Chapter Fifty-seven - Deacon

Purity kept running. She could hear the others following after her now, Damien still screaming after them. Grabbing a tree, she ducked behind it, glancing back the way she came to see how much distance lay between her and capture. Her breathing echoed in her ears, her chest heaving with her exertion as she clutched to the tree, the bark digging into her palm. She really wished she had grabbed some real clothes before she opened the door for Deacon’s father. The T-shirt she wore had already been snagged by several passing branches and ripped. If she kept going, she would be naked by the time she managed to escape. Or get captured again.

She had thought they were safe; she had dared to hope, getting lost in Deacon’s soft smile and gentle demeanor. The high from being in his arms all night had blinded her to her need for caution, blinded him as well, it seemed. She hoped his father was all right. She would never forgive herself if something happened to him because of her.