I should be afraid, or at least furious. Maybe part of me is. But there is something else, too. Something unsettling and unspoken crackling between us, just waiting to explode.

“Do you really think you can keep me here forever? I may just try to run away again and hope that I die.”

As I tilt my head back in defiance, he only looks down at me and smirks.

“Try, little one. Just try,” he says, his voice barely audible. “What’s in the woods won’t be the only thing hunting you. And I ...