Chapter One
Lainey
“Legend has it that the Butcher of Braxton Lake stalks these campgrounds, just waiting for one of you to step out of line…”
I roll my eyes at my fellow camp counselor’s story and go back to fixing my s’more. This is my first week at Camp Brax, but I quickly learned tried and true methods for keeping the campers in line. Fear.
With a flashlight poised below her chin, the counselor continues to weave the phony tale, while our charges sit huddled around the campfire, their noses sunburned from a day of swimming in the pool.
“That sound you hear coming from the forest late at night? The grinding and snapping? That’s the Butcher sharpening his teeth on the trees. He needs them to be sharp as spikes, because they’re his weapon of choice for subduing prey.” The counselor pauses for dramatic effect. “He can’t wield an actual knife, on account of his hook hands!”
On cue, I prod the fire with my coat hanger, sending sparks swirling into the warm night air. Squeals ring out from the terrified campers, and I bite back a chuckle. I would have loved this as a kid. Sitting around a fire, linking arms with my friends, knowing tomorrow would be another day filled with adventure. My squeals would have been fake, though. When I was their age, I was too busy being scared of real monsters to worry about fabricated ones.
Still am.
A crunch comes from the forest behind me, raising goosebumps on my arms. No one else seems to notice, they’re so wrapped up in the story, and I decide I must be overtired. After taking several northbound buses from Texas to reach Michigan, I hit the ground running three days ago, having campers assigned to me and organizing nonstop activities. I’m not complaining, though. The preteen campers couldn’t be sweeter or easier to manage. Although, I’m guessing that’s going to change tonight when they’re all tossing and turning with nightmares.
A too-smooth hand glides along the breadth of my shoulders, and I leap to my feet, spinning around and brandishing my coat hanger like a sword. Somewhere in the woods, I swear I hear a furious growl, but I focus on the immediate threat. “What the—” My heart dislodges from my throat when I see who touched me, but my skin continues to crawl. “Dammit, Manny.”
“Sorry, babe. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
Camp Brax is a coed camp, but the male bunks are located on the other side of the grounds. After dinner, the male and female campers go their separate ways, so he definitely shouldn’t be here right now. “Do you need something?”
“Now there’s a loaded question.” A suggestive grin spreads across his mouth as he tightens his ponytail. “I came to see if you were up for a night walk. Thought we could check out the stars.”
The words drop dead sit on the tip of my tongue, but I’m the newbie and can’t afford to alienate myself. Needing to get out of Texas pronto, I found the camp counselor advertisement on Craigslist, applied and did a phone interview. My babysitting experience landed me the job and I left the next day. No one would ever think to search for me here. If I start making enemies or offending people, I might not get another cushy gig so soon. Still, I’m not going anywhere with this guy. He’s been a little too welcoming, and I don’t want to give the false impression that I’m interested.
“Um.” I turn to find the campers watching Manny and me, whispering and giggling behind their hands. “Mind if I take a raincheck? I’m going to have twenty traumatized girls on my hands tonight.”
A flash of annoyance flits across his features, and I congratulate myself on seeing through his affable hippy façade. “Sure, sure.” His smile is tight. “I’ll just ask again tomorrow. You’ll have no reason to say no then, right?”
Again, I swear I hear an ominous rumble coming from the darkness. Both Manny and I look up at the sky to check for rainclouds, but it’s such a clear night, I can count the stars. “Right.” I reassure myself by remembering the Swiss Army knife in my boot. “Tomorrow.”
Chapter Two
Carver
Enough. I’m taking her tonight.
There might have been a slight chance I could leave her alone—very, very slight—but as soon as another man dared to touch her, I knew resisting my growing need for the girl was hopeless. Mine. Mine, motherfucker.
In the decade since I moved to these woods, the camp has been in operation during the summer months. I’ve been a casual observer from the trees, shrugging off their stories about me. Until now. Three days ago, the little tomboy princess arrived, and I’ve been living in misery ever since. My cock hangs stiff and aching in the leg of my pants, throbbing to the sound of her name.
