Page 355 of Hunters and Prey

“It’s not like I can leave it behind.”

“No. No, it isn’t.”

He was watching with that speculative gleam in his eyes again, and gooseflesh pricked my skin as the penny dropped. Dreki were manipulators of the arcane. Technology was alien to them, just as the arcane was alien to the Bloods. What did that mean for a tech-savvy Skin in Dreki territory?

“Dreki prize technological knowledge,” he said, with a contemplative smile.

“Well, we’ll just have to stay on the outskirts of the Furtherlands and off their radar.”

He arched a brow. “Optimistic, considering you have no idea what you’ll be walking into.”

He was echoing my fears perfectly, but I’d put my trust in Dad and he’d never steered me wrong. “Skins have been leaving for the Furtherlands for a while to make a home for themselves.”

“And how do you know they aren’t all dead?” He leaned into my personal space, his amber eyes sparking and his presence brushing against me invasively. “How do you know they haven’t been snapped up and chewed up by the Dreki?”

A chill lashed down my spine because this was exactly what I’d been thinking when Dad had dropped his bombshell, but my poker face was second to none, so I narrowed my eyes. “Firstly, what the fuck does it matter to you?” I indicated the cell we were in. “Right now, none of that shit matters because no one is going anywhere until we get the heck out, and secondly, please get out of my personal space.”

His penetrating gaze swept over my face as if looking for some flaw, and then he inclined his head and took a step back. It was only when my shoulders unknotted I realized I’d been in defense mode. My body was a fucking contradiction right now. Part of me was thrilled to be the object of such intense, heated scrutiny, and the other, more primal part was ready for fight or flight.

He cocked his head, speculative. “Are you always this on edge?”

“Are you always this fucking laid back?”

His attention fell to my mouth and something warm and forgotten unfurled in my belly. I turned away. “We need to wake the others.”

As if on cue, Helgi moaned and pulled herself to her feet. Her eyes were bloodshot as she scanned our prison.

“Bastards. I’m gonna kill ’em,” she said with conviction.

Bran and the merc were next to come to, and around us the sound of Skins regaining consciousness filled the room. Exclamations, curses, and groans merged together in a chilling symphony of desperation.

Helgi grabbed the bars and tugged. She gripped them, her biceps straining in an attempt to bend them. “Fuck!”

“It’s Obrilian steel,” Big Red told her.

Helgi stepped away from the bars. “They can’t do this. This is so fucking out of order. Who the heck do they think they are?” Her body vibrated with impotent rage.

“Save it,” Big Red said. “I have a feeling we’re going to need every ounce of energy we have to get out of here.”

Once again, there was no urgency in his tone, just an eerie calm that sent a chill through my veins, replacing the heat his gaze had coaxed into my blood.

“We should probably get acquainted. My name is Dante.”

Dante. Yeah, that suited him.

“Bran.”

The twin who’d been shoved in here with us raised his chin. “Jasper.”

Dante turned his inquiring gaze on me and there was that weird tug in my abdomen again.

“I’m Anya.”

“Helgi, and how the heck are you so calm?”

Dante shrugged. “Panicking won’t get us anywhere. Best to wait and see what happens.”

Bran had been watching Dante with interest. He folded his arms across his chest. “You’re new to our part of the Outlands, right? I’ve never seen you around before. What brought you to Ghost Town?”

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