“You’ll never outrun me,” Rain said, reading my thoughts. She moved to stand behind me, blocking any attempt to escape. If I tried to bowl her over, I’d probably trip and roll down the trail.
Step by step, Rain urged me forward. Her knife bit into the small of my back when I didn’t move fast enough.
She’d have to cut my wrists free at some point, right? If she wanted this to look like a suicide, she couldn’t keep my hands bound. She must not have bound Lily’s at all because there’d been no tie marks.
The cuts on my wrists from the ties stung and throbbed. I’d pulled hard enough for them to dig in, just not break. It was a small comfort, knowing that I’d fought enough for my corpse to raise more questions.
Maybe she’d climb down after pushing me off the cliff and cut the ties then.
Before. Please, let her cut them before.
That would be my only chance to fight. It wouldn’t be much of an opening, but it would likely be the only one.
The trail curved and with it my stomach twisted. The top was near.
Except getting there was going to be a bit more difficult.
Griffin had blockaded the trail.
I laughed when I spotted the fence. It was tall and sturdy. The only way past was to climb over the top. When had he done this? If I survived this night, I’d kiss him for it. I’d kiss him for the rest of my life.
“What is this?” Rain spat the words as she took in the freshly dug fence posts and braces between them.
“A gift from Griffin.”
She studied it, looking it up and down. “Go.”
“Where?”
“Over.” The knife jabbed my bicep. “Climb it.”
“There’s barbed wire at the top.”
Rain didn’t give a shit if I cut myself to pieces, but she’d have to climb this too. She looked forward, then behind us. “Go. Up.”
I opened my mouth to refuse but past her shoulder a flicker of light broke through the night.
She followed my gaze, her own widening.
“Help!” I screamed.
“Winslow!”
Briggs. He was coming this way from the trail that led to the cabin. The light must be a flashlight.
“Bri—”
“Shut up.” Rain lifted the knife to my throat. “Go. Down.”
I didn’t argue as she shoved me back the way we’d come. Down was a move in the right direction.
She pushed and pushed, so fast we were practically jogging. When we passed the place where the two trails merged, her knife stayed on my pulse, its blade slicing tiny cuts into my skin.
“Faster,” she hissed.
I searched frantically for Briggs’s light. It was on the trail, but he was still yards away. Too far to stop us as we passed.
He’d be chasing us down the mountain.
My knees ached as she pushed, and I braced each time my heel landed, worried the last shreds of my strength would unravel and I’d fall forward.
“Stop.” Rain’s hand wrapped around my elbow.
Her gaze whipped behind us, checking to see if we were alone.
So focused on jogging forward, I hadn’t kept track of where we were on the trail. The slope beside us was the steepest along this path except for the cliff itself. The face wasn’t a sheer wall of rock like it was at the top, but the vertical drop was enough to make my stomach plummet.
Bushes cluttered the slope, their leaves gray against the growing moonlight. They’d hurt but they probably wouldn’t kill me. No, it would be the rocks hiding beneath those shrubs that would break me.
Rain would push me over, then race to the bottom and disappear before Briggs or anyone else could catch her.
Her knife came to my side. She nudged my arm, sending another wave of searing pain through my body as she eased in close, her voice a whisper in my ear. “Think you’ll fly, little bird?”
“Fuck you,” I whimpered.
“Let’s find out.” Her knife left my side and her free hand pressed between my shoulder blades, ready to shove. She was fast.
But I was ready.
Summoning every ounce of my strength, I twisted away, my feet sliding on the dirt path. My arms were heavy and my legs tired, but I managed to kick at the back of her knee, forcing her off-balance.
“Goddamn you,” she shouted.
But I was already moving, stumbling to my feet and pushing my legs to run.
“I will catch you,” she threatened, the sound of her footsteps close behind. Her hand reached out and brushed my hair.
I slipped, skidding more than running, but the momentum was in the right direction as I rounded a slight curve.
A new light flickered in the distance. Headlights.
I pushed faster. Harder. If I could just get to the bottom, Briggs would—
Rain’s hand clamped on my scalp. One of her fingers slid into the sticky, slick gash above my temple, and the pain was so blinding there wasn’t anything to do but slow.
And fight.
I whirled on her, my knee raised. Years of training came to my rescue. My kick snapped fast, right into her stomach.
I wasn’t dying today. I had things to live for. I had to move into Griffin’s house. I had to learn how to ride Jupiter. I had to spend more sunsets in his rocking chair and nights curled in his bed.
Rain grunted but kept her balance. She swung out with the knife, slicing toward my belly.
I dodged, barely, my footing unsteady. My second attempt at a kick missed her hip by inches.
And when she swept the knife again, her strike was true. Agony erupted through my stomach. Red seeped through my shirt, hot and wet.
“Winn.” Griffin’s voice sang through my mind.
“No.” Rain stabbed again, the blade sinking into my side.
I gasped, the pain blending with the rest.
She took my wrist and pulled, hard, dragging me past her body in an attempt to fling me over the edge.
I dropped to a knee, my skin tearing against a rock.
“Winn!”
Griff’s voice rang through my mind again. Or maybe it was Briggs.
Rain’s gaze flickered over my head to the base of the trail.
I followed her eyes, twisting as best I could. The headlights. The voice. He was here.
Fight. I gritted my teeth, squaring my shoulders and planting my toes beneath me. Then I shot forward, like a spring, and slammed my shoulder into her ankles.
Rain stumbled.
And then it was her time to fly.
Over the edge. Her screams dying at the first clash with a rock.
Then there was silence. Sweet silence as I collapsed onto the ground, tilting my gaze to those swirling stars.
“Winn.” Griffin’s voice came louder and louder, then he was there, picking me up.
“You found me,” I whispered.
He shifted, digging into his jeans for a pocket knife. One flick and the tie at my wrists was gone.
I tried to lift an arm to touch his cheek but I didn’t have the strength.
“Winn. Baby. Stand up. We need to get you to a hospital.”
I sagged against him as his arm wrapped beneath my shoulders.
“Oh, fuck.” His hand pressed into the wounds on my stomach. “Okay, I’m going to carry you.”
He made the move to stand and the pain that lanced through my body conjured one more scream.
“Fuck. This will hurt. You have to stick it out for me, okay?” He looked up the trail. “Briggs!”