Page 69 of Out of My Flocking Mind

Though, hey, at least I’d found something that was too far and I could easily say wasn’t my kink. That was good, right?

Trey still hadn’t released me. His hand trembled, the action causing the claws to rake lightly against my exposed skin. If I could ignore the size of the man behind me, the fact that he was evidently stark-raving nuts, if I only paid attention to his actions, it all came back to one thing.

He was doing this for a reason, but that reason wasn’t about escaping. He was terrified.

Galen rolled his shoulders, narrowing his glowing eyes. “This is your last chance. I’ve held back my wolf as well as I can, but he doesn’t take it well when people threaten his mate. If I lose control of him—you will be torn to pieces. So, let. Her. Go.” With the last word, Galen snapped his teeth together.

Still, Trey didn’t let go. He tightened his grip, pressing the sharp tips of his claws harder against my throat. He could have cut me so easily, but he didn’t.

Galen spread his arms just as a dark mist started to consume him, the sign of the start of his change and the start of a lot of fucking questions.

“Stop!” I rushed out, putting my hands up.

“Stop? He’s going to kill you,” Galen said, his voice having returned more to normal. Maybe my stupidity had shaken some sense into him.

“No, he isn’t—right, Trey? If you wanted to kill me, you could have from the start. You were just trying to get Galen to attack you.”

A noisy chuff said Trey wasn’t a fan of my theory, and Galen’s expression suggested he thought I was an idiot.

The thing was, even an idiot was right occasionally, and today felt like my lucky day.

“Think about it, Galen. He could have killed me already. He had to know you wouldn’t just let him go, especially with Harrison right here as well. He knows you’re stronger, so why would he do this?” I gave Galen a moment to think it over, to recognize I wasn’t wrong.

After a second, Galen let out a soft curse under his breath, the realization washing over his face. Clearly, he’d come to the same conclusion I had.

Trey must have realized it too, because he released me. Despite the fact that he hadn’t been restricting my airway, I felt like I could breathe more easily. “You’re an idiot,” Trey snapped. “You all are idiots.”

I turned to find him there, still in his bear form, having moved away until he was against the wall, as though trying to be considerate. Funny how quickly he could move from ‘I’m going to tear her throat out’ to ‘I don’t want to startle her from standing too close!’

“You don’t need to die,” I said.

“Of course I do. You really don’t think I can feel the wounds in my mind? The way someone went in there and carved it all out, leaving gashes behind that will never heal. I’m nothing more than a rabid beast like this. Death is a far better fate.” He lowered himself from his back legs to the ground, then lay flat. He set his head on top of his front paws, his face turned away as though he didn’t want to see any of us. He really did look the part of a wounded animal right there, didn’t he?

Galen closed the door to the cell, relocking it with his palm against the door. It must have been some magic lock, something connected with his wolf. Whatever it was, Trey didn’t resist the action, didn’t try to get away. It went to prove even more than he’d never intended to escape, not really.

“You should have killed me,” Trey said as the rest of us headed for the stairs.

I turned back to face Trey, but he still didn’t look my way. In fact, for a moment I wondered if I’d heard him at all. He cleared that up when he went on, “You’ll see that I’m right. You’ll come to regret not doing what I wanted and ending me here, and what happens next? All the blood that gets shed? Well, you’ll have to live with that yourself, because it’ll be on your hands.”

That doesn’t sound good at all…

Chapter Seventeen

Harrison had gone to meet with Ignis, leaving me there with Galen. Then again, I was pretty safe here, all things considered.

“I’m surprised you haven’t done anything to me yet,” Galen said as he walked into the living room with a glass of water that he handed over to me.

“Not sure what you think about me, but I’m not the type to jump people in their own homes.” As soon as I said it, I wonder if I’d get struck by lightning for that particular lie.

Galen shook his head and sat on the end of the couch, leaving space between us. “You’re not the type to let people run their mouths. I said something you would have normally made my life a living hell for, but you haven’t even brought it up. Is it possible that you’ve softened recently?”

“Let’s hope not,” I answered, then took a sip of the cool water. “I didn’t say anything because you didn’t seem fully in control there. Fuck knows I’ve said some weird shit when drunk. If that got held against me, well, it would suck. I can give you the same understanding, can’t I?”

Galen stared at me, the weight of his gaze feeling like an elephant sitting on my chest. “I wasn’t fully in control, but I still meant it.”

I sighed, making a show of letting my head fall backward. “I was giving you a perfectly good out and you just refuse to take it, huh? What, do you enjoy rejection? Do you get off on humiliation? If so, I don’t kink shame. I’ll play along, but at least be honest with me. I don’t Domme for free, you know.”

“You haven’t rejected me,” Galen pointed out.

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