16 - The Hunter and the Prey

**Kai POV**

“Aurora’s escaped!” That is what Ben just said to us. I had to take a moment and register those words, because there is no way that that little girl could have escaped, especially after the punishment she got just yesterday.

“What did you say?” Jason asked with gritted teeth, beating me to the same question.

“I said, Aurora has escaped.” Ben said, giving back an evil glare of his own. Ben is the softest of the four of us, but he is still a beast when he needs to be.

Jason and I both hurried up the stairs with him. Jason barked an order to a guard telling him to get Charlie and to round up as many free hands as possible. We are practically running to the cars. Charlie is there within a minute of us diving into the cars and we are headed back to the house.

“Tell us what happened.” Jason sneers. You can practically see the steam building up in his face ready to explode out of his ears.

Ben takes a deep breath before he starts speaking. “I was taking a break from going over the systems check; thought I’d check in on the princess. When I pulled up her cameras I didn’t see her right away. Then I saw someone sitting on the floor by her bed, figured it was her. But when I switched the camera angels, it was one of the maids, Rachel I think is her name. She was sitting on the floor, crying and she was cuffed to the headboard. I then did a whole sweep of the house and grounds, nothing. I had Chris and Tamera help me with tracing back footage and about 6 hours ago she managed to call a maid and overpower her and slipped right out the front door.”

“WHAT?!” All three of us guys screamed. Anger just as mine was all over their faces.

“What about the guards? Where the fuck were they?” Charlie asked, seething. A few guards are about to lose their heads from the look on their faces.

“It looked like they were in the middle of a shift change. I don’t like it either!” he snapped back. It’s not his fault she escaped. Good thing he checked, honestly otherwise it would have been even more hours before we would have realized she was missing. It’s about 5 o’clock in the morning now. The color of the sky is still mostly black.

Jason had called the house while we were driving and barked a few orders. We made it back to the house in record time and all hopped out of the car and made our way inside.

We see Thomas in front of twelve other guards in the foyer, heads all down in submission. Three maids are there off to the side, one visibly upset and being silently comforted by the other two.

“Thomas! What the fuck is going on?” Jason asked, his hands balled up in fists at his side.

“I’m sorry boss. We had no idea she called the kitchen. That’s the maid there,” he said while pointing at the distraught young girl. “She didn’t inform anyone; she just went to the room as instructed and saw Miss Aurora crying. When she went to comfort her, Miss Aurora blindsided her and cuffed her and ran out of the room. I checked the videos here and saw she ran south along the forest path.”

You can see Jason playing with his cheek with his tongue. It’s one of his trademarks looks when he is really pissed but wants to look calm. Makes him even scarier.
“Kai.” He says with that devilish smirk on his face.

I just look at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Want to go on a hunt?” His eyes twinkle with the evil that I just love!

“Fuck yes!” I smirk back before turning to Thomas “get the dogs Thomas, it’s time to go hunting. Our pretty prey awakes.”

The guys and I all went upstairs. I changed from my bloody suit into my army cargo pants and boots. I made sure to grab my small hunting backpack with cuffs, rope, tape, and a few extra weapons of choice. The maids greeted us downstairs with cold water bottles. I stuffed mine in my backpack and went outside. The dogs were jumping and snarling, they were ready.

Charlie comes out with the nightgown we put Aurora in yesterday. I walked over to my hellhounds. When I gave my command, they sat still at attention.
“Good boys,” I cooed at them and pet each of their heads briefly. I put the nightgown to their noses, and they took a few good sniffs each. The guards then released their leashes.

“Hunt!” I ordered and they took off running to the south.

Oh my sweet baby, I love a good hunt!


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**Aurora POV**

Darkness. Trees. Sticks. Dirt. Bugs.
Darkness. Trees. Sticks. Dirt. Bugs.
Darkness. Trees. Sticks. Dirt. Bugs.

It’s like my new mantra. I have been slowly making my way through this never-ending forest. I kept going in the same direction as the road but at some point I lost it while I was walking further into the trees. The foliage is so thick, I can’t even see the stars. A little moon light seeps through the branches, but not much. I have tripped a few times and gotten plenty of scrapes on my arms, face, and legs. I have no idea how far I have walked.

I thought for sure I would have heard someone by now, or at least come to a road. But nothing. I just keep walking. I am so tired. My whole body hurts. My ass, especially. And my throat is dry. I need water soon. I had stopped not too long ago to rest my aching muscles but got startled with the sounds of the forest.

Not sure if this was a good idea.

I probably walked another hour before I saw a little break in the trees up ahead. Like a clearing.

As I approached, I saw that there was a road. A real paved road.

As I get closer, I see that there is a black iron fence just inside the tree line. It looks about ten feet tall, and the bars between are too small to slip through. My hopes are dashed as I look around and see the same fence for as far as I can see.

I tentatively touch the fence with a stick and luckily no shock, so it’s not electrified. I can’t go through it or under. I walk a little further following the tree line and come across a few huge trees. I notice that some of the branches go over the top of the fence.

I used to climb trees as a child and got the brilliant idea to try to climb over it. I found a good size tree that hangs over the tall fence and with a little patience and careful footing, I am able to shimmy my way up to the first set of branches. I begin to creep out on my hands and knees onto the smaller branch, praying it will hold my weight.

Just as I am about to pass the top of the fence, my knee slips and it gets stabbed by one of the spikes on the fence. OW! I held my scream, wincing at the impact. I was lucky enough to have grasped the tree branch in time before I fell completely. I could feel warm liquid around the cut and knew I was bleeding.

I finished crossing the threshold and let my body slide off the bark, falling about 10 feet to the ground with a soft thud. I collapsed at the impact from my sore knee. I could see the dark sticky patch seeping through my leggings. Fuck!

I stayed there for a few minutes then saw a single set of car lights off in the distance coming towards me. This is it! My chance!

I quickly got up and hobbled to the end of the road, waving my arms like a mad woman as I entered into the street.

The car slowed down and stopped in front of me. The headlights, blinding my vision.

“Hey! You okay?” I heard a deep voice. It sounded familiar to me, but I couldn’t place it. It definitely was NOT one of the guys or their men. That I was positive about.

“No sir! I need your help! Please! I need to get back to Johnson City” I begged while limping to his car window.

“Looks like you got yourself a nasty injury there. Get in the back so you can put your leg up.” He said. I didn’t notice how tight he gripped the steering wheel.

“Thank you!” I practically screamed and almost dove into the car, and he was speeding off before I even closed the door.

“What’s your name sweetheart?” He asked me.

“Aurora,” I said tiredly.

“I’m Dmitry. Nice to meet you.” he said calmly. I was too preoccupied with trying to calm my beating heart to notice his devilish smirk in the rearview mirror.