Page 15 of Captive Souls

I was sure that I’d blink first. I’d be the one to break our stare-off.

But it was him, his body jerking as if someone had physically shaken his shoulder. My body went slack at the loss of eye contact, and my breath left me in a whoosh as he swiftly undid his seat belt and got out of the car. I jerked at the slam of his door.

My head fell back against the headrest as I took stock of my surroundings. For the foreseeable future, I was in a cabin in the woods with a man called Knox, who might not be my murderer. But he was a killer, that was for sure.

Five

Knox

I’d been given little notice to prepare a suitable location for this assignment. I didn’t know if that was yet another test from Stone or if he just didn’t give a shit. Or he understood that I was competent enough to do what was necessary in the time afforded. Not that I gave a fuck what he thought of me.

He’d told me he wanted her broken, helpless, with nowhere to turn but him.

Privacy was my number one priority. Complete isolation with no way to escape.

No TV. No modern luxuries. Although the cabin did have running water because I wasn’t that much of a masochist.

I thought I’d done a good job—that her being alone with me in woods that many people were afraid of would be enough. I hadn’t thought about whatmyreaction would be to being alone with her. Prior to this, people hadn’t elicited reactions from me.

Just Piper.

Watching her unravel in the car sent my skin crawling. It was difficult, watching her hyperventilate and grow smaller and paler.

I’d been avoiding her, a fruitless notion since we were in a cabin in the middle of nowhere together for the foreseeable future. My throat constricted, realizing that there was no escape from this, from her.

I longed for my knife, for the relief that would come from the warmth of blood spilling over my skin.

Soon, I promised myself.Soon,I promised the hungry beast inside of me.

Once night came, when she slept, then I’d get it.

For now, I focused on practical solutions, putting away the supplies I’d bought at the store, our last stop before we ascended the mountain. I expected them to last two weeks, at least. Then I’d reevaluate. Previously, I’d thought it was smart, having everything here so there was no cause for me to leave, inflicting myself on her twenty-four seven. Now I understood that was a mistake.

I’d felt her eyes as she watched me take things to and from the car. I hadn’t looked at her. She had already shown she wasn’t going to run, so I wasn’t concerned about that. Not that there was anywhere to run to. I’d selected this location for that exact purpose.

Not even Stone knew where we were. He trusted me that much. A mistake on his part.

Not that I planned on betraying him. But it was sloppy, overconfident for him to think I’d blindly obey him. Feral beasts bowed to no master. He’d learn that one day. I’d learn that one day.

As I was unpacking, she’d first walked around the exterior of the cabin, looking at things, running her hands along the long grass, picking flowers.

That gave me pause. She was an educated, smart, sane woman who understood the gravity of her situation. I’d seen the terror in her eyes, the gut-clenching fear.

Yet she waspicking fucking flowers.

I tried my best to get her smell from my nostrils, to forget the way her shirt shifted with her breathing, the way panic had overtaken her body as we’d pulled up, how vulnerable and scared she’d been.

Wasn’t that the entire point of this? To scare her into submission?

Yet I’d brought her back from the brink. Given her my fucking name. I hadn’t planned on that. I hadn’t planned on having any interaction with her beyond what was completely necessary. Usually that wasn’t hard for me, distancing myself from human interaction.

It was impossible not to interact with her.

Weak, I scolded myself. Weak.

I’d rectify my mistake. Leave her alone. Shut her out like I had every other human before this.

Eventually, she made her way into the cabin, inspecting the bare space, trailing her index finger along the back of the old sofa in the middle of the room, poking her head in the bathroom then peering at the bed in the corner of the room. One room and a bathroom. Intimate. Uncomfortable. I’d planned it that way. So she couldn’t escape me. Resulting in me being unable to escape her.