The Mating Run by Leeka

Chapter 48

Thoughts

My head hurts, throbbing like a drum beaten by invisible hands.

Darkness surrounds me, a heavy shroud that muffles the world. I try to open my eyes, but they feel glued shut. Slowly, I manage to pry them open, squinting against the harsh light. I see Zeke’s worried face hovering above me, lines of concern

etched on his forehead.

“Alina, can you hear me?” he asks, his voice a distant echo in my foggy mind.

I nod weakly, unable to find my voice. Everything feels fuzzy, like I’m floating in a dream. My body aches, and my limbs feel heavy, as if they’re made of lead. Zeke’s hand presses against my forehead, and I flinch at the cool touch.

“You’re burning up,” he mutters, more to himself than to me. “We need to keep moving.”

Moving? Where are we?

My memories are a jumble of disjointed images, like a broken movie reel playing in my mind. I remember Victor, his teeth sinking into my flesh. The pain was searing, intense, but now it’s just a dull ache, a distant memory.

Zeke helped me escape, but from what?

Where are we running to?

Zeke lifts me effortlessly, cradling me in his arms. The world tilts, and I close my eyes against the disorienting sensation. When I open them again, we’re in a

―

different place a dimly lit room with a flickering lantern. Zeke eases me onto a makeshift bed, and I can feel the scratchy fabric beneath me.

“Drink this,” he says, holding a cup to my lips. I glance inside and see clear liquid. Water, maybe? I take a sip, the coolness soothing my parched throat. It’s a small victory, a step toward clarity.

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Thoughts

“Where are we?” I manage to mumble, my voice hoarse.

“Somewhere safe, for now,” Zeke replies, his eyes scanning the room as if expecting danger to burst through the walls. “You have a fever. I thought it wouldn’t get worse, but it did.”

“Oh…”

Zeke sighs, his jaw clenching.

place for

of gratitude and vulnerability. We walk, or rather, Zeke walks while I’m carried like a fragile doll. The world becomes

mind.

narrow cot, and I watch as he rummages through a bag.

I ask, my voice shaky.

steady.

Victor’s bite.”

I hold my arm out hesitantly, watching as Zeke fills the syringe with a clear liquid. He finds a vein and injects the medicine. I flinch, a sharp sting coursing through my arm, but it fades quickly. Zeke watches

“Better?” he asks.

I ask, my voice a

face. Zeke changes the subject,

20

a forced cheerfulness in his tone. “I know you are, I

but I’don’t deny it.

I admit, my stomach rumbling

pot beside him, and the aroma of porridge fills the air. I glance at him in surprise. “Where did you get that in the

a hint of mischief in

my curiosity piqued. “Your

chuckles, a sound that carries

have a

a bowl, I can’t help

the bowl, and I take a hesitant spoonful. The taste is surprisingly comforting, the simple flavors a welcome reprieve from the complexities of

I tease, trying to lighten the

have my

the silence between us filled with the clinking of spoons against the bowl. The porridge is a balm to the gnawing hunger within

feeling that there’s more Zeke isn’t telling me. The air is charged with unspoken secrets,

empty bowl aside, “There’s more

me, Zeke eats more of

thought it would be like this. At the beginning of the Mating Run, I had simple dreams. Dreams of days spent with Ettie, the sun warming our faces as we laughed. Maybe even with Victor, his cocky grin and charming words filling the air. But now, everything is different. The twists in the road have

the challenges of the Mating Run

supposed to be my ally, has become a threat. I don’t know when it happened, the shift from trust to trepidation, but it’s there, a lingering shadow in the corners of my mind. The person I thought I knew so well has become a stranger, and the fear of what

gnaws at me.

the start of this twisted journey, I never would have believed that he would betray me. His charm, his smooth words – they were a mask hiding the true nature of the predator

like a broken record. Victor’s smile, his whispered promises, the moments when I let my guard down. It all seems like a cruel joke now.

be the one to turn against me. In the beginning, he was

would I have taken a different path? Would I have avoided the Mating Run altogether,

Thoughts

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