I've only gone hunting in other places a few times, and while I always went home with something, it was never as easy as it has been here. In my forest the land seems to know me, seems to know what I need, and it makes sure I get it. Just like it has for my father, and my grandfather, and every Loxley that has walked these woods for generations.
Which is why the dream is making me uncomfortable.
I try to take a breath and sit up, but I end up coughing, my chest aching as I try to stifle it when I see Harper turn over on the floor. She's got her head on one of the pillows from the bed, and a blanket that's only pulled up to her waist now. Shaking my head, I toss off the blanket she obviously put on me before she made the little pallet on the floor just so she could be close to me. Scooping her off the floor, I adjust my hold on her so she's secure against my chest before I carry her into the bedroom. She smells amazing, the hint of her shampoo mixed with the fresh air outside and the vague hint of the fire that's still smoldering in the living room.
I love her so fucking much, and I know the lingering thoughts in my brain are wrong. Harper wouldn't leave me. I know she wouldn't.
When I lay her on the bed, I have to tug the sheet out from under her so I can pull it over her legs. She wrinkles her nose in her sleep, immediately rolling onto her side to curl up, and I feel a sense of pride that I was able to take care of her. She would have been so sore in the morning if I hadn't woken up to move her.
What time is it anyway?
Looking around the floor for my phone, I can't see it in the dark, so I crouch down to feel around with my hands where I saw it last. I know it was plugged in near my duffel bag, but when I trace my hand over the wall, I find the socket empty. My charging cable isn't plugged in anymore... what the fuck? Standing up, I glance at Harper again before I move to her side of the bed where the moonlight makes it easy to find her phone. Right next to the bed.
I tap the screen to wake it up and I'm frustrated that it's only a little after eleven. I don't even remember falling asleep, but I must have been tired to pass out like that — and now I'm wide awake. Great.
Heading back into the living room, I jab the fire a few times with the poker, getting the smoldering coals to burn hot again before I add a few more logs. The cabin still feels so fucking cold to me, and as I crouch in front of the fire the puff of smoke makes me cough again, only this time I can't stop. My lungs hurt from the wracking coughs, and I sit down on the floor just to give myself a break. When I finally stop, my next breath is a wheeze, and I can feel my pulse pounding behind my eyes. Each beat of my heart feels like a drum banging on the inside of my skull, making the headache worse.
Is she worthy?
Do you want to make her yours?
I shake my head, grabbing at my hair as the weird thoughts flicker through my mind. They don't feel like me... but I know I want Harper in my life.
Take her.
I'm off the floor and standing in the doorway to the bedroom before I even remember moving. She's curled up exactly where I left her, hair fanned out beside her in the moonlight, the glow of it highlighting her profile. She's beautiful... and she's probably cold. Turning around, I grab the stuff off the floor and carry them to the bed. I leave the pillow next to her, because I don't want to wake her up, but I shake out the blanket and drape it over her — just like she did for me.
This is why we'll work as a couple in the long run.
These little things are what can make a marriage work. I saw it growing up with my mom and dad, and I know that Harper sees it too.
There's a strand of hair over her face, and I reach over to brush it out of the way, but my hand stops in mid-air when I see a dark stain on the sheets. Grabbing her shoulder, I turn Harper onto her back and feel a dizzying wave of panic crash into me. There's a cut across her throat, and blood. So much blood. It's everywhere and she's not moving, she's not even breathing, and suddenly I can't breathe either.
My knees buckle as another piercing headache makes my skull feel like it's being split in two, but inside the pain there's a hum and a voice whispering. The same voice from my dream.
Make her yours, or kill her.
She can't leave unless she belongs to you.
I want to scream 'no' but when I try to make my voice work, I just start coughing. Bracing my hands on the floor, I feel like I'm choking, the coughs even worse than before, and then everything goes dark.
