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I scan the area for Rhenn, knowing if anyone can get her off of me, it’s him.

But he isn’t here.

“Please,” I cry. I just want to go home.

“No one wants you.” She spits in my face, shoving into me one final time before climbing off. “No one, except The Boogeyman.” Her lips pull up, eyes glowing with the sick joy she’s getting out of this.

For a moment, there’s silence. I close my eyes, feeling my heart beat out of my chest.

When I look up again, I notice something in my peripheral, a figure cloaked in shadow-dark skin. It stands hunched, fingers long and thin.

I tell myself it isn’t real, that this is all some twisted game.

It comes closer, its boney frame now lit by the flames. A faceless creature of masked nothingness. It isn’t like anything I’ve ever seen, yet there is a familiar presence about it. One that makes my insides curl.

I’ve only known one real boogeyman in my life. This creature may not look like him—it encompasses every horrible thing about him though.

“Do you want to play a game?” it hisses. Not like a monster, like him.

“Stop,” I whisper, watching it come closer.

“Good girls behave,” it says, taunting me.

My head shakes back and forth. “You’re not real.” But I know he is. This thing may only be a mimic, but the man behind those words is very real.

It crouches down on all fours, its limbs skeletal thin. “Do you want to play a game?” the creature repeats, rushing toward me. I scream, rolling onto my hands and knees. It grabs my foot, pulling me toward it.

“No!” I kick my leg back, missing. It drags me farther.

“Ah, fuck, you guys. What’d you give her?” It’s Ashen’s voice. “You know he’s gonna be pissed.”

“She’s fine,” Rai answers. “It’ll wear off soon enough.”

“Okay, well soon enough isn’t soon enough. You need to stop it now.”

I’m flipped to my back. Cold fingers wrap around my arms. Its grip hurts. The pain is nothing compared to the spine-chilling terror I feel when it hovers over top of me, promising nothing but a lifetime of abandonment and isolation.

He—it—peers down at me, leaving me frozen and unable to get away.

Just like when I was a kid.

Rhenn

I stare out at the far away lake. The surface glints with the night above. It reflects every star in the seemingly endless sky, casting their reflection back to them. A peaceful sight, if it wasn’t for the screaming.

She cries, begging them to stop. They respond with laughter, amping up whatever hallucination the witch is feeding into her. I can hear the desperation in her voice, the fear. They are hurting my little Vixen, and that just won’t do. Give her a hard time, sure. But she is mine, and those tears? They belong to me.

My eyes close as the shrieks die down, and I listen for the rapid thrum of her perfect beating organ as she breaks free and runs through the bushes. The surging pulse through her veins is like a world of whispered secrets, resonating in the silent space between her deepest desires and my own empty chamber where a heart once lay.

I have the perfect view of the path from where I sit. It’s where I wait, observing the lost girl as she finds her bearings. She looks so brittle under the light of the pale moons, like a single gust is all it would take to send her over. It’s the torn clothing, the messy hair. Someone hasn’t been kind to what’s mine. Someone will have to answer for it.

When Sumner reaches the path, she pulls out her link. The call is quick, and then she waits. I count her breaths, wondering just how many of those labored inhales it would take for me to be at her side. Would her breathing pick up once I reached her? Would she run again?

I only get a short few minutes, tracing her soft silhouette beneath the stars, before tension creeps into my spine.

Dark fur leaps out from the trees, stopping in front of her. I watch as the mangy mutt shifts and she falls into him. He holds her, letting her weep in his arms, and my brows fall together, liking that even less than knowing someone else made her cry.

Finding solace in the wolf, darlin’?