Hunting Adeline (Cat and Mouse, #2)

by H.D. Carlton

I’m going to burn the entire fucking world down until I find her, and I don’t care who gets burnt.

I am no longer a man—only a beast succumbing to primal instinct. I am annihilation.

There’s always a way out, little mouse. You just have to find it.

I failed Addie. And I’ll never let myself forget it. Not with the rose now carved over my heart.

Men like this, who have lived their lives so selfishly and with no regard for others’ lives, are always the most desperate to live forever. But they never understood that’s what makes them so goddamn weak. It’s the people who have no regard for their own life—people like me. We are the ones that are the deadliest.

I’m coming home with my little mouse tonight. And then? We’re going to burn down the world 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.

“Meadows, baby. Our last name is Meadows.” “Yours. Don’t get ahead of yourself. You’ll be expected to beg.”

Zade got a mint chocolate chip cone for himself, and he smiled wider than the damn Cheshire Cat when I just stared at him. “My entire world revolves around you. If you want mint chocolate chip, then that’s what I want, too,” he had said. “Do you even like it?” “I like you, does that count?” “No.”

“Happiness is fleeting. All that matters is that they’re living their life the way they want to.”

All those dark, twisted emotions I felt were the rawest form of who I am. I made the decision to show you that instead of concealing it. I never claimed to be a good person, little mouse, and that was something I decided I could live with.

“It’s because I love you, Adeline Reilly. And I know you love me back. When I’m inside you, you won’t be thinking of anything else but how to get me deeper. The only fear you’ll taste is from a God sending you to heaven too soon.”

Seeing him doing something so domestic is… odd. I never thought I’d see oven mitts on a stalker and professional killer, but here we are… All he needs is an apron, and I’d be convinced I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole and hit my head on a tree root.

Zade can fucking cook.

“Not only am I scary, baby, but I’m really, really angry. And when I’m angry, I’ll make them pray for Hell.”

Just because you take the time to pick up the pieces after shattering a dish doesn’t mean that it’s not your fucking fault that it broke.

Having Zade’s love feels like a dream, but having his trust and confidence feels like a dream come true.

I still struggle with looking in the mirror and seeing something beautiful like I used to. Not because of how I look, but how I feel. In my eyes, my body is stained with dirty handprints, and no amount of scrubbing will set me free of them.

“One day, you’re going to feel safe with me again,” he whispers, his voice dangerously soft. “And when that day comes, you better pray I’m feeling generous.”

"Without you, I will shatter. But with you, I am indestructible."

“I’ve been protecting you from getting hurt, but sometimes embracing the pain is the only way to overcome it.

“You’ll always be safe with me, little mouse. Always.”

I may have cracked, but they did not shatter me. My rose still has fucking thorns, Zade.

Only a monster can create another monster.

“A good man would be sorry that he corrupted something so pure.” “You’ve never been a good man,” I whisper, reiterating the exact words he’s told me so many times before. “No,” he agrees. “But I have always been yours.”

“I’ve followed you through lifetimes, Adeline. My soul needs you so badly that I’ve become a shadow, destined to hunt you for eternity.”

“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.”

“Someday soon, little mouse, you will not be able to see anything else. I will be the only villain in your story, and the only one who has the power to make

“I love you, Zade. Sometimes I can’t fucking stand it,” I say, my voice raspy and uneven. “But it was the only thing that kept me alive. You saved me. Even when we were apart, you saved me. And I hope to God you never stop hunting me.”

“I’ll bleed for you, Zade. I’ll always bleed for you.”

“You’re the only thing I need to survive. I will follow you into the afterlife, little mouse. And then how will you escape me? There’s nowhere to run after you’ve been dragged to Hell.”

Heaven isn’t a place you go to when you die, it’s inside the person that’s worth dying for.