The Gender Game 2 by Bella Forrest (audio ebook reader .TXT) 📕

just behind my eyes. Every time I shut them, I could hear the beating of great wings, ready to pick me up and carry me off to wherever the dead go. I didn’t want to feel myself surrender to death. I didn’t want to experience the feeling of being beaten. It was a point of pride at this point, but this final act was mine and mine alone.

Reaching out, I felt around on the ground, searching for the strap of the bag. I couldn’t roll over at this point—I didn’t have the energy to burn anymore. So I reached, until I felt the canvas fabric in my hands. I pulled it over, finding one final burst of energy to pull it until it rested against my stomach.

My vision was almost completely faded at this point, the darkness creeping in. I reached in the bag, my fingers seeking the vial of pills.

Then darkness claimed me and I was falling away from the world, into a pit of black.

11

Viggo

I pushed through the undergrowth, my eyes glued to the handheld. I knew I should be paying more attention to the environment around me, but, dammit, I was worried about Violet.

I had been monitoring her last night, and when she had stopped moving, so had I. I calculated how long it would be before I intercepted her before going to sleep. By my calculations, it would be three hours.

When I woke up, she was still stationary. She had probably just woken up as well, and was breaking camp. I fed Samuel breakfast, ate some food myself, and then broke down camp. Then I started walking east. After an hour, I checked the handheld and her location was still fixed, and unmoving.

I paused, wiping the sweat off my brow. It wasn’t late yet, but she should be moving by now. I checked my compass, and changed my direction slightly, anticipating a new rendezvous point.

I traveled the new direction for half an hour, when the voice in my head won out, and I clicked the handheld back on. She was still not moving.

I realized that there were only a few reasons for her to stop moving. The first was that she had met up with whoever her allies were. That might mean a change of direction, or even loss of the signal.

The second reason, the one that made my chest clench, was that she had been attacked, and was dying.

I exhaled sharply, a curse bursting out of my mouth. Samuel yipped in surprise, his large eyes watching me intently.

“Sorry, boy. That wasn’t meant for you,” I said, offering my hand.

He sniffed it, his tail wagging slowly. He gave my fingers a little lick—I had spent the larger part of the day training him not to leap on me and lick my face—and then sat down on his haunches, waiting.

No matter what her reason for remaining stationary, I knew I had to travel fast. I studied the map and her location for a few seconds, fixed my compass so that the arrow was pointing north, and then began pushing through the undergrowth.

It was slow going. There weren’t a lot of natural paths bisecting this part of The Green. Which could be a good thing—no trails meant no predators. Or at least, limited predators.

I came upon a massive log, and decided to scramble over it. I picked up Samuel and helped him up, then climbed up myself. The drop on the other side was a bit steeper than the side I had climbed up on, but I dropped down, not bothering to secure a rope to myself.

Luckily, I landed perfectly, and then I called Samuel, who, after a moment of hesitation, leapt off the log into my arms. I set him back down, fixed my compass, and continued.

I was taking risks and I knew it. I needed to slow down, but a part of me feared that if I did, I would find her dead. I tried to convince myself that I wanted her to be alive because I wanted answers from her. I wanted to know why she had chosen me for her duplicity. I wanted to know why she had wormed her way under my skin. I wanted to know why the hell she had kissed me.

My logic reasoned that she couldn’t give me answers if she was dead.

But my heart was beating to a different rationale—one that said it wanted to find her, to make sure she was safe. That if I lost her, I’d never see her smile at me again, or see her frown when she objected to something about Patrian society. I’d never hear her laugh. I’d never feel her lips.

My heart felt that if she died, I’d never feel happiness again.

I growled, sending Samuel skittering again. Ugh! Get it together, man!

The minutes ticked by, melting into hours as I moved. I paused periodically, giving water to Samuel and taking some as well, the compulsion to start running toward my destination thrumming through my veins.

Eventually, the urge to run won out, and I tore through the undergrowth, my legs pumping, leaping over bushes and logs, Samuel keeping up next to me. I knew that we were generating too much noise, but I was beyond caring. Anything in this death trap that got between me and my goal would be sorry.

Luckily, nothing did. I slipped the handheld out of my pocket as I ran, using it for reference as I closed the difference. I crashed into a clearing, my dot practically on top of her dot, and stalled, my heart pounding.

Gazing around, I could see the mist was more concentrated here, obscuring my vision. I scanned the ground, searching frantically, when Samuel’s yip alerted me.

Turning, I saw the dog shoot off, and I followed blindly, having the good sense to pull my gun. Samuel guided me around a root, and then I saw her.

She was lying on the ground next to a pile of dried vomit. Her skin was extremely