He wasn’t sure if she believed him, but she nestled her head on his shoulder and snuggled a little closer.
He prayed he could keep that promise.
5:28 P.M.
* * *
Everything was perfect.
Every little detail had worked out just like he planned.
Every piece of the puzzle was falling into place.
There was only one thing left to do, and then he would finally have what he wanted.
James couldn’t be happier.
He had worked so hard on this, making sure that the cops would have no reason to even know his name. They had no way to know what he was after. He was careful that he left behind no witnesses and no forensics.
Basically, he had committed the perfect murders and he was going to get away with it.
The only two people who knew that he was the killer were Sydney and the cop, and neither of them would be telling anyone.
He chuckled to himself.
He was really flying high.
To make sure that the cops, at least temporarily, thought that Sydney was already dead, he had committed another murder of someone who resembled Syd. Now he had a bit of time to take care of the cop and then find out what choice Sydney was going to make.
Part of him hoped she was willing to finally say that she would be his, but part of him wanted her to say she wouldn’t, so he could kill her.
All his life, he had heard from their parents that he wasn’t as smart as his brother, that he wasn’t as good at sports, that he wasn’t as kind, as thoughtful of others—basically, that he wasn’t as good as Mitch.
Then he’d met Sydney.
On his part, the attraction had been instantaneous, and he had been determined to have her.
Only once again, he had lost out to his brother.
Mitch thought he had won but James had proved him wrong. He had killed his brother and now he would either walk away with Sydney as his prize, or he would end her life like he ended Mitch’s.
It was time to get ready for the final stage of his plan. His few belongings were packed and ready for him to leave town. There was no going back. He was walking away from the life he had been living, and it was time to embrace a new one.
Shedding his clothes, he donned his claws and his teeth and stepped out into the evening. The woods were quiet and peaceful. They embraced him as part of them. This was where he belonged; this was where he was meant to be.
His family had betrayed him.
His brother had betrayed him.
Sydney had betrayed him.
But the woods and the animals had always been there for him when he needed them. From fishing and camping as a young boy, to providing him a place to hide his prey, to providing him with a place where he could safely live as the beast he believed himself to be.
He had been born in blood, his birth almost costing his mother her life, and then he had been reborn in blood as he took lives to shed his old skin and don another.
With a growl, he started walking through the woods.
7:37 P.M.
* * *
Sydney woke feeling not only well rested but also warm and safe and secure.
It took her a moment to realize why.
It was because she had fallen asleep in Dante’s arms.
She might have only known him for a few hours, but he made her believe that everything would be okay. And not just that everything would be okay here, that the two of them would survive, but that everything in her life would be all right. She had been wanting to move on, and Dante was the first man she could see herself doing that with.
The more she woke up, the more she realized that although she liked Dante, and although the feel of him kissing her still lingered on her lips, their situation was pretty dire. It wouldn’t matter that she thought that Dante could be someone she could share her life with if they didn’t make it out of here alive.
Sydney lifted her head off Dante’s shoulder but didn’t move out from under his arm. The weight of it resting on her shoulders was comforting and reassuring and she wasn’t ready to let go of that feeling just yet.
“You’re awake,” Dante said, turning his head to look down at her.
“Yep.” She stifled a yawn. She might have slept, but she still felt exhausted. These few hours were the first sleep she’d had since James brought her here, and that wasn’t enough to erase the fear and terror she’d been living with, or the shock of finding out what really happened to her husband.
“How’s your arm?”
It hurt.
A lot.
And she didn’t do well with the sight of blood, but there was no point in complaining about it. They were stuck here for the time being and when James came back things were only going to get worse.
“It’s fine,” she answered.
Dante cocked a brow at her, indicating he knew she was lying. “Let me see it.”
She didn’t protest when he gently sat her up and lifted her arm, unwinding his shirt which he had wrapped around it. Sydney looked away so she didn’t have to see the bloody gash, but Dante’s tight intake of air clearly communicated the state of her injury.
“Is it infected?” she asked. She knew how dangerous an infection could be. Shortly before they got engaged, Mitch had gotten a simple splinter that they’d pulled out—at least they’d thought they had—but a little piece had been left behind. The wound had become infected, and he had ended up in the hospital for a week so sick she had been afraid she would lose him.
“It is,” Dante acknowledged. “I wish we had some water to clean it out with, but we don’t.”
As Dante wrapped his shirt back around her arm all she could think about now was how thirsty she was. According to her watch it was after seven-thirty, which meant she had been here for almost twenty-four hours. The last time she’d had anything to drink was lunch yesterday. Dehydration was already affecting her, making her feel sluggish and sleepy, and combined with the infection in her arm, was soon going to knock her on her bottom.
“Do you have a plan?” she asked him. He was a cop. He should know a way to get them out of here. If he didn’t, then they’d just have to sit here and wait for James to come back and kill them. She was never going to be able to abide by whatever rules he wanted her to because whenever she looked at him all she would see was the man who had killed the love of her life.
That meant he would kill her.
“I was thinking while you were sleeping.” Dante stood and held out a hand to take hers and pull her up. “That there’s no way we’re going to be able to dig around the metal bars to dislodge them. He’s concreted them in. If we had something to use, we might be able break away some of the rock at the side of the cave and get out that way, but I couldn’t see anything in here that would be useable.”
“So, you don’t have a plan,” she said, defeated.
“I didn’t say that.” He was still holding her hand and he led her to the door James had built in his little cave cell. “I know how to pick locks.”
“Then why aren’t we out of here already?” she asked, energy flooding through her as her adrenalin spiked.
“Because the space between the bars is too small; I can’t fit my arms through.”
“Oh.” Defeat quickly doused the adrenalin.