10
Harper
I wake up in bed instead of on the floor, and it's a little disorienting. Especially when I look over and realize that Jared isn't in bed with me. If he woke up in the night and moved me, why wouldn't he just climb in bed with me?
Rolling over, I lean over the side of the bed to check the time on my phone, but I don't see it connected to the charging cord. Sighing, I stretch, feeling my back pop in the most wonderful way before I get up and tilt my head from side to side as well. Another series of pops relieves more tension. I'm not sure how long I slept on the floor, but it was clearly long enough to leave me a little stiff.
Now I just need to find my phone.
Scanning the floor, I try to figure out where it could have gone, and I crouch down to look under the bed and the bedside table, but it's not there either. Strange.
"Jared?" I call out, finally noticing the bedroom door is shut. When I open it, I expect to find him on the couch again, but it's empty. Groaning, I grab my shoes and pull them on, muttering to myself. "I swear to God, if he's chopping firewood again, I'm going to lose my shit."
Just as I get to the back door, I hear the front door open and I turn around to see him coming inside. He looks... a lot better. There's color in his cheeks again, and a big smile on his face. "Hey, babe! I was just going to come wake you up."
"Hey, how long have you been up?" I ask, walking over to him as he tries to stomp the mud off his boots on the steps.
"Not sure, a few hours maybe?" He shrugs and smiles at me, reaching for my hand to pull me close enough to kiss. A huge wash of relief floods through me as his warm lips touch mine. He's okay. He's back to normal. "I know it's our last day, but I was hoping you'd still like to take that hike later?"
"That would be great, babe." The stupid smile won't leave my face, but I don't even care. I'm so fucking happy that he's okay, that he's acting like my Jared again. "Oh, did you see my phone this morning? It's not on the charger."
"No, but I might have kicked it when I was carrying you to bed last night." Grinning, Jared steps inside the cabin and walks over to the kitchen to fill up his water bottle. "Someone decided it was a good idea to make a bed on the floor."
"I was worried about you. I didn't want to leave you alone in the living room in case something was wrong."
"Well, I feel much better today. Maybe I just needed a good night's sleep." He winks at me, and I feel the warm flutter in my chest return. I don't have any fucking idea what's been going on the last few days, but I'm relieved it's over. As I lean against the kitchen counter, I notice the dirt on his pants and the mud still caked on his boots and I laugh.
"What have you been doing out there this morning? Rolling around in the dirt?"
Jared laughs, looking down to try and dust off his pants, but it's useless. It's embedded in the fabric and only a good wash is going to get them clean now. "I wasn't rolling around in the dirt, I was just checking the area, but I found something cool I want to show you."
"What is it?" I ask, refilling my glass from the night before to take a drink.
"That would be a spoiler, and you know how much I hate those." He grins at me, and I can't help but smile back. It's just so fucking nice to have him back to normal.
"Okay, fine. I just need to brush my teeth and put my hair back up. Did you already eat breakfast?" I ask as I head toward the bathroom, and he follows me, lingering in the doorway to watch me as I start brushing.
"I had a bar. Didn't feel like cooking a whole meal this morning, I wanted to get outside."
Popping the
toothbrush out of my mouth, I look over at him. "You definitely seem to be feeling better today. Back to normal?"
"I'm all good, babe. Never felt better." Leaning into the bathroom, he smacks my ass. "Hurry up! I want to show you the woods."
Laughing, I hurry through my routine, stopping into the bedroom to add some sunscreen while I do one more sweep for my phone. I even dig in my duffel bag for it, but it's not there... which doesn't make sense. Phones don't just walk away. Moving to Jared's side, I notice his charger isn't even plugged in anymore, but just as I crouch down beside his bag to look for it, I hear his voice from behind me.
"Are you snooping, detective?"
"No!" I laugh a little as I stand up. "I'm just trying to find my phone, or yours. I can't find either of them. Did you move them somewhere?"
"Why would I do that?" Jared claps his hands together and turns back into the living room. "Come on, come on! You're being so slow this morning."
