Hunting Adeline (Cat and Mouse, #2)

by H.D. Carlton

Addie, baby, I need you to fight for me, okay? I need you to survive until I get to you.

“Fuck, baby, stay right there. Don’t you fucking move.”

He immediately lifts me into his arms, my legs circling his waist before he collapses to his knees, holding me so tightly that I can hardly draw in a breath.

“I’m here, little mouse, I’m here,” he chants. “Fuck, you’re so cold.” His voice breaks, and he rocks us both, vibrations rolling through him as he fights to keep it together.

Piece by piece, we both crumble, the chips falling around us in a waterfall of anguish. And I just know that when Zade picks up our scattered pieces and stitches us back together, we’ll be forever entwined.

I’m safe now. Yet it still feels like I’m in Hell.

“Meadows, baby. Our last name is Meadows.” “Yours. Don’t get ahead of yourself. You’ll be expected to beg.” There’s no stopping the savage grin from gracing my lips. “I love to beg.”

Daylight savings is approaching, relieving the world of its depressive claws. Something about the sun setting before five in the afternoon really puts a damper on your day.

“My entire world revolves around you. If you want mint chocolate chip, then that’s what I want, too,” he had said.

He’s a cold-blooded killer yet easily melts beneath a survivor’s hopeful gaze. It impacts him as much as it does me because when you’re trapped and terrified, hope is the first thing you lose, and the most devastating. So, getting it back… that’s one of the best gifts we could ask for.

“You and I will never end, little mouse. Even when we’re six feet under, and our bones are dust, I will haunt your soul until it aches to be free of me. And then, I will hold you tighter.”