by Katee Robert
Again and again, he’d misjudged her and underestimated her.
It didn’t matter anymore. He’d made the only call he could, would see this through to the end. Cami would hate Luca. There was no outcome for this Hunt where she didn’t hate Luca.
He just hoped it was worth it.
But after a day spent fruitlessly searching for signs of the Bookkeeper’s people, he came up with nothing. There were only forty-eight hours left in the Hunt. He didn’t have time to search the entire length of the island. In all his planning, it never occurred to Luca that Dolph and his man might not find her. That they might be unprepared for the challenges of this Hunt. Right now, they could be stuck in one of the traps littering this place and Luca would never know. It wasn’t like they had some kind of announcement when a competitor was removed from the game.
Damn it, he never should have left Cami.
He’d fucked this all up.
Luca turned and headed back toward the camp they’d made that night. He hadn’t actually wandered that far, moving in ever widening circles, so he reached it quickly. Naturally, Cami had long since gone. Even expecting that, disappointment soured his stomach. Had he really thought she’d sit idly and wait for … What? For him to come back? To be taken?
He knew better.
Where to go now?
His plan lay in shambles. His intentions were all over the place. He didn’t know what the fuck he was supposed to do. None of this was supposed to happen.
Cami would move toward the extraction point, wouldn’t she? She’d already proved adept at hiding and ambushing as required, and she stood a good chance of waiting out the remaining two days if she stayed in one place where she knew the traps and the area. Would she stick with that plan? Or would she strike deeper into the interior of the island?
He didn’t know.
He didn’t fucking know.
A scream echoed in the distance.
Luca didn’t think. He reacted, turning and racing in the direction of that cry. North. Toward the coast. He shouldn’t have been able to hear it at this distance, not with the jungle dampening the sound, but he’d spent nearly a week attuned to Cami’s every breath. He would know her voice anywhere, even risen in a panicked cry.
Cami was panicking.
Fear gave him wings, and he practically flew over the ground as he sprinted through the trees. If she was hurt, it was his fault. If she was hurt … He poured on the speed, his breath rasping in and out in a cadence he couldn’t escape. My fault. My fault. My fault.
Luca burst out of the trees and shot onto the beach. He skidded to a halt, trying to get his bearings. She hadn’t screamed again … Maybe he’d gone too far …
But no.
A few hundred yards up the beach Cami ran for her life, a bleeding Dolph chasing her down. He staggered and seemed to wince with every step, but that wasn’t slowing him down any. He’d be on her in seconds. Luca took off after them, running faster than he ever had. It wouldn’t be enough. He knew it wouldn’t be enough.
Dolph took Cami down in a flying tackle that sent them rolling into the surf. He made a move Luca couldn’t see and then a knife went flying away from them. Dolph rose to his knees and dragged Cami farther into the water.
Luca reached them just as he dunked her under. He grabbed the man by the throat and yanked him out of the water, bringing Cami with them. Dolph released her in surprise, but it was too late. Luca drove him to the ground and delivered a devastating punch to his jaw. And another. And another.
Until Cami shoved him forcibly enough to send him slumping off the fallen man. “Stop!”
Luca spun on her. “He was going to drown you!”
“He was going to do more than that.” Her chest heaved with every breath, but she still stared him down as if this was all his fault.
She was right.
“Cami—”
“I don’t want to hear it.” She cautiously reached down and pressed her fingers to Dolph’s neck. “He’s still alive. Good.”
Luca couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Good?”
“Help me.” She pulled one of Dolph’s arms over her shoulder. “Hurry, before he wakes up.”
“What the fuck are you doing?”
Cami barely glanced at him. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it? He has to win. Not you. Not me. Help me get him to the extraction point and then I’ll take care of the rest.”
Yeah, he really couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “It’s a trick.”
“Luca, I swear to all that’s holy, I will kick your ass if you make me drag this psychopath all the way to the extraction point. Help me.”
Numb, he pulled Dolph up and wedged himself under the other man’s arm. He took most of the man’s weight as they staggered to their feet and started down the beach. He started to ask her questions half a dozen times during that hellish walk, but each time Luca changed his mind. Better to get them to their destination and then worry about the rest. He kept an eye out while they moved, but the other competitor didn’t appear to be in the area.
It was only when they dropped Dolph to the sand that Luca turned to her. They stood in the little indent that couldn’t quite be called a bay. The smaller island lay directly across the water from there, only about a mile away. So close and yet so far. He cleared his throat. “Why?”
“You’d know why if you put absolutely any thought into it.” She refused to look at him, crouching down to pull Dolph’s beacon from around his neck. “How do I trigger this for the win?”
“The bottom part detaches, and there’s a button inside.” Another beacon, though this one would signal to everyone in the casino and watching that someone had the Stag. It had never happened in the history of the Wild Hunt.
It shouldn’t be happening now. “Cami—”
“No!” She stood and lowered her voice. “No. You made your choice, Luca. I’m just trying to abide by it.” She still wouldn’t look at him. “You should go. You don’t want to be here when they show up to congratulate the winner.”
