Page 28 of How to Hide Your Angel Kid

Pinks heaved a sigh, relaxing. “I can’t wait to get home.”

“Yeah? Want to fill me in on what I missed?”

“Just a lot of awkward queuing. People staring. I don’t suppose your parents ever left you to wait in grocery store lines when you were little.”

Galent smiled lopsidedly. “There were no grocery stores like the ones we have nowadays. Hell, I think my mom sent me to the market on my own to buy the things she’d forgotten for dinner.”

Pinks shook his head. They were halfway across the parking lot when Zarrie sneezed.

Instead of a normal sneeze, tiny round feathers burst into existence around them, and her wings popped out under her blanket. Pinks cursed and fumbled, trying to hide how the fluttering shapes were, in fact, part of his daughter.

Galent glanced sharply at them. “Are those her own feathers, or do they come from nowhere?”

“I think they’re hers. I don’t know,” Pinks groaned. “It’s not easy to count her feathers when she keeps beating her wings!”

“Don’t you have anyone to ask?”

“No,” Pinks admitted, shame-faced. “I’ve never seen anyone else like her other dad. And he’s disappeared off to gods know where.”

“Motherspanking dishrag,” Galent said.

Pinks stared. “What?”

“No ‘fuck’s, remember?” Galent’s mouth curved.

Pinks bit his lip. “That was actually a pretty good one.”

Galent puffed out his chest. Before he could speak, a strange movement caught Pinks’ eye.

He slowed down and stretched out his hearing, picking up several sounds—people walking, kids talking, cars moving all around the parking lot.

But there, from three cars down, came a strange clicking noise.

Galent had stopped, grabbing their cart to hold it in place. “What’s wrong?” He followed Pinks’ stare, then cocked his head and went stiff. His tone changed. “Take Zarrie and go.”

“I’m not leaving you here,” Pinks hissed.

“I can’t fight properly if I’m worried about your safety.”

They glared at each other, saved from arguing when a large, spindlythingunfolded itself from between the cars, heading straight for them.

7

THE CREATURE

It wasn’t a spider.

That was Pinks’ only consolation. The creature was shiny-metallic with a compact, box-like body and four twig-thin legs pointing straight down, and it made all his hair stand on end.

“Fuck!” Galent grabbed Pinks by the arm and began running.

It was all Pinks could do to keep his arms around Zarrie.

When he peeked over his shoulder, he found the creature closing in on them, its shapeless mouth gaping as it tried to... suck down the air they left behind. Or whatever it was actually doing. Pinks screamed, running as hard as he could.

Galent lengthened his strides and pulled Pinks along, heading to the far end of the parking lot where there were several empty spots. “Fuck, I need to fly us out of here.”

“It’s too dangerous!” Because of the curse, and because dragons shouldn’t be seen in public, because they could get hunted. Unlike Galent, Pinks was a wolf, too common a species for anyone to give a damn.

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