And maybe, just maybe, the one girl I’ve been hoping for has finally arrived.
Chapter 5
Jasmine
* * *
Sweat drops roll down my back as I tread into the shadowy forest, the looming pine trees blocking most of the sunlight. Adrenaline courses through my veins, causing shivers down my spine with every step I take. Every little sound is another trigger, a tiny mole crawling down into its hole, pine needles rolling across the mossy ground, birds’ wings flapping high above my head.
I pause to look around and listen, my hand on my phone in case I need to let someone know where I am. My head instinctively turns to look back at my car still parked on the side of the road, but the farther I go into the woods, the less it becomes visible, and something about that makes my heart turn icy cold. I’m in the middle of nowhere, and no one knows I’m here.
No one but me.
And him.
I swallow away the nerves as I approach the cabin while firmly clutching my gun. The gun I stole from my father’s arsenal when the guards weren’t looking. They won’t miss one tiny little gun, but it might help me save myself.
Because lord knows what I’ll find.
That man I once knew is gone forever.
At least, that’s what I keep telling myself. I stalk farther and farther into the forest until the road is no longer visible, and all I have left is the pine trees and critters to accompany me.
In the distance, a cabin becomes visible.
I suck in a ragged breath.
Even though it’s not nighttime yet, the darkness surrounding me hums with a kind of electrical current that scatters goose bumps across my skin.
CRACK!
I freeze from the sound of a twig snapping in half.
My heart goes a million miles an hour.
Oh, God. What if it’s him? Am I ready?
I point my gun in the direction of the sound. Straight ahead, near the cabin.
TRSSKK! CRACK!
More noisy rustling … until an axe slowly appears from behind a tree, glinting in the dark.
I gasp in shock, barely able to keep the squeal inside as an almost ungodly muscular but beastly looking man steps out from behind the tree wearing nothing but a short towel around his waist. His long beard and hair are wet and stick to his muscular, tattooed body. His square face is smeared with dirt and blood, and his hooded brown eyes are locked on mine.
Liam.
I can’t even process it’s him because of the state he’s in.
But the second he raises his axe, I regain my senses and aim for his head.
“Don’t come close, or I’ll shoot!” I yell.
He doesn’t say a word, doesn’t even stop, and my hands begin to shake.
I’ve shot a gun before, but never at an actual human being, and the thought is already making me nauseous. But if I must … what other choice do I have? He’s dangerous. He tried to kill my sister, he’ll never stop, and I have to protect her.
C’mon, Jasmine, you can do this.