He didn’t want to leave. He wanted to explain to her why this had to be done. Except … Apparently he didn’t need to explain shit. She’d already divined out his intent and she’d made good on it, even if he hadn’t been able to. I fucked this all up. “I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not. You’d do the same thing over again without a second thought.” She turned to look at the small island and took a deep breath. Cami pushed the button and bent to loop it around Dolph’s neck again. She turned a quick circle, her expression pensive, and then walked several paces away and dropped to the ground like a puppet who’d had its strings cut.
Luca looked at the scene. It appeared to be almost exactly what he’d found when he burst out of the trees—a struggle in which Dolph had half drowned Cami and Cami had stabbed Dolph until he’d passed out from blood loss.
The only thing missing was Luca’s absence. “I’m sorry,” he said again.
He forced himself to walk away.
16
Cami lay on the beach, half in the water, for less than an hour before the sound of a boat cut through the quiet. And then War—Kenzie—was there, striding across the sand with a forbidding look on her face. She glanced at Cami, examined Dolph, and muttered something under her breath. A few seconds later, she leaned down over Cami, blocking out the late afternoon sun. “You can get up now. His win has been recorded.”
Cami opened her eyes. What was she supposed to do? Thank Kenzie for the fact she didn’t have to be hauled into the boat like some kind of dead animal, carted back as a prize. Cold flashed through her. “My role stops here.”
“Yes, it does.” Kenzie took her hand and hauled her to her feet.
Cami’s legs buckled, but she forced them straight. She’d arrived on the island on her own power, and she’d leave the same way. Really, it would be like the Wild Hunt never happened.
With that depressing thought weighing her down, she walked past Dolph and climbed into
the waiting boat. It was the same one Kenzie had brought her over on the first night. Had that only been five days ago? It felt like a small lifetime.
Kenzie slapped Dolph a few times, and he roused. “What?”
“Get up, asshole. You won. Unless you want to lie there on the sand and bleed to death.”
It took a little doing, but eventually Dolph joined her in the boat. He watched her with those eerie eyes. “You got lucky, Princess.”
She huddled in the blanket she’d found under her seat. It wasn’t technically cold, but she couldn’t stop shivering. “Sure doesn’t feel like luck.”
He tightened the makeshift bandages on his thighs and laughed. “Don’t worry. We’ll pick up where we left off the first chance I get.”
Fear flashed through her, and she was too tired to keep it off her face. She hated that he made her feel afraid, hated that this entire charade was necessary. “If you touch me again, I’ll kill you.”
“You’ll try. It’ll be like foreplay.”
Kenzie slapped him upside the back of his head. “Fuck off, Dolph. Don’t be a sore winner.” She guided the boat across the water at a dizzying speed. And then they were entering the harbor where a writhing mass of people waited like a glittering flock of birds in their fancy clothing.
A direct counterpart to how bedraggled Cami was.
“Stay in the boat,” Kenzie murmured. “My brother will scoop you up after the adoring masses follow us back to Pleasure.”
Right. Because they weren’t there for Cami. She’d played her part, and now Dolph got to walk the route of the winner to collect his favor from Death. She’d planned this when she walked onto that beach a few hours ago. Maybe Cami hadn’t intended for it to fall out like this, but she’d still chosen this path.
That it was the truth didn’t make it sting any less.
She sat silently in the gently bobbing boat as Dolph struggled to his feet and followed Kenzie onto the dock. He had to be dizzy from blood loss, but he managed to power through it and they walked up the cobblestone path toward the casino perched overlooking the bay.
Cami was so incredibly tired.
She blinked and the light changed. Had she fallen asleep? A shadow fell over her, and she flinched before she caught herself. She looked up quickly, her heart in her throat, but it wasn’t Luca standing over her. Of course it wasn’t Luca. He would still be back on the island, waiting to be collected. He couldn’t possibly be here. She certainly didn’t want him here, either.
An Asian man offered a hand. “Come on.”
It took her several precious seconds to place him. Pestilence. The name was laughable when paired with his strong body and attractive face, but she supposed someone had to take the role. More than that, Cami had heard rumors that no one was safe from Pestilence if he turned his attention their way. Funds went missing, identities went missing. Anything that was stored electronically was fair game, and these days everything was stored electronically. Cami might not always appreciate the role she’d been born into, but she couldn’t imagine waking up one day to find that record of everything from her birth to her property to her bank account … gone. She shivered.
“You’re safe, Princess.”
Right. Because she’d played the part they set out for her. She couldn’t dredge up any anger over that. Maybe tomorrow she’d be mad. Right now, she just wanted a shower and a bed.
Cami slipped her hand into his and allowed him to guide her out of the boat. The dock felt strange under her boots after being on the water, but she adjusted quickly. “Thank you.” She tried to take back her hand, but Pestilence maintained his hold.
