Chapter 42: Alluring Darkness: Chapter 42

Anger simmers around Gregory like vibrations in the air. His brown eyes are locked on me and he grinds his teeth so hard that I think he might do permanent damage to them. But he’s tied firmly to that tree, so staring daggers at me is all he can do.

“When I get out of these ropes—” he begins.

Kaden snorts. “Good luck with that.”

“I will fucking—”

Jace knees him in the side of the head. “Show some fucking respect.”

Gregory’s head snaps to the side, and he blinks furiously against the pain. Or to clear his head. Or both. Shaking his head, he spends another few seconds blinking repeatedly.

I glance to my left where Kaden is finishing tying up the last guy. Rico stands next to him, holding a gun to the guy’s head just in case.

At last, Gregory lets out a long sigh of defeat. I shift my attention back to him. Where there was fury on his face before, there is now only annoyed resignation.

Gregory is a third-year too. Though, as opposed to me, he is in the bottom half of the rankings. He isn’t a threat, and he has never done anything to piss me off, so I technically don’t have an issue with him. But since when do I need a reason to be a dick?

While holding my gaze, he pointedly pulls against the ropes and raises his eyebrows at me.

“Did you really have to?” he says, voice full of exasperation. “Again?”

A smirk pulls at my lips. I tied him to a tree during last year’s tournament as well. And then I conveniently neglected to tell our instructors where I had left him. He was stuck there until morning the next day.

Another wicked grin blows across my mouth. Good times.

“If you didn’t want to get tied up again, you shouldn’t have gotten in my way,” I say.

“I didn’t even see you! I didn’t know you were here.”

Pulling one of my guns again, I close the distance between us.

The other people on his team, all first-years or second-years, tense and exchange worried looks.

I place the gun underneath Gregory’s chin and tilt his head back so that he meets my gaze now that I’m looming over him. “How is that any of my problem?”

He swallows and then opens his mouth as if to say something. But he apparently can’t figure out what, because he just closes it again. I chuckle.

“Tell you what…” Removing the gun, I take a step back. “If you beg me for it, I will actually tell the instructors where you are this time.”

Before he can reply, Kaden abruptly stands up and says, “Done.”

“Alright then, let’s go,” Jace replies. “I wanna take out some other teams too before we get to the target.”

Rico huffs out an amused breath, but shrugs. “He’s got a point.”

“Well, looks like you’re out of time,” I tell Gregory. “Have fun here tonight.”

Alarm flashes in his eyes, and he yanks desperately at the ropes again. “No, wait! Please, tell the instructors where I am.”

My brothers fall in beside me as we start back towards where we left Raina.

“Please!” Gregory calls after us. “I’m begging you! Hunter!”

Ignoring his pathetic pleas, I just stride back through the trees and to the spot where Raina is waiting for us. Except, when we get there, it’s empty.

Irritation flickers through me. I clearly told her to wait. Why can she never do as she’s fucking told?

“Where the fuck is Raina?” Jace says as he comes to a halt next to me.

“I don’t…” I trail off as I scan the ground where she was standing last time I saw her.

My blood turns to ice in my veins.

There are tracks there. Ones that don’t belong to her. Or to us.

A dull ringing echoes inside my head.

Someone took her.

“Eli,” Kaden says, his voice having dropped to a low and wary tone.

“I see it,” I reply.

Jace squints at the ground. “Are those tracks?”

“How the hell could an entire group get this close to us without us realizing it?” Rico says.

Shaking my head, I move over to the spot behind where Raina’s footprints are still visible in the soft grass. My heart is beating erratically in my chest as I crouch down and study the ground. “Because it wasn’t a team. It was just one person.”

I stare at the barely visible set of prints coming this way. The ones going back the same way are more defined, which means that the motherfucker who did this was carrying Raina when he left.

Cold fury sears through my veins.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Jace says. “Who would leave their team in the middle of the tournament to abduct one person? It would jeopardize their team’s entire shot at victory.”

Pushing to my feet, I flex my fingers on the gun and clench my jaw in an effort to stop myself from setting the whole fucking forest on fire. My brothers join me, flanking me as we all stare at the tracks leading away between the trees.

“I don’t know,” I reply at last. Cracking my neck, I roll my shoulders back and squeeze the gun harder. “But once I find them, I’m going to fucking kill them.”