Page 54 of Out of My Flocking Mind

I put Ignis on speaker, then tossed the phone onto the passenger seat. I slid the car into drive, then pulled from the side onto the dark road. “I’ll pick up donuts, too.”

Ignis laughed, but before I could understand her next words, a sudden pain raced through my temples. It was familiar, the same feeling I’d gotten during the other attacks. This time I recognized it better, and fear swamped me.

“Grey?” Ignis’ voice came from a million miles away, like we were both drowning and the water distorted her voice. It became more frantic as I hit the brakes of the car. I could see nothing, the pain in my head taking every bit of attention, but the last thing I wanted was to come to later finding out I’d run over some kid.

Though, if a kid is out at this hour, they probably had it coming.

The crunch of metal shook me back to my right mind, the pain letting up just enough for me to pull the parking brake, then open the door. I stumbled out of the car, gripping my head as though I could hold it together with my hands alone.

“You were so careful up until now.” The voice floated through the darkness, reverberating somehow between something physical and something in my head. Still, I recognized it as the one I’d heard during the attacks.

I wanted to bury my face in my hands and pretend anything else was true, but I couldn’t. I’d survived too much already to give in now. Instead, I lifted my head toward that voice, peering through the darkness to find the person behind it standing there.

Blond, wavy hair, blue eyes, and a face I would never forget.

Harrison stood above me, his lips twisted into a smirk he had somehow hidden from me. How could I have been this horribly wrong?

Chapter Thirteen

The pain let up, the absence of it making me collapse forward like some puppet without strings. I gasped in shaky breaths, my chest burning, my muscles weak.

Harrison crouched down in front of me, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. It was strange to see him in such casual clothes, but he must have left soon after I had. He must have rushed to get here. “What are you doing out here all alone?”

“I got a little stir-crazy,” I forced myself to say, wishing I’d come across as smooth and in control. I doubted that was the case, though. Instead, I sounded just about off the deep end, hanging onto my sanity by the thinnest of strings.

“Well, that was pretty fucking stupid, right?” His words made me frown, but my brain still felt scraped raw. I couldn’t make it through enough to really know what bothered me, what didn’t sound quite right. “Did you really think I wouldn’t find you? That you could ever escape me? Because that was a bad choice. All I had to do was wait.”

“And now what?”

“Now? I don’t think we’ll get interrupted, so I’ll enjoy pulling apart your brain. You’re not like anyone I’ve ever tasted before and I just can’t get enough. It doesn’t matter what you do, where you go, you’ll never escape me.” He caught my shirt and pulled me closer.

A sheen rested on his lips, and it made my stomach clench in something that wasn’t even close to pleasure. I thought about the kisses we’d shared, the feeling of his body, all of it. Just yesterday I’d been so sure that there was something between us, but now? The idea that he might press those deceitful lips against mine made me promise to bite them the fuck off if he tried—consequences be damned.

“You’re much prettier than I realized at first. This hair is like a lure. Is it how you draw men in? It’s like feathers on a pretty bird.”

“More like the red hourglass on a black widow,” I spat back.

He smiled, the look nothing like the man I’d gotten to know. It was so wide, so open. “I’ve always liked easy women, but fuck, maybe you’re able to show me the benefits of one that takes some work. Fuck knows you’ve been more fun than I’ve had in a while. I can’t wait to see what else you’ve got hiding in the thick skull of yours.” He leaned in closer, his breath smelling of something sweet enough to make me nauseous.

“Well, that’s really too bad.” I wrapped my fingers in the soil beneath me, then twisted, tossing it right into his stupid eyes.

He must not have expected it, because he didn’t have time to even close his eyes. Instead, he yanked backward in surprise, a yelp funny enough I almost laughed in response. That would have been a waste, though, so I took off instead, rushing toward the park. At this hour, there were no cars on the road, no businesses open in the area. Help wasn’t something I was likely to get, which meant my better chance was to break line of sight. Without that, he was unlikely to be able to affect me with his powers, and since I couldn’t be tracked in any way other than visually, I’d be safe if I could just get away.

My foot hit an uneven bit of ground, sinking into where something had burrowed beneath, pitching me to the side. I caught my balance, somehow, and kept moving away from Harrison’s angry shouts. I knew damn well that moving away from angry yelling was usually in my best interests, especially when the angry yelling including cursing my name.

If Harrison had been pissed before, I had a feeling that getting dirt thrown in his eyes wasn’t going to make him any happier to see me.

If I could just get a little distance, I could change into my crow form. Sure, he’d spotted it easily before, but the smaller footprint would allow me to hide in places my stupid human body couldn’t. I glanced around the trees, the darkness, looking for anywhere that might work. Nothing looked promising, though.

Instead, I leaned down as I tripped and wrapped my fingers around a thick branch, one about a foot and a half long. It wasn’t the best weapon, but it was better than nothing. When running didn’t seem possible, the only other options were fighting or giving in—and I’d never been the type to give in.

I moved behind a tree, pressing my back to it, trying to slow my breath. If I could just stay out of sight for a little bit, I had a shot. Harrison was powerful, sure, but he was as fallible as any other living creature.

The bark of the tree dug into my back, but I ignored it, straining for sounds of him following me. I had no idea how long I waited. I didn’t dare to try to open a portal to get a phone, didn’t even dare to breathe deeply. No sounds echoed through the park, nothing to tell me where he’d gone, to let me know when it was safe to try to take off. One wrong move and all I’d do was hand myself right over to him.

A snap behind the tree made me press my lips together to silence the noise of surprise. I reminded myself he couldn’t track me, which meant he had to be looking blindly for me.

I held the wood tighter, my arm crossed over my chest, holding myself as still as possible. Another snap, another groan of the dirt beneath shoes, and it was obvious. Harrison was headed this way, just on the other side of the large tree I hid behind.

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