Page 136 of Ignite

Me

Nope. You do what you have to do. I’ll still be here waiting for you to come home.

And that is the truth. I want to be all in with him. I like how I feel around him, how safe I am, how obsessed we both are. I’ve never laughed around a guy so much in my life. I want this.

I want it more than anything.

Chapter 46

CONAN

Shoving my phone into my back pocket, I do one final walk through the woods.

It’s just a game of chase.

Nothing more.

I can’t stop thinking about my texts with Hallie last night. She will be waiting for me. That she needs me. It’s like an arrow through the heart.

“Conan, do you think we should put some more rope out?” Reggie calls out from my left.

“Yeah. Can do.”

Finn tuts behind me.

“I’ve never seen a Quinn brother more glum before his own Decadence Game. What’s up?”

I look up at the trees, rustling in the breeze.

“Iwantto chase. Just only with Hallie,” I sigh.

His hand claps down on my shoulder.

“I understand, brother. I do. But you gotta get that stick out of your ass and play the game. No one is asking you to fuck these women. They’re here to be hunted, remember? Not fucked. Thatwas just if they wanted it. Those are the rules. That applies to you too. You don’t do it if you don’t want it.”

I scratch my head.

Okay. He’s making sense here.

“You’re the game master. It’s a game of survival. Treat it as such. What Hallie doesn’t know can’t hurt her right now. Just relax. You might have fun,”

Reggie, Rowan, and Drago join us.

“All set?” I ask.

“Yeah. So talk me through what you want us to do?” Drago asks, pulling out his cigarettes and handing one to each of us.

“Well, usually, every year only I chase and hunt the contestants. But this year, I want the three of you as hunters too to assist me. Drago, you’ll be on Intel with the drones. I have to be the one to capture the contestant, but Reggie and Rowan will be there to help; perhaps send them to me.”

Rowan rubs his hands together.

“You’ll also be involved in orchestrating the endings for the captured women. We have to make it look real to the remaining contestants. Get creative. We’ve got enough huts placed around that we can drag them to and then take a shot into the air. When it’s safe, the losing participants can be taken to the holding cabin until the end.”

Drago takes a long drag.

“So, they don’t die? It’s not a game of survival?” His Russian accent cuts through the air.

“No. We don’t hurt women here, Drago. We just have to make it believable. The competition is real. The kinks are real. And they will be dead to their original lives—they can never return.”

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