Lainey.
She’s too beautiful to be real. The firelight flickers and a glow dances across her skin, almost bringing me to my knees. I stay upright, though, knowing if I hit the ground, they will hear my cursed bulk landing, and run for their lives. If they run, I’ll be forced to enter the main section of the camp and take her. It’s happening now, come hell or high water.
I’d just managed to convince myself I’m not a freak. That I’m not a terrifying being that lurks in the forest, waiting to snatch an innocent victim. Turns out, the stories they tell about me around the campfire are true. Mostly.
I’m not going to tear the tomboy princess apart with my teeth, though, as the legend claims I’m wont to do. I’m simply going to keep her. Forever.
How has she walked freely on this earth without another male laying claim? That weak bastard with the ponytail is only one of the men in camp I’ve heard whispering about her. They watch her walk past in her denim shorts and adjust themselves, thinking no one is watching. After tonight, none of them will get another chance to look at her. Speak with her. Exist in the same air as her.
My hand rips a strip of bark off the nearest tree, a roar kindling in my throat. No more waiting. Every second that passes when she’s not in my possession is like acid racing down my back. I’ve spent the last three days trying to calm the savage need she’s awoken inside me, but it grows and grows, crowding out logic. Logic left over from a past life. A life I only remember in my nightmares.
I’m her nightmare.
The very idea of scaring her has my fist connecting with a tree, leaving it tilted sideways, roots sticking out of the earth. I don’t want to be the beast that steals her away from her normal life, but being without her is making me more insane by the second. Need to touch her. Need to know what’s behind her secret smiles. She’s not like anyone else I’ve ever seen through the trees…or in that long-ago life. No, there’s something broken in her, and my chest is fracturing with the need to mend her wounds.
Taking her as my captive is the only way. She will be terrified at first, but soon she will realize I mean only to guard and feed her. My body’s need for Lainey will not wait, unfortunately. I’ve gone a decade without touching another human being, but the lack of contact never registered until I saw her that first day, diving off the diving board in her red bikini. Now I’m hard and dripping and raw. No amount of self-pleasure satisfies me. I might not even make it back to my home before prying apart her legs and thrusting until the pain goes away.
I begin to trudge through the woods, toward the ring of light, but my step falters when I think of Lainey screaming. When I think of her horror upon seeing me up close, especially after being told such horrible stories about me for the last three days. Of course, most of those legends are bullshit, but she won’t know that. I’m simply a man who never fit into polite society. My inability to blend in only got worse after returning from overseas with my injuries. My memories.
A squeeze of discomfort in my throat propels me forward. Slowly, my determination settles back down on my shoulders. Her presence is the first thing to ever soothe my demons. What will happen when I’m finally touching her?
I’m closer now and I watch through the trees as the campers begin to look around, scooting closer to one another. It’s no wonder, since the ground trembles with every step I take. Lainey takes a protective step toward them, then turns…and looks directly at me. She doesn’t scream, she just waits.
She waits. For me?
No. But I can pretend.
With heaven in sight, my breath seizes in my lungs. My hands begin to shake with the force of my hunger. Nothing will stop me now. She’s within reach. I push through the tree line to a chorus of deafening screams, children scattering in every direction. I notice absently that ponytail man runs, too, which I count as a good thing, because I don’t think committing murder is the best way to introduce myself to my bride.
I stop in front of Lainey and groan down at her. Way down. She’s so much shorter than me, her head tipped back, eyes full of shock. Christ almighty. She’s even more incredible up close than I could have imagined, so fresh and clean and supple. From my vantage point, I can see down her white tank top to her sweet, braless tits, and stop just short of coming in my pants. “You will…” I have to stop to catch my breath, the need to fuck her is so overwhelming. “You will come with me now.”
When she faints, I catch her body, lifting her off the ground so I can smell her hair, the curve of her neck. Ignoring the pinch in my chest—a product of scaring her into unconsciousness—I carefully place her over my shoulder and return to the woods.