Page 66 of Run Little Fawn

But I don't stop, don't look back. I can't afford to.

I make it to the door, my hand closing around the cool metal of the handle. For a moment, I hesitate, my resolve wavering in the face of Aria's pain. But then I remember the promise I made all those years ago.

Instead of turning back the way the one small sliver of my soul that's left—a thing only she seems to have awakened—is screaming at me to do, I reach into my pocket and draw out my knife.

"The next time we see each other… you should use it," I say quietly, placing it on the table.

It's all I can offer her, really. Freedom to kill whatever it is inside her heart that makes her see me as anything other than the monster I am.

I push the door open and step out into the hallway, letting it swing shut behind me with a soft click. The sound is final, a death knell for the part of me that dared to hope for something more.

I lean against the wall, my eyes slipping closed as I try to regain my composure. My heart is racing in my chest, my blood pounding in my ears like a drumbeat. I feel like I'm going to be sick.

But I have a job to do, a promise to keep.

And nothing, not even the ache in my chest or the bizarre stinging behind my eyes, will stop me from seeing it through.

I push myself off the wall, squaring my shoulders as I head toward the elevator. The fourth hunt begins in a matter of hours, and I need to be ready. I need to be the monster my father created, the ruthless predator he trained me to be.

Because in the end, that's all I am.

All I'll ever be.

And no matter how much my little fawn might wish it were different, no matter how much I might wish it myself, there's no escaping the darkness inside me.

There's no escaping the hunter I've become.

To Be Continued…

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