EDEN

He steps away like he is actually giving me a headstart, and before I can catch my breath, I hear more footsteps. He’s not alone. Crunching branches. Low laughter.

I don’t look.

I run.

Not a jog, not a light sprint. I fucking bolt.

My ankle screams, but I don’t stop. I don’t even let myself think about the pain. Right now, I just need to make it to the clearing.

“Still think she’ll make it?” a voice asks behind me. Very calm, like this is a casual Friday night jog through the woods and not them hunting me for sport.

“She won’t,” another says. Deep. Rough. Sounds like he’s dragging a grin through his teeth. “She’s limping.”

“You saw how she hit the steps?” one of them snorts. “Bitch bounced like a bowling pin. Probably cracked a rib.”

“She’s pretty though,” a new voice adds. “Let’s keep her alive. We could use her as a plus-one back into the party.”

More laughter.

Like it’s a joke. Like I’m a fucking joke.

My lungs are burning. My thigh muscles are screaming. I trip over something, tree root or a rock, I don’t stop to check, and stumble forward, catching myself before I faceplant. I keep running.

“She won’t make it to the car,” I know leather jacket’s voice. They’re still not chasing. “But it’s cute that she’s trying.”

“Who’s calling dibs?” someone else asks.

“Not it,” Leather jacket again. “I already told her to run. I’m rooting for her.”

“Bullshit,” the younger one scoffs. “You just want to see her cry.”

I’m not crying. I tell myself that. Over and over. I’m not crying. I’m not fucking crying. Just get to the car. Get to the car. Get. To. The. Fucking. Car.

My keys are still clutched in my palm, digging into my skin. I don’t even know if I’m heading the right way anymore. The trees all look the same. No porch lights. No music. Just black, black woods and sick, mocking laughter behind me, growing closer, louder, like they’re moving now.

One of them whistles.

Another lets out a sound between a laugh, and a groan, like he’s already getting off on the chase.

My heart jackhammers.

Don’t fall.

Don’t slow down.

Just fucking run.

Soon, I can see the end of the woods. The car’s right there. Just ahead, beyond the trees. My silver piece-of-shit sedan, just sitting there by the road.

I don’t stop. I’m half-limping, half-sprinting through the trees and leaves, lungs burning, teeth clenched so tight my jaw aches.

And just as I am seconds away from the road, I’m yanked back like a fucking rag doll.

The breath rips out of my lungs. My keys fly. My scream gets caught in my throat as I crash back into something solid. Not the ground. A chest. A body.

One of the brothers.

He hauls me hard against him. One arm clamps around my waist, the other digs into my bicep, pinning me. He’s huge. I’m off the fucking ground. Kicking, twisting, my screams bursting out of me now in full panic.

“Let me go!” I thrash. “Get the fuck off me!”

My vision’s gone blurry from tears, my body jerking and useless against his grip. He doesn’t say a word. Just holds me there, like I’m nothing. My feet can’t touch the floor. My heart is going insane. I know this is it. I’ve lost.

Then I hear them.

The others.

Footsteps.

Branches cracking.

Laughter.

“Dude,” one of them groans, voice annoyed. “Seriously? That was the play?”

“You ruined the run,” another mutters. “I was gonna let her make it to the road.”

“Did you even count?” a third snaps. “We said five.”

“Now she’s scared shitless,” someone else adds with a chuckle. “Totally fucked the mood.”

The one holding me doesn’t respond. He’s breathing hard. Like he’s trying to calm himself. I can hear his heart banging hard in his chest in sync with mine. He’s trying to see me. His head tilts slightly, and I feel him staring, trying to get a clearer look at my face through my tears.

Then someone behind him calls out, “Hawk, the fuck are you doing?”

Hands grab me again, different hands, leather jacket, colder grip, and I’m ripped out of the first guy’s hold and flung down.

I hit the ground hard, knees slamming into the dirt, pain shooting up my legs. My palms catch the worst of it, scraping against rocks and roots. I gasp, already trying to crawl away, my mind screaming at me to move.

But he’s already on me.

He crouches low, leather brushing my arms as he leans in. His breath is warm. His voice is worse.

“I always take the first bite,” he says, calm, amused. “Perks of being the oldest.”

I scream again, clawing at the dirt, twisting under him. It’s useless. He doesn’t even budge.

His knee drives into my stomach, locking me down. I gasp, choking on my own breath as my body folds in on itself. Tears blur everything, but I can see the other figures now, four of them circling.

The leather jacket doesn’t take his eyes off me. He leans in, fangs bare, lips near my throat.

“Please—” I sob. “Please don’t…fuck, please…”

His head lifts slowly. Eyes shift toward the guy who caught me first.

“Actually…” He sits back just a little. “Let Hawk take the first bite.”

The others react with groans, mocking laughs, one of them whistles like they expected it.

Hawk doesn’t hesitate.

The second Leather Jacket moves off me, I’m yanked off the ground and slammed into a tree so fucking hard, I hear the crack in my back before I feel it.

My scream rips through the woods. His hand is on my throat, keeping me there. Pinned. Like I’m nothing.

His head dips low and his mouth crashes into my neck, he takes a huge bite that snatches the breath from my lungs.

The pain hits a second later.

My knees give out but I’m still held up. Still trapped. My fingers claw at his jacket. My screams get drowned as I start to choke on my own blood.

And while I get devoured, I hear one of them whisper behind him.

“Well… fuck. He doesn’t care as much as we’d thought he would.”