Page 56 of Flock Around and Find Out

“Don’t get all ‘do what I say’ with me,” I argued weakly. “I only follow directions in bed.”

“Well, try here for something new. The reality is that you had to make a choice, and you made the right one. You picked two lives over one. You would have backed down if he’d given you the option, but he didn’t, so you had to respond. I know it wasn’t what you wanted. If you were some monster, it wouldn’t bother you this much, still. That proves that you did it because you had to.”

His words were like cool water on a burn. It helped ease the sting, at least for a moment, but I knew the moment I turned it off, as soon as I moved away, that burn would start hurting again. It would heal—all things did—but it was going to take a while longer and hurt like hell in the meantime.

“What if he never forgives me?” I whispered, leaning into Galen, feeling an odd sense of safety here. He really had that responsible, I’ll take care of it vibe going, didn’t he?

“Then it’s his loss. I won’t tell you that he will, because unlike him, I’m no mind reader. He might decide to hold onto this grudge forever because blaming you is easier than blaming himself, or accepting that some things can’t be changed.” Galen paused, then spoke softly. “I know a little something about that. See, back when I’d first turned into a werewolf, I had struggled with letting go of my human life, my human family. There is this difficult transition that happens, where because we don’t age, we have to distance ourselves from those who would recognize the fact. It doesn’t happen the day we change, but it does eventually need to occur. I held on longer than most, however, trying to hide the fact I didn’t change while my siblings and friends all grew old. Well, I ended up having my little sister stop by unexpectantly one night—a full moon. She caught sight of a few Weres changing into their wolf forms.” He sighed, as though the weight of the memory was incredibly heavy. “She was never quite right again. She didn’t mention what happened, didn’t tell anyone, but she only made it another three years before she took her own life. At first, I blamed the pack, blamed anyone I could find. It was easier to do that than recognize that I should have cut ties well before, and that not everything is within our control. I hope that Harrison realizes it too, but if he doesn’t?” Galen squeezed me tighter against his side. “You’ll be fine.”

I wasn’t sure I agreed, but it was nice to hear.

Chapter Thirteen

“I need to ask Kelvin if my blood is just exceptionally good because these fucking mosquitos seem to think so.” I swatted my arm but just missed the sneaky little bastard using me as its own personal buffet.

“That question and image are incredibly disturbing,” Galen pointed out as he walked in front of me.

“So is being feasted on, so it’s better we both suffer.”

“Yes, well, seeing as I don’t choose to be a meal to a vampire, I suspect this is a you problem.”

I mouthed his words back sullenly as I kept pace with him. The path was narrow, barely a single person wide, and he used a machete to clear bits of leaves from our way.

I’d never been to a jungle like this, having only had experience with the north American forest type of trees.

This was a whole different beast, as it turned out. I wouldn’t have dared stepped foot in a place like this if it weren’t for Galen keeping an eye on it all. In fact, I suspected most of the peskier critters recognized him as an apex predator because I noticed a distinct lack of wildlife.

Except bugs.

Whether they were too stupid to fear him or just didn’t care, they didn’t keep their distance.

At this point I’d almost rather deal with a snake or panther rather than these fucking mosquitos—or the huge spider I’d spotted on a tree then promptly ignored because my psyche could not handle that shit. I’d been through enough, dealt with enough horrors, that an eight-legged arachnid the size of a dinner plate was sonotsomething I was ready to accept as real and in this world.

Nope.

I would live in my happy little fantasy life where spiders were tiny and not furry.

“How much further?” I asked in a whine.

“You’ve asked me that six times.”

“Well, it’s a new answer now, isn’t it? We weren’t there yet ten minutes ago, but we might be now.” I knew I sounded like a kid complaining from the back of a car, but that was fine with me. I just really, really wanted to bedonewith this whole trip.

I knew I’d never been a huge outdoorsy sort of person, but this really solidified the fact. It was muggy and gross and I wanted a cold shower and a bug-free sleep.

Galen took out the tablet from his backpack and studied the map on it, giving me the chance to sit on a large, overturned log. Thank fuck he was guiding us, because I was pretty sure I would have gotten us entirely lost.

Then again, it would have beenmucheasier if I could fly.

I imagined soaring over the canopy, getting that sort of view. It would have been pretty nice, right?

Except, each time I tried, it failed miserably. At the very least, I’d gotten better at small flutters that slowed my descent.

I thought back to when Kelvin and Galen had attempted to get me to fly, back in my first year of being a crow shifter. Galen had been sweet, but Kelvin had been convinced that a tough love approach would get me where I needed to go.

Which meant he’d taken the role of a mama bird andthrownme off the side of a building. I had promptly crashed and broken my wing—which translated to breaking my arm when I turned human again.

I could flutter now, so if the same thing happened, I suspected there’d be less damage.

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