Chapter 18

It is too easy. As expected, Kaiden does fall asleep after a couple of hours. His mistake was putting the heating on. That boy could never stand to be cold, but being warm and cosy always made him sleepy. I guess old habits die hard, and work in my favour, though I do wait another hour to make sure the others aren’t coming back and to check that Kaiden isn’t going to suddenly wake up, then I allow myself to rest.

“Come down, Peony. You’re climbing too high!”

That saying about sleeping with one eye open? Yeah, I understand that better than anyone. I close my eyes and slow my breathing, but I’m still aware of the rhythm of the forest around me. Every time a new sound encroaches on my peace, my eyes fly open and my heart races.

“Come down, Peony. You’re going to fall!”

“I’m not,” I shout back from my perch high up in the tree.

“You’ll get hurt,” Axel warns, though he makes it sound more like a threat.

“I won’t! I can do this!” I insist, too stubborn for my own good as always. But there’s something about Axel, about the way he considers me less than them, that always spurs me forward to challenge his expectations of me.

“You can’t make that jump. It’s too far.” Zie sounds afraid but he’s always been such a baby. He doesn’t have an adventurous bone in his body. Not like Kaiden. He taught me to climb, to fight, and to use a knife. He said next summer he’ll show me how to use a gun but Axel doesn”t approve at all. He’s probably just scared I’ll shoot him when he’s being a control freak…which is always.

“Fuck! Did you see that?”

“She flew.”

“Atta girl!” Kaiden’s chirp is laced with pride and I grin as I fly through the branches swinging and jumping from tree to tree. I’m quick and agile and damn near uncatchable.

Until I slip.

And then I’m falling, falling, landing hard on my back with an ‘oof’. Winded and dazed I lie on my back and blink at the sky, trying to work up the courage to move.

“Fuck! Peony, are you okay?”

I silently laugh at the boys’ panicked vocalisations, my shoulders shaking even as I try to suck in oxygen. I think I’m slightly hysterical from the shock of falling, but at the same time I feel alive.

Climbing to my feet a couple of minutes later, I grin at their three worried faces.

“I’m fine. That was fun. I’m going to do it again. Want to join me?”

Without any way to tell the time, I estimate that I doze on and off for a couple of hours. When I think there’s about an hour to go I shimmy down the tree grateful that it’s still semi-dark. In October the sun won’t rise fully until about an hour after the challenge ends, so if I stick to the shadows I still have adequate cover. If I’m careful.

Shots ring out, disturbing the peace and sounding way too much like real guns to calm my nerves. What is going on out there?

For a second I wonder if someone is hurt, if I should investigate, and then I shake myself. There’s no fucking way I’m going back in that forest willingly. There’s enough guys out there to take care of whatever is going down.

Tentatively I approach the back of the Jeep and peer through the window. Kaiden is out cold, mouth open, catching flies. I smile. When he’s not being tormented by nightmares, Kaiden sleeps like the dead, always has. A herd of hellhounds could crash through this clearing and unless they actually slammed into the car, he wouldn’t stir. How lucky for me that Kaiden was elected to stay behind and not Axel – his hearing is freakishly good and I swear he doesn’t know how to switch off or unwind. If I sleep with one eye open, Axel just doesn’t sleep, period.

I’m still tentative as I open the back of the Wrangler though. Kaiden doesn’t stir as I climb into the boot and quietly close the door behind me. The boot space isn’t huge but I’m able to curl up and lie down, pulling a blanket over me. This time I fully relax because if I get caught now, I’m fucked anyway. There’s no escaping a space this small.

But I have a feeling I’m going to be alright. And I can’t wait to see the motherfuckers’ faces when I do.

* * *

I’mjolted awake by the Jeep’s movement coming to a standstill. I didn’t even notice that we left the clearing but we seem to have arrived at a new destination. I wait while Kaiden parks and jumps out of the car.

“Well? Did she make it back?” He asks. I grin and wait. We’re back on campus then.

“No she hasn’t,” Axel snaps. “Was there any sign of her in the woods, Zie?”