“I …” He gave her hand a squeeze and released her. “Thank you. My sisters will never say it, and I can’t speak to Famine’s motivations, but thank you for what you did.”
She looked around, but they were alone on the dock. The revelers had moved on. “There’s nothing to thank me for. Anyone would have done it if they knew the stakes.”
“No, they wouldn’t.” He offered his arm, the same kind of old world move her oldest brother would pull, and Cami instinctively laid her hand on his forearm.
It wasn’t until they reached the path and turned south, toward Pain, that she realized she shouldn’t trust him just because she’d trusted Luca. Trusted being the operative word. “You aren’t going to toss me into a dungeon or something, are you?”
“No.” He paused long enough that she thought that might be the entirety of his answer, but then he said, “Things will be tumultuous in Pleasure for the next few days. It would be better—safer—if you stayed in Pain for the duration. I can arrange transport if you need to leave before then.”
“I don’t.” She spoke too quickly, giving herself away.
He didn’t react the way either of his sisters would have. No arched eyebrow. No sharp comment. Just a small nod. “In that case, I’ve taken the liberty of arranging rooms for you in Pain. All your belongings have already been transported there.”
There was nothing else to say. She didn’t really want to go back to the villa, and if her things were already in the new rooms, that was enough to keep her moving.
That and the fact that she’d be an entire island away from Luca and whatever plot he and his siblings were playing out. It was better that way. As Pestilence said, she’d played her part and played it well. It didn’t matter if she’d only made the choice this morning. She’d seen it through.
They reached Pain quickly, and walking inside was nearly enough to distract Cami from her misery. The northern casino was all glitz and glam and decadent delights. She hadn’t thought much about what Pain would look like, but she’d assumed it would be dark and filled with … Actually, Cami wasn’t sure what she’d thought.
Reality was something else altogether.
It was downright minimalist. Low lights and strong dark colors, like some kind of high-end gentleman’s club. The main room looked like a lounge, and there was a row of doors lining the opposite wall. The plaques above them listed blackjack and several kinds of poker. High stakes games.
Pestilence guided her to the left, down a wide hallway with oil paintings that could only be classified as erotic. Cami flushed, but she didn’t look away. They were beautiful, each depicting a different part of the body. A muscled shoulder. A breast. The flare of a hip. An ankle. “I’ve never seen this artist before.”
“That’s because the only place in the world with access to them is the Island of Ys.”
Easy enough to read between the lines. The artist was one of the four. She didn’t ask which one. In the end, it didn’t matter. Cami would come back and study them later. She didn’t have the capacity to wonder overmuch about them in her current state.
“You’re free to move about as you like.” Pestilence stopped in front of a deep red door and unlocked it with an honest-to-god key. He opened the door and passed it over. “Both private and play rooms are unlocked unless they’re rented out, so you don’t have to worry about stumbling into something you’d rather not witness. If you like to watch, however, there are observation rooms set up just around the corner that look into the rooms where both parties have consented to an audience.” Again, no expression on his face to indicate what he thought of that. It was all just business. “There’s a full menu to order from on the table, but if you’d prefer to cook, we can bring in whatever you need.”
“Thank you.” Exhaustion rolled over her, threatening to suck her under. She didn’t care about food, didn’t care about what were apparently sex rooms in this part of Pain, didn’t care about anything but a shower and a bed and enough sleep to dim the pain pulsing in her chest.
“Someone will collect you when it’s finished.” He waited for her to step into the room and closed the door softly behind her.
She locked the door and leaned against it. Only then did his words penetrate. When it’s finished.
When they’d enacted the first part of their revenge.
Luca strode into the hub and
bypassed all three of his siblings on his way to his room. Kenzie started to say something, but Amarante stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll talk after you shower and change.”
He didn’t respond. What was there to say? They’d accomplished what they wanted. All that was left to do was to focus on the next step and the next and the next. He’d never been so tired in his life. Luca stripped off his clothes and balled them up to shove into the garbage bag someone—probably Amarante—had left hanging on the doorknob to his bathroom. He wouldn’t wear them again, could barely stand the sight of them and what they represented.
His betrayal.
After turning on the shower as hot as he could stand it, he stepped beneath the water. Then, and only then, did he allow himself to remember the look on Cami’s face the last time he’d saw her. Remember how she’d kept her head even after Dolph had attacked her. Remember how she’d kept them on track when Luca would have faltered.
She knew he double-crossed her, and she’d still worked to see it through and sacrificed her win in the process.
Fuck, but he loved that woman.
Luca smiled bitterly. It didn’t matter, couldn’t matter, now any more than it had on the island. He had a role to play out and even if Cami was willing to be party to it, he couldn’t ask that of her. That woman was destined for great things, whether she realized it or not. Asking her to stay in the shadows with him …
But then, it didn’t matter what he would or wouldn’t ask her. No doubt she wanted nothing to do with him. She’d be on the next flight off the island, and maybe her charmed life wouldn’t feel so flat now that she’d played a part in the Wild Hunt.
