Page 34 of Owen

“I’m sorry,” I whispered even though I could barely breathe. “I’m really sorry, but I can’t do this. I can’t be part of this.”

“Even if I tell you that you’re my fated mate? That my dragon knows it, and I know it? We’re meant to be together.”

Something inside me—my heart, my head, something—cried out like it knew this and was just waiting to hear it. Like we were meant to be, like he wasn’t entirely out of his head. Maybe a small part of me just wanted to believe that I hadn’t been completely wrong. I was still holding onto a sliver of hope.

Maybe I was just as bad as he was.

I turned the knob. It moved freely—he hadn’t locked it behind him.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered again before pulling the door open just enough to slide out and into the hall.

He reached for me, but I managed to avoid being caught. Barely.

There was no time. I ran to my right, away from the rest of the compound and all the witches and supposed dragons living there. They were all lunatics, and I had been stupid enough to let myself get involved with them.

If they killed me, it wouldn’t be worse than I deserved for letting myself get fooled so easily.

“Molly!” Owen called out behind me in a tight voice. He was furious. What was he capable of?

I didn’t want to know. I wouldn’t give him a chance to show me. I had to run, run, and I did. I ran faster than I had run in years, like I was in the middle of trying to beat the cut-off throw to second and had to get to the bag before the ball did. I had done it before. I could do it now.

I had to do it now, because there was a lot more than a ballgame at stake.

Air burned its way through my lungs as I struggled to breathe through exertion and sheer, mind-numbing panic. Nothing else existed but escape. Getting away. Hiding in the woods somehow, finding my way to the road. It didn’t even matter that I left all my things behind, including my phone. I just had to get away from him before he hurt me.

Was I running the right way? I had no idea. I only knew I had to keep going. Even if I hit a dead end, I might be able to hide in a room. There were doors everywhere, all along the corridor.

Until there weren’t. Until the light dimmed and I wasn’t in the same place anymore. Or it was the same place, but it wasn’t as nicely updated as the rest had obviously been over the years.

This must have been what the tunnels used to look like. Dark, foreboding. It didn’t do much to soothe me, any more than the sound of pounding footsteps did. He was gaining on me.

He might have been bigger and stronger, but he wasn’t faster. Thank God Hecate had healed my ankle.

I realized there were cells up ahead. Just like Dallas had mentioned. Was I near the back entrance? I might be able to get out after all! My heart soared, and somehow I found the strength to put on a fresh burst of speed.

I flung myself down the passage between the cells with their rusted, rotting iron bars. It was like a dungeon more than anything else, and I wondered who they had imprisoned here over the years as I flew through them. Were they planning on holding me there, too?

I wouldn’t give them the chance.

“Molly! Let me explain!”

No, he had already done enough explaining. The time for explanations was over. I thought my running away like the devil himself was after me would’ve been enough to make that clear, but I guessed not.

I could see an opening up ahead. I ran for it, praying that I could reach it before he reached me. Once I was outside, there would be plenty of places to hide. Faster, faster, go, hurry. I gave it everything I had and finally burst out of the cave and into the night.

But there was no time to relax. I had to keep going. I had to—

A gust of wind almost knocked me off my feet, along with an ear-splitting roar.

A roar?

I clapped my hands over my ears, confused now, looking all around to see what had caused the sound. What had I just run into? I thought I was running away from the threat, but now this?

That was when I saw it.

When it lowered itself from the air to the ground, touching down, not twenty feet in front of me.

I took it in all at once, my brain screaming all the while.

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