Sighing, I scan the room again, but I'm not sure where they could be. "Fuck it, I'll look when we get back."
"Harper!" he calls out, and I groan.
"Oh my God, I'm coming!" I raise my hands up as I walk into the living room, heading for the kitchen. "You have zero patience today."
"We've only got today to see everything. I don't want to waste it."
"Right," I reply, ignoring the urge to point out that he was the one who has been preventing us from exploring the woods or going on the big hike up the mountain. There are still some things we need to talk about, but I don't want to pick a fight. Not when he's finally in a good mood, and we're both actually enjoying our time together again. Grabbing a granola bar, I tighten my ponytail and turn around to find him slinging his bow over his shoulder. "Are we going hunting?"
"Just a precaution, babe. Same reason I've got this." Jared lifts the leg on his jeans, and I see an ankle holster for a pistol. Guns still weird me out, and it must show on my face because he sighs and walks over to me, cupping my chin to tilt my face up. "It's better to be safe than sorry, right? Just try not to think about it."
"That's easier said than done," I reply, trying to suppress the uncomfortable feeling rolling like a shiver down my spine.
"You trust me, don't you?" he asks with a smile, but up close there's something off about it. Like it doesn't reach his eyes. "Babe?"
Shaking off the feeling, I nod. "Of course."
"Good, then let's goooo! The weather is perfect." Jared practically bounces out the door, and I follow him, making sure the door is shut tight behind us. "See? Isn't it beautiful out here?"
"It really is," I reply, taking a deep breath of the fresh air as we walk toward the tree line. "I sat out at the overlook for a while yesterday. You were right that the views are incredible."
"I love this place. Everything about it is so pure. No loggers tearing the trees down, building muddy tracks through the forest. There's just nature, the same way it was hundreds of years ago." Jared tilts his head back, looking up at the sky for a moment. "This is how the world was always meant to be."
"It is amazing, but I think you'd miss the internet after a while." I laugh, but Jared doesn't respond at all as he leads the way through the trees. "That was a joke, babe."
"I know." He turns to smile at me over his shoulder, and then we start climbing up a rise. The ground is a little wet in places, and I wish I'd stopped to put on my hiking boots before we'd left.
"How far out are we going?" I ask, grabbing onto a small tree to steady my footing as I navigate the way up, trying to step in the same spots that Jared does.
"Just a little farther."
"Okay... well, should I head back and grab my boots?" The words are barely out of my mouth when he turns around and grabs my arm with an intense look in his eyes.
"No. You need to stay with me." His grip loosens a bit, and then he smiles again and lets go of me. "It's really not much farther. I promise."
Nodding, I rub the spot he grabbed. "All right. Lead the way."
"This is going to be so much fun. You'll see," he says as he turns to continue up the rise, and I follow him, but I drop back a little so that I'm not as close as before. I want to believe that everything's okay, but there's something still off with him. I'm glad he looks better, and he doesn't seem sick anymore, but I'm getting the same feeling I got before we came out to the cabin. He's keeping something from me, a secret, and I don't think it has to do with something 'cool' he found in the woods.
I'm so focused on not slipping or tripping over the hidden rocks and roots in the underbrush that I don't realize how long we've been walking until I feel sweat trickle down my back. Even with the cool air, the effort of the hike is still way more than I expected when he said he wanted to show me something quickly. Stopping, I turn around in a circle, trying to spot a landmark, but the trees are too dense here.
"Tired already, Harper?" Jared asks from ahead, and I hear him chuckling in the quiet of the woods.
"No, I'm not tired. Just trying to figure out where we are."
"Don't worry about that, the place I want to show you is just down this ridge." He beckons me after him with a wave of his hand, and even though that uncomfortable feeling is waking up in my stomach again, I follow him.
There's a flat area of land at the base of the ridge, and it looks like someone tried to line it with flat stones at some point. They're overgrown with moss now, and there's leaves and dirt scattered everywhere, but it's clear that this isn't natural. It was man-made, done by someone on purpose. "What is this place?"
