Kings of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #1) - Caroline Peckham ,Susanne Valenti Page 0,112

knew the guards weren’t far behind their hounds.

Bait yelled in the distance and a dog howled, the sound echoing up to the sky.

“One down!” a man shouted.

No – Bait.

My heart twisted, but there was nothing I could do except keep running and pray for a miracle.

Somehow, I made it to the top of the hill but my heart slammed to a screeching halt as I found myself high up on ridge, a sheer cliff dropping away down the other side of it.

I gazed left and right, weighing up my options just as a dog burst out of the trees. I screamed as he threw his huge paws up on me and barked loud enough to make me wince. I shoved him back to the ground, my heart thumping wildly.

Two guards burst from the foliage and I lifted my hands in innocence, feeling like I was being goddamn arrested.

“Listen, just fucking listen,” I demanded and they slowed to a walk, but kept coming. They were both huge, built like brick shithouses. The dog continued to bark at me and the noise made my thoughts rattle as I tried to focus. “I can’t stay here. There’s three boys in that school making my life hell. They’re gonna torture me if you take me back. Just let me go, say you didn’t find me.”

The redhead to my right released a dry laugh. “We know exactly who owns you, Plague.”

Ice-cold fingers gripped my heart and they felt awfully like Saint’s.

“No,” I breathed in horror.

“And I ain’t risking my job for some blonde chick who’s father fucked the whole world in the ass,” the other guy added with a scowl.

For a moment, taking my chances with the cliff almost seemed like the better option than letting them take me back. But they came at me anyway, snatching my arms and holding me between them.

My heart ached as they dragged me back down the hill then all the way along the road. I could have kicked and screamed and fought, but I knew it was pointless. I couldn’t run now they knew I was out here. The dogs would always find me. I was screwed. And as they led me back through the school gates, terror pulled and tugged at my insides.

I’d failed. Screwed up the one chance I had of escaping this place. Well, Sneak’s goddamn mom had.

The most terrifying thing was, the Night Keepers were going to punish me for this. And it wasn’t going to be pretty.

I spotted another guard guiding Bait off to the right of the lake and called out to him frantically.

He glanced back, his face pale and his eyes full of fear.

I wanted to apologise, but I couldn’t manage to get any words out as my escorts hauled me down the path to the left. I knew where I was going long before we arrived there.

Haunting classical music rose into the air from The Temple like a warning of what was waiting for me inside.

I was soon thrown to my knees in the porch of the church and I fought the urge to tremble as one of the guards knocked on the door.

My mouth was too dry, my heart beating too fast. I couldn’t breathe or think or manage anything but kneeling on that frozen ground, awaiting my fate. I was covered in mud and bloodied scratches. My desperation to get away was written all over me. And now they’d know just how much I wanted to be free of them, how far I’d go, how afraid I’d been all along. And I was sure this night was about to be the longest one of my life. Even worse than the storm on the beach.

I stared at the ground beneath me as the door yanked open, refusing to look up as their three shadows fell over me.

“She got out the gate,” one of the asshole guards said.

“I see,” Saint said in a breath of a whisper, so much danger in those two words that I couldn’t take it.

“Thanks for returning our property,” Kyan said and I heard the guards walking away.

Saint’s shiny shoes appeared beneath my nose and I felt as small as an ant about to be crushed under his heel.

“Did you really think you could escape us, Plague?” he asked, his voice level and yet as sharp as a razor.

“Yes,” I admitted as my heart thrashed even harder.

“And what do you think now?” Saint purred.

I stayed quiet, pressing my lips tightly together.

“Get her inside,” Saint demanded, walking