“No, nothing.”

“Shit. Do you think she’s okay?”

I open the door and climb out, grinning at the Trinity whose jaws are on the floor. “Aww boys, for a second there you almost sounded worried about me.”

I grin at Axel, my face a picture of pure joy. And smugness. He looks like his head is going to explode. Zie is flabbergasted, and Kaiden seems impressed. I throw him a cheeky wink. “Thanks for the ride.”

“H-how?” Zie stammers. I snigger.

I could throw Kaiden under the bus right now and announce that he fell asleep, but for some reason I don’t. Maybe because his cryptic clues around our childhood in the woods gave me enough of a heads-up to prepare for the challenge and win. Maybe I feel like I owe him.

I change the subject instead. “I’m guessing I won? If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be off to enjoy my entire week of peace without you arseholes breathing down my neck all the time.”

I manage half a step before Axel’s arm flies out and his vice-like grip circles my wrist and halts me in my tracks. I try to pull free but his grip becomes bruising. I grunt but that’s the only satisfaction I’ll give him at causing me pain.

“Not so fast, little doe.”

“Let me go,” I snarl at him. “I played your bullshit game and I won. I’m entitled to my prize.”

“Guys, go back to the flat. The Doe and I are going to have a little chat before her reward begins.”

Zie doesn’t look happy at being dismissed, but Kaiden’s eyes are flicking back and forth between Axel and me, a knowing smirk playing on his lips. He is so barking up the wrong fucking tree there. I can read his thoughts so clearly and he’s so far off base it’s not even funny.

“What about your phone?” Zie calls as Axel begins to drag me off in the direction of my dorm.

“Keep it. I won’t be needing it this week,” I call back over my shoulder.

Axel doesn’t say a word the entire walk, nor does he loosen his grip or ease up on his pace. He literally drags me across campus and then astounds me by letting himself into my flat.

“How the fuck did you get a key to my flat?” I demand, trying to pull from his grip once again. It doesn’t work.

“It’s a master.”

“The fuck? Does that let you into bedrooms too?”

“No.”

I don’t believe him. I’m going to start bolting the door when I’m in the room. Then again, it’s kind of pointless if I keep the window open. Can’t see Lord Almighty Axel Abbot climbing through a window anytime soon though.

He taps his foot impatiently as we stand outside my bedroom door.

“Well?” he hisses when I don’t move.

“Your key really doesn’t open my room?”

“If it did, we’d be inside already.”

“Well, I’m gonna need both my hands if you want me to get my key out.”

He lets me go and I resist the urge to rub my wrist in front of him. That’s going to bruise. I dig my key out of the front of my backpack and the second he sees it, Axel snatches it from my hand, opens the door and drags me inside.

“What the fuck was that?” Axel seethes the second my door slams shut. I whirl on him and fold my arms defensively over my heaving chest.

“What?”

“Don’t give me that shit, princess. How the fuck did you evade capture for the entire duration of that challenge? Some of those guys are literally hunters. You can’t have escaped them. They were trained to hunt you.”

“You think I don’t know what all those childhood ‘games’ were all about?” I counter.

I turn away from him but manage to take one step before his hand fists into my hair and he yanks me back, slamming me against the wooden door hard enough to force the air from my lungs. He cages me in, bringing his hands up on either side of my head, preventing me from escaping. His scent invades my senses and overwhelms me to the point of dizziness.

“What?” He blinks and I know I’ve thrown him. I take the opportunity to snatch my key back from him and to duck out from under his arm. Is it petty? Yes it is. Do I give a fuck? No, I do not. Because everything about him is just too much. My palms are slick and my heart is racing, and I don’t even want to consider what’s happening between my thighs.

“You prepared me for this,” I accuse when there’s some safety space between us. “You can’t act surprised that I know how to play your games when you raised me on them.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” There’s doubt in his black eyes though. I’ve touched a nerve.