"Honestly, I have no idea." Jared laughs, walking toward the center. "But I think it was meant for my family... or made by my family."
"How do you know?" I ask, but he's already tapping his boot on a stone in front of him. It's the only space that's been brushed clear.
"Come see." He holds out his hand, and my curiosity draws me closer, but I don't take his hand. Instead, I crouch down to see the carvings on the stone better. They've been worn by time, but I recognize it almost instantly.
"It's your family crest."
"Bingo!" Jared claps his hands together. "Look at that, you're so clever, Harper. My little detective."
Standing up, I move away from him. His tone is cruel, mocking, and I don't like the way he's looking at me at all. It's in his eyes. There's something off with his eyes. "Thanks for showing me this, Jared. Let's head back to the cabin now, okay?"
"Oh, Harper... do you really think that's what's going to happen next?" His smile sends a chill down my spine, and I take another step back, but he matches me. "You're getting ahead of me, babe. It's not time to run yet."
"This isn't you, Jared. There's something wrong with you, and we can get you help," I say, taking another step back. "We just need to go home."
"Something wrong with me?" Jared laughs, spreading his arms wide as he tries to close the gap between us. "Babe, I've never felt so right. Everything is so clear out here. Everything just makes sense."
I'm moving steadily backward, curving in a circle, because the ground rises all around us, and there's no way I'll be able to outrun him up an incline. I need to keep him talking, I need to get him to snap out of this. "What do you mean? What's clear?"
"You. Me. Us." Jared brings his hands together in a loud clap, interlocking his fingers as he stares at me with a disturbing intensity. "That's what has been wrong all this time, Harper. We've been together, but we haven't been united. You haven't really been mine."
"What are you talking about, Jared? You're not making any sense." I shake my head, taking another few steps away when he moves closer again, holding out his clasped hands like they somehow explain the words he's saying.
"You're not mine, which means you could have been with anyone. Anyone could have taken you from me."
"What?" I sputter over my words as I realize what he's implying. "You think I cheated on you? You really think I'd ever fucking cheat on you?"
"It's possible, isn't it?" He drops his hands to his sides, shru
gging a shoulder which lifts the bow a little higher. "I mean... you're not mine, and you're beautiful, wealthy. We both know your family wishes you were with someone closer to your social standing."
"My family doesn't give a shit about—"
"DON'T LIE!" Jared roars, and then he raises his hands up, a low, strange chuckle passing his lips. "Sorry, I just really fucking hate it when you lie to me, Harper. We both know your mom thinks I'm trash, and that your dad thinks I just want to get my hands on whatever fucking inheritance you're going to get."
I shake my head, but I can't find my voice now. Arguing with him about my family isn't going to get me out of this situation, it's only going to piss him off more, and I need to be calming him down. When I step backward again, I almost trip over a loose stone, but I manage to regain my footing, holding my hands up in front of me to try and keep him from getting too close. "Jared... babe, you know I love you. I love you so much, and whatever you think is going on, I swear to you I've never loved anyone but you. I haven't been with anyone else since we met. We live together. When would I have ever—"
"I really don't want to listen to your lies, Harper. I chose you, out of everyone we know, I chose you. I've never even brought anyone else out here. Not any friends, no other girls. I wanted the person I shared this place with to be special, and the land knows that." Jared looks around, taking a deep breath as that strange smile sits on his face like a mask that doesn't fit quite right. "My forest knows that I want you to be mine, to be a part of my family, and it's shown me how to make that possible."
"Wh-what did it show you?" I ask, even though I'm very sure I don't want the answer.
"I have to follow the old ways." He nods, stepping closer, and I move back faster, trying not to trip and fall whenever my shoe catches on an uneven stone, but he's not slowing down now. "I have to claim you the right way. Here. In my forest."
Hunted (The Dirty Heroes Collection Book 13) Page 9