Page 49 of Steel Rain

In the military, in the civilian world, and in this life, men like Keith would always exist. The people who liked to make others suffer. The ones who thrived on the pain of others.

They made fierce warriors, but terrible companions. Dangerous, and frightening. One might even call men like him fascinating. Though not me. I had known enough sadists in my time.

“Congratulations, Snow White,” I said, quietly, as her hand slipped into mine.

She looked up at me with a sweet relief, as a small smile graced her thin lips.

“Will you walk with me?” Her eyes darted into the woods.

“Walk where?” I asked, raising a brow.

“They’re all going to get shit faced, and start going their own way,” she said with a chuckle. “It happens at every oath.”

She looked off into the distant wood line.

“I’d like to go walk in the forest,” she said, dropping my hand and leaning into a cooler to pull out a bottle of jack. “I would like to feel free, for a moment. Maybe for the last time.”

Her cheeks flushed, as she took her hand back. Her eyes fluttered, those long black lashes giving her a look of doe-like innocence. It was a delicious invitation. Was she a complication? Yes. The sweetest, most tempting complication that ever existed.

She walked towards the trees, and I followed behind as she found a small deer path.

The revelry behind us faded into a distant laughter, as we went deeper into the thickets and the woods. The trees blocked some of the wind, diverting it so it wasn’t such a tundra as in the clearing, but the ground was iced with frost.

No snow. Just ice. Like there was a fine sugared glaze over the prickled twigs and red berries.

She moved in silence, almost as if I wasn’t there at all. Like she was a carefree fawn, and I was the wolf prowling behind.

We didn’t have to exchange words. Understanding was in the air between us, as tangible as the frigid air. She knew what she was doing, and I was happily playing along.

If this was how she wanted to celebrate that insane oath, then fine. I’d oblige. I was more than willing to … Hell, I waseagerto.

She started to run. Her change of pace was so sudden, it almost caught me by surprise. But as soon as she dodged behind a tree, leaping over a small puddle, the sound of her footsteps lighted something inside me that I couldn’t ignore. The need to hunt.

I chuckled to myself. “Oh, little Snow White …”

I wondered if she knew that her huntsman was also a wolf.

I chased her, matching her pace, but keeping my distance, savoring the foreplay.

She slowed near the creek, the crystal sound of water falling on rock filled my ears. She paused in her movements.

I could have pounced on her then. But that would have been too easy. And what was the fun in easy?

No, I wanted her fight, her struggle, her screams in these woods.

She kept going down the path, the rhythm of her feet synchronized with my heartbeats as we ran. Her, not looking back, and me never looking away.

It wasn’t until the meadow where the path forked that she paused, unsure which direction to go. A beautiful meadow, blanketed in white, icy dew. Perfect for my Snow White.

I wrapped my arm around her throat from behind, pulling her against my chest, and whispered in her ear, “Isn’t it a little early for you to be traipsing around the woods? Who knows what lurks in the shadows.” I bit down on the shell of her ear and she shivered. “The question, now, is how hard do you want to fight the inevitable?”

I saw the flutter of her lashes as her eyes closed, then opened again. She had made her choice in an instant.

Her arm came up, and a sharp elbow jabbed into my ribs, the pain lancing up my torso. I growled in delight.

“Yes! Fight me!” I encouraged, as she ducked her head, twisting out of my grasp.

She assumed a fighter’s stance, one foot in front of the other, shoulder width apart, her arms up to protect her head and her body. Even through her baggy uniform, I could see her thick thighs flexing.

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