In the meantime, I had to lose myself in the maze so I wouldn’t get caught by someone other than Arun. I shuddered thinking about some of the creatures out there. I knew for a fact there were a few centaurs in the park. They mated in their half-horse, half-human form. That was not for me.
I wasn’t even paying attention to the directions I was taking in the maze. The further away from the entrance the better. I heard the trumpets blowing as the contestants entered the maze.
I only stopped running when the maze opened into a patch of green grass and a creek. The sound of the water running over the rocks drowned out the blowing of the horn.
“Your plan worked like a charm.” I jumped and turned around as Arun entered the small opening. “You led me straight to you.”
“Let’s get this over with and get out of here.” I heard footsteps running on the other side of the maze, and I felt incredibly lucky Arun found me first.
I backed up as Arun walked closer to me. I was on the edge of the creek before I stopped. “What is wrong with you?” I asked him. I didn’t understand the change in his behavior.
He reached around my waist and slammed me against his chest. “I will do what you ask and get you out of the hunt. But only if you do what was promised to me.”
My heart was hammering hard in my chest; I had a bad feeling where he was headed with this. “What was promised to you?”
He smiled. Usually he was a very handsome man. Now, this smile made him ugly. I could see his half demon roots shining through his face. I should have read him a long time ago, because his intentions were never pure. “You.”
He pulled me toward the entrance. I dug my heels into the grass, but he was much stronger than me. He stopped a few feet from the opening to the maze and spun me around so that my back was to his chest. “You want something to mate you? Go ahead, but I can guarantee you will never be the same. They will tear you to shreds.”
I felt my cheeks turn cold as tears fell down. “This wasn’t what we had planned. Why now?”
With one hand, he reached around and roughly grabbed a breast. I was proud of myself for not calling out when he pinched a nipple through the corset. “I figured it out when you and the Death Seer were together. His blood can transport you to the Dry Lakes. But yours? Yours can take me straight to the gods. It can only be when you are in an in between place, like the maze during a hunt. Promise me you and a passage to them, and I will get you out of the hunt.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about. How do you even expect me to do that?”
With his other hand, he untied the leather strings on the corset, freeing the upper half of my body to exposed air. “Blood.”
I didn’t expect it. One minute his hand was on my breast, the next second it was replaced with the sharp edge of a knife.
“That hurts,” I said. I never expected violence from Arun. I looked down and saw he cut me above my breast. Blood was running down my waist.
I heard Arun behind me, but didn’t have the courage to turn around. The only reason I looked up was because the sound of a deep growl broke through my pain.
There he was in his skeletal beauty. James had entered into the grassy clearing. He wasn’t focused on me; instead he was watching Arun. I felt the air shift around me. I knew Arun was trying to manipulate it, so he could hold James in place. Other than moving the hair on his head, James broke Arun’s spell. James was stronger than Arun.
“Leave her be,” James’ voice was deeper, with an almost guttural tone.
I turned to Arun, who had dropped to his knees, still trying to manipulate the air around James. “She is supposed to be my free ticket.”
James only stopped walking when he was inches from Arun and his outstretched knife. James slid his hand across Arun’s blade and placed his blood palm on Arun’s head. “Last chance, leave her be. If not, then I will send you to the Dry Lakes.”
Arun looked around James to me. “We aren’t finished yet.” He must have conceded defeat to James, because he shimmered out of the grassy opening.
James turned around to me. His face alternated between skeleton and human features. It took him a few seconds, but he finally gained control. I can’t believe how fast he learned.
“I saw what he did. You alright?” He kept his gaze on the ground, instead of on me.
“Crap.” That is when I remembered I wasn’t wearing my corset.
Arun dropped it close to my feet. I grabbed it and covered myself up. “Do you think you could help me one more time and tie me up?”
I felt heat radiating off his body as he stepped close behind me. He didn’t tie me up; instead he used the back of his knuckles and traced my spine. “Ethel told me your grand plan and how to leave this place. She told me to follow Arun and protect you. I just wasn’t expecting what I saw.”
My body was shivering from his light touch. He slipped his hand under my corset and pulled me close to him. “I know what we need to do to finish the hunt,” his mouth was right on top of my ear, moving my hair around my face.
James slid his hand up my corset. I was expecting him send my blood to heal the wound. I wasn’t prepared to feel his large hands wrapped around an entire breast. He was rough at the club, dominating and controlling every move. Here, he was gentle in his massage, as if he thought he could break me. Wanting more, I leaned back in to him.
My movement sent his hands a little further up my chest to the open wound. I felt it when it happened. The blood from his open palm mixed with mine on my chest. My wound healed instantly, but the skin on my waist burned.
I pulled up corset, and, sure as the moon rises, I watched a chain brand wrap around my waist. James hissed and lifted his shirt. He had a matching brand. “What the fuck is happening?”
“I wish I knew,” I answered James’ question as I full turned my back to him again. “Can you please retie my corset?”
He tied it like a pro. I was secured within a minute, and I could breathe. Ethel didn’t have to tie it so tight to begin with.
“Welcome.”
James pushed me behind him as we turned to the new voice. “...And you are?”
I looked around James’ back. The man in front of us was young—didn’t look a day over twenty. However, he had a beard that reached down his waist and his green shirt was the only color in the place. What a minute. “Odin?”
His smile made his face look even more youthful. “Forgive me for being so rude. Congrats on winning the hunt, and I am so glad it was you two that figured out the trophy. There is so much to tell you and so little time.”
I was speechless, and I always had something to say. But, literally, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get a single sound to come out of my throat. Odin turned around like he heard something and then turned back to us. “I thought we would have more time, but we are just about out. Take the prize, but under no circumstances tell anyone you have it. This will be needed to save sweet Ethel’s life. You two are of my own creation. Ask and Embla, please don’t let her die.”
Just as quick as Odin entered the grassy area, James and I were facing each other in Central Park. There was something in my palm. I looked down and there was a worn coin with Celtic runes covering every single surface. I close my fingers around the coin, determined not to let anyone know I had it. Through hell and high water, I was going to do what Odin said.