Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
“I think it’s gonna happen tomorrow,” Shay said.
“I think it’s gonna happen any fucking minute now.” I looked over my shoulder, down the hill, toward the forest. Then toward the Founders’ cabins on my right, across the lawn, and wasn’t that funny? The lights in all the cabins were on. They were all here tonight.
Shay eyed me. “What makes you think that?”
“Note that most of the Sadists in our group are missing,” I replied. “River, Reese, Greer, Lucian, Kingsley…” KC was present. He wasn’t in his wheelchair tonight, though that wasn’t too odd. He walked with a cane sometimes. He was helping Noa pour soda.
“Mr. West is by the grill,” Shay offered.
That could be a decoy. Lucas was part of a dynamic with another Sadist, and I wasn’t completely certain Colt wasn’t here, which I told Shay.
“What—you think he’s hiding somewhere?” he asked dubiously.
“I don’t know, but don’t you think it’s interesting that Lucas and Kit came here yesterday with Penelope and Ella? Why would they carpool? They have a truck.”
“Maybe Colt has it at Langley.”
“Didn’t stop Lucas from driving it three days ago.”
Two more Tops headed indoors.
I shook my head and cast a glance at Shay’s clothes. Jeans, sneakers, long-sleeved tee. Had someone told him to wear that? Because Lee had made me change after our nap, before we came down for dinner. I was in similar clothes to Shay now, but as far as I knew, he wasn’t participating in a primal-play scene with his Owners. Or was he? Was I missing something? Reese had mentioned River spotting us, something we commonly did during play that involved more risks.
Then it hit me that I hadn’t seen Ivy tonight. But didn’t she have dinner plans with Auggie?
“Tate.”
I glanced at Shay, to find him peering skyward. I followed his gaze and froze.
You gotta be fucking kidding me.
I heard the low whirring sound, and I saw two red dots at the center of a dark device. It could only be the drone I’d seen Reese with on their porch earlier.
“Shay, I think we’re fucked.”
It was happening tonight. It was happening right now.
“I think you’re right.” Shay blew out a heavy breath. “What do we do?”
“I—hold on.” My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and noticed Shay retrieving his phone too. “Fuck.”
That was a short message. From an unknown number.
Run.
I snapped my stare to Shay’s, finding him watching me right back. We’d gotten the same message. And before we could say a single word to each other, a pompous metal song started blaring so loudly that I instinctively flinched and ducked my head.
“Let’s go!” Shay grabbed my arm, and then we made a run for it.
We darted for the tree line along the eastern side of the property, this ten-foot-thick wall of vegetation, and emerged on the other side where nothing but empty fields waited for us.
The music came from everywhere. The Sadists had either put up the speakers in the trees again, or they’d never taken them down from our July Game, the Hunt.
“Down toward the forest,” I said.
He nodded and ran alongside me.
Fuck, I needed my eyes to adjust to the darkness stat.
The music faded a little bit, giving the spotlight to a dark, threatening voice.
“Shay Acton, Kit Damien, Noa Hayles, Cameron Jacobson, Tate Ridley, Aiko Tanaka, Corey Cruz, Darnell Jackson, Ella Smith, Gretchen Ward, and Mateo Delgado, you participated in an uprising last month.”
My steps faltered, and I glared in the general direction of the nearest speaker, which I couldn’t even see.
“Uprising is a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?” I yelled.
Jesus H, we’d come together to perform a few songs before the last Game. We’d caught the organizers off guard and reminded them that we could keep them on their toes. And maybe a couple brats had teamed up to order shirts on which we declared our Tops everything from kittens to maids. It’d been a fun prank! Not a fucking uprising!
The dark voice sounded again. “It’s time to face your punishment. Welcome to the Brat Boot Camp, Primal Style.”
“Fucking drama queens!” Shay growled.
As soon as we reached the bottom of the hill, we dove into the forest where we could hopefully get lost.
“Kit Damien, Ella Smith, Mateo Delgado—you’ve been caught.”
“Over my dead body, you old fuck!” we heard Noa scream in the distance. “Come at me! I’ll show you!”
I jumped over a stream, and Shay took the lead, guiding us deeper into the forest.
“Fuck!” He came to a screeching halt, and I saw the reason a beat later. Two men running toward us. It was way too dark to see who they were, but I wasn’t counting on them being friendlies. So we took off in the opposite direction.
“Let’s circle around and come out at the back of the forest,” Shay panted.
“Got it.” I got slapped in the face by a spruce tree, and I nearly stumbled over a big rock.