. There’s nothing here. What’s the point?”

“A nihilist?” he asked, sounding a little amused, which pissed me off.

“My psychiatrist calls it fatalism, and says I confuse thrill with purpose.”

He hesitated. “Do you want to die? Or do you want the thrill of being hunted?”

“It isn’t a thrill if I can’t actually die,” I said without hesitation.

“That’s not the question—”

“Yes, it is,” I interrupted him, then blinked, wondering if that was breaking any rules. But he paused, so I swallowed and plowed on. “The only time I feel alive is when I feel like life might be taken from me. For real. You said that the first day. You said you knew that.”

He grunted again. “So you’d give your life up in search of the ultimate thrill?”

“No,” I said. “Giving my life up is the ultimate thrill.”

He huffed. I couldn’t tell if he was laughing or disapproving and I caught myself about to turn to measure his reaction. My heartrate hit the ceiling.

“Do you have any questions for me?” he finally asked, still whispering.

“Why do you do this?”

I waited. The car jiggled as if he’d shifted his weight like he was squirming in his seat. But still he didn’t answer.

I licked my lips. “I’m not judging,” I said. “I’m just curious. Is it just the… the Erotopho-whatever it was?”

“I am not turned on by death. Or by killing,” he hissed.

I frowned. “Then why do you do this?”

He hesitated again, and every hair on the back of my neck stood up. It felt like my skin was listening for his answer.

And when it came, it was a low grunt—almost his natural voice, which was still rough and deep, but warmer than I’d expected.

“For exactly the same reason you do,” he said finally. Then the car jiggled and eased up like a weight had been lifted.

Shit! He was leaving?

I sucked in a breath at the patter of quick footsteps on the cement outside, grabbed the arm of the car door, but remembered his rules and didn’t turn around. I made myself keep my eyes forward and started counting slowly, breathlessly to myself, my pulse threatening to lift the top off my skull.

30… 29… 28…

The second I got to the count of one, I whipped my head around, but of course he was gone. My heart was pounding mercilessly and my head was beginning to ache with it. But I deflated immediately.

He was gone. And that delicious scent was fading because the back door was wide open, allowing the morning air and sun to pour in.

Cursing to myself, I clambered out of the car on shaky knees, slammed the back door closed, then looked over the car to search the parking lot.

But it was empty, the morning sun cutting an angled shadow from the building, slanting across the cement.

Just as empty as my chest suddenly felt as the adrenaline from his visit began to ease from my veins and all the strength went out of my legs so that I had to sit in the seat for a few minutes more before I could turn the car on and drive.

But at least when I did, I was smiling.

Because he was real. And he was here.

I could smell him on my hair.