When All is Lost

Chapter 54

"Look around," I snapped. "What do you think?"

His eyes narrowed. "I think you're pretty stupid."

I felt my cheeks flush at his insult and it took all I had to not rise to his bait. Even still, I knew my next words would come out as a sneer. "Really? And why is that?"

He lightly twirled his bat. "I gave you a chance."

My eyebrows shot up. "A chance? Are you kidding me? You sent me out bleeding and cuffed with a brand on my boot. How the fuck is that giving me a chance?"

Anton's expression never changed, but his eyes did. They became curious. "Ah." His gaze fell to my feet. "So, not stupid, just dumb then."

Our conversation was not going at all in the direction I'd expected. I had thought I was going to be killed, not insulted. I wasn't even sure why I was indulging him.

"Aren't those the same thing?" I asked.

"No, not at all," he answered earnestly. "Stupid would have been to keep running without realizing you were being followed. Dumb means you're smart enough to know your being followed but you still let yourself get caught like a helpless little bunny."

My jaw slightly dropped. Out of every nasty word he could have come up with, I wasn't expecting something as mundane as 'bunny' and yet I felt deeply slighted by it.

"I'm sorry," I scoffed. "My mistake. I didn't realize that I was supposed to follow a certain pattern of behavior. I apologize for being a bunny."

Anton shrugged. "Well, you're alive. So, that's good."

I crossed my arms, almost forgetting that I was still holding my knife. The more time that passed, the less sure I was of how to deal with Anton. I had thought our next confrontation would have resulted in bloodshed.

And it probably still should.

But, his utter lack of interest in harming me was more disarming than if he'd actually managed to get my knife out of my grasp.

"So, where's your people?"

I stiffened, raising my chin slightly in defiance. Misty and Hayden had died to protect them and I would do no less.

Anton and I stared each other down and the longer it lasted the more I realized that his stiff expressions couldn't hide the many thoughts that danced through his eyes. I saw the moment when his eyes lit up with understanding.

"Ah," he said. "So, you didn't want to lead us to your people. That's why you kept the boots on?"

I pressed my lips into a firm line, refusing to answer even if he didn't need me to.

He nodded. "Good. Keep doing that."

"Wait." My arms dropped heavily to my sides. "What?"

He looked at me as though I was living up to his expectation of 'dumb bunny' again. "I told you I gave you a chance."

"I thought you meant-"

"A hunting party is maybe twenty minutes behind me. They sent me out first, but they'll be here soon and then you'll be dead."

I was struggling to follow him. "Wait, they're going to kill me? Don't they want me to lead them to my group?"

He shrugged. "Sure, but that doesn't always work. So if they find you alone, they'll just kill you."

I nodded along slowly. "So, then why aren't you killing me?"

"I don't want to," he answered plainly.

Shock reverberated through me, shaking my very bones. "You... don't want to kill me?"