Page 35 of Boys Who Hunt

The wait seems forever.

Did they bolt off in a different direction?

My eyes open slightly, and I gaze around through the debris I stacked on top of myself while hidden in this alcove.

Maybe I managed to shake them off?

I take in a deep breath as my eyes skid across the forest floor. I don’t hear a single step.

“Nothing excites me more than hunting a wicked … little … thief.”

His voice is the first thing I hear before sparkling green eyes connect with mine … floating right above me. A devilishly sharp grin grows behind the mask as Silas leans over the stone.

“Boo.”

CHAPTER 9

Max

I jump on my motorcycle,put on my helmet, and race across town. There’s no time to waste. They’ve already caught her, I’m sure of it.

Heath should’ve told me they’d follow me to the sandwich shop, but of course he didn’t.

Does he even trust me?

I already thought it was weird Heath handed me those bills. I should’ve put two and two together. He wanted me to be her honey trap.

I make my way up the mountain slope, zigzagging across the road to avoid fallen rocks. It’s hard and perilous with that steep drop-off right beside the road, but I know how to stay out of danger. At least when it comes to nature.

I push the throttle to go faster and faster, trying not to lose my grip as I pass The Shack, a long-abandoned house on the hills rumored to be filled with the ghosts of murder victims.

But when a scream emanates from the woods behind the house, I hit the brakes.

“Ivy,” I mutter to myself.

That was definitely her.

I turn my motorcycle around and race toward the house, then head off the beaten path and into the woods. Brambles and bushes hit me around the ears, and a scrape on my shin makes me hiss. This forest is too dense to continue by motorbike, so I park it against a tree, take off my helmet, then run farther on foot.

I’m too far away for them to see me, but I seethem.

Two masked men, hovering near a stone alcove in the middle of the woods.

I slide behind two trees and hide, observing from afar … wondering what they’re going to do to her.

Wondering if it would ruin her to know that it excites me to watch.

Silas

One shriekfrom her throat is all I need to feel alive.

Before she’s even managed to move a single muscle, I jump off the rock and grasp her by the legs to drag her out of the alcove and into the open forest. She kicks me and scratches at the ground, nails digging into the soil, but all it does is get me fired up.

She fishes a knife from her pocket and swings at me, but I knock it out of her hand with ease.

“Nowhere to run to now, little thief,” I say. “You’remine.”

She doesn’t know who she’s messed with, but now she’ll definitely find out the hard way.