We spent our childhoods racing, climbing and competing. Trying to be the best and out run, out do and outsmart one another. I’m a fast runner, a damn good swimmer and an excellent climber. It’s on Axel for forgetting that.

“Don”t I?” I press with a smirk. His eyes zero in on my mouth. I might not know what I’m talking about but if I’m winding Axel up, I’m going to keep going. How many buttons can I press? Always one more.

“You know nothing about my childhood.”

“Yeah, and whose fault is that?” I mutter under my breath. “What happens now?” I ask, snapping out of the weird tension-filled trance between us and getting back to business.

“Well the plan was to kick out anyone who didn’t shoot you, but as no one managed it, we have to keep everyone in. Can’t have the contest over before it begins.”

“Why not? I won, let’s call it a day.”

“Sorry, princess, but the sponsors wouldn’t like that.”

“Sponsors?”

“You don’t think we do this just for shits and giggles do you?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, not everyone taking part wants to be the next Holy Trinity.” I snort. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to be the next Holy Trinity. “Some people are competing by proxy. They have sponsors supporting them through this process, and scouts looking for potential recruits.”

“Is it…filmed? Put online or something?”

“Some parts are.”

“So what does that all mean?”

“It means there’s a lot of money involved, and even higher stakes. No one is going to let this go after one task. They’ll be pissed enough as it is that there was so little action last night. You didn’t exactly help the games start with a bang.”

“Sorry for not providing more entertainment,” I say dryly, folding my arms over my chest.

“You’ll do better next time,” he replies, completely missing my sarcasm.

“Undoubtedly. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need a shower. That wasn’t the most fun I’ve had spending the night in the woods.”

Axel’s dark eyes flash with something I can’t name, but I’m pretty sure I’ve pissed him off.

“You have to tell me how you did it.”

“Why?” I sigh.

“Because…” He runs his hand through his hair and steps away from me, pacing my room. “Because…I need to make sure you’re safe.”

I almost snort at that. Why on earth does he suddenly give a fuck after treating me like I’m dead for the last two years?

“Maybe if you’d left me out of the bloody games, I wouldn’t need to be kept safe,” I snap, which causes Axel to scoff.

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.”

“There’s no getting out of this is there?” I ask, deflated. I’m not entirely resigned to my fate but I’m feeling crushed.

I don’t even know where to begin fighting back.

“You’re starting to get it. Now tell me how you managed it.”

“Axel, I’m used to going long periods of time without food or water, six hours in a forest is nothing. I laid a fake trail and doubled back by using the river and the trees. It wasn’t that big a deal. Now leave me alone because none of the contestants are allowed to bother me for an entire week. And that includes you and your band of merry arseholes. That’s seven whole days or one-hundred-sixty-eight blissful hours of not being bothered, contacted or controlled by you. If you want those numbers in minutes and seconds, it’s ten-thousand-eighty minutes or—”

I don’t manage another word because Axel’s mouth descends upon mine and suddenly he’s kissing me into silence.

Into submission.

And for a crazy moment of madness, I let him. His tongue battles with mine, the kiss unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. It’s as demanding and brutal as the boy doing the kissing. Not that Axel was ever really a boy.

I’m crazy. Certifiably insane because I even try to kiss him back, but Mr Domineering isn”t having any of that. His hand tangles in my hair, wrenching my head up and to the side so that he can kiss me exactly how he wants and I don’t even register that he’s manoeuvring me until my back hits the door once more.

And then sanity returns to me. I shove hard at his chest but he simply pins my arms up above my head and bites my lip. I groan, kiss him back, and have to seriously remind myself to bide my time.

When Axel finally breaks to catch his breath, I bring my knee up as hard as I can between his legs. I do not like being pinned or kissed without my permission. And I’ll never give Axel Abbot my consent. When I make contact and he wheezes out a curse, I slip by him and pull open my door. Pushing him out of it, I smile sweetly in his face while he gapes like a fish at me.

“The only thing I need keeping safe from, Axel Abbot, is your controlling fucked up mind games.”

Then I slam the door on his face and flip the lock, just to be sure.