Let's Hunt Her (Book #2)

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My eyes flutter, and before I can bring my surroundings into focus, the rank smell of the dungeon sends me into a coughing fit. I attempt to put my hands to my mouth, but my arm is met with the resistance of cold metal. I follow the line of my arm above my head and find that my wrists are held up and shackled to the wall. Shackles, dungeon . . . Appa. The events of the past twenty-four hours flood my thoughts and my eyes widen with a jolt. Shackles on my left are Lisa and Rosé. Lisa is still passed out, but Rosé is alert. To my right Sehun is frowning in concentration. But appa is nowhere to be seen.

"Sehun?" I say, and my voice cracks. "Where is he? Where's appa?"

Sehun shakes his head, but before he can answer, Rosé starts talking.

"Lower your voice," she scolds, and I can tell she's in a particularly foul mood. "Do what Sehun and I have been doing-seethe in silence."

Sehun snaps back at her. "We're shackled to a wall in a dungeon, Rosé. Sneaking around is a moot point."

"Which I'm sure you blame me for," she says, her tone increasingly sharp.

Sehun doesn't answer right away, and I can't tell if it's because he's angry or concentrating. Rosé scowls.

"No, actually I don't," he finally replies, and we both turn to him in surprise. Sehun doesn't think Rosé betrayed us-how is that possible?

"However suspicious I find your behavior, and however foolish it was to make a deal with Kyungsoo," Sehun says, "I can't ignore the fact that Taecyeon was lying. He doesn't give off normal tells; in fact he displays the opposite of normal indicators. He shows pleasure every time he lies. But a lie is a lie."

"My bargain with Kyungsoo was meant to pay him off and prevent him from going to the Tigers, not cause him to," Rosé says, indignant.

"Also not lost on me," Sehun says. "It was obvious how much Kyungsoo was enjoying outwitting you."

"Sociopath," Rosé grumbles, but some of her frustration drops away. As much as she tries to hide it, I think our opinion of her really matters, even Sehun's, and even in this moment when we're chained to a wall in the Tiger Family dungeon.

"Pitting us against each other is just another way to manipulate and dominates us," Sehun says. "And Taecyeon is clearly a master manipulator."

"Appa," I say again, and this time it's Rosé who answers.

"We're in the opposite corridor," she says, and my heart sinks. "The ones Lisa and I were ambushed in."

I look up at my shackles, pulling at the cold metal, but they're securely tightly around my wrists with almost no wiggle room. I pull again, anger surging in my chest-anger that we're shackled to a wall like criminals, anger that I was ripped away from appa the moment I found him, anger that my uncle was murdered and eomma before him. Just anger. I pull harder, the metal grating against my skin, and let out a frustrated grunt.

"Although we did manage to take out three of the guards before they restrained us. I noticed you didn't take down a single one of yours," Rosé says. Most people wouldn't be keeping a petty tally over fighting skills, given her screw-up with Kyungsoo. But then again, Rosé isn't most people.

"For someone who doesn't want other people to talk, you certainly do a lot of it," Sehun says, giving Rosé the side eye.

"Well, in case you were wondering, I still don't like you either, Oh Sehun," she says, but her voice betrays her.

"How did Taecyeon know?" I ask in a huff, and they both turn to me.

"How did Taecyeon know what?" Rosé says.