Page 49 of Clouded by Envy

“What happened?” she asked, concern filling up her entire body.

Wes shook his head and ran a hand through his thick hair. “The attack happened when Kyle’s dad left work and was heading to his truck. He saw a woman who he thought needed money approaching him, and he reached into his pocket to pull out some cash to give her. Instead of taking the money, the woman ran at Kyle’s dad and knocked him to the ground. He managed to push her off, but she was strong and she… She bit his ear off.”

Bray’s eyes opened as wide as they could go. “Shewhat? Like she ate it?” She couldn’t comprehend what he had just said.

“No, she spit it out. When security came, she was raging and completely out of control, trying to either push his eye in or yank it out. The cop was going to arrest her, but then she attacked him, too—and bit his shoulder. Somehow after pushing her off, the cop shot her in the leg to slow her, but she kept coming at him, so he had to shoot her down.”

“How’s Kyle’s dad now?” Bray didn’t want to think about how scared Kyle was going to be when he found out about it. She was shaken from just hearing about it.

“They’re reattaching his ear. So, there’s that… He’s going to be okay, though.”

“Thank goodness.” Her shoulders relaxed, and she sighed in relief.

Wes rubbed his bottom lip back and forth against his front teeth.

“What else?” she asked hesitantly.

“The body was shot twice, and there was no blood. This is the third person who has gone insane, attacked people, and then get shot and killed. To top it all off, no blood can be found in the body. How’s that possible? And better yet: what is going on?” Wes’s face grew grim, and Bray’s heart sunk because she couldn’t uncover an answer either.

“I don’t know. Your world is so different than mine. Laith isn’t as clear to me now, but something like this wouldn’t be so farfetched there. Here though … something like this shouldn’t be happening.”

He let out a heavy breath and took a seat on the couch. “You’re right. It shouldn’t.”

Bray sat down beside him and pulled his hand into hers, interlacing their fingers. “I might not know what’s going on, but maybe I can try to figure something out. I don’t know how, though.”

“We just won’t think about it tonight.” He stared at their interlaced fingers with an unreadable expression. “About earlier, I…”

She wondered if Wes regretted what had happened between them, and if she should let go of his hand. Bray released it and placed her hand on top of her knee, rubbing her thumb nervously in slow circles against the skin. “Yes?” Her breathing drew in shakily.

“I liked it.” He smiled.

And her breath came out steadily. “Me, too.”

Wrapping his strong arm around Bray’s shoulders, Wes tugged her to his chest, and they sat like that together in silence for a while.

Bray worried that Brenik was still gone. If something happened to him like what had happened to Kyle’s dad, she would be heartbroken. Brenik would be able to escape an attack easily since he could just fly off, but she was still nervous about him not being back yet.

Then there was this thing between her and Wes. She knew she was being selfish to Brenik by staying this size—living a life that wasn’t in a tree hole.

“What are you thinking about?” Wes asked.

“I guess I won’t be able to sleep in the tree since Kyle’s staying the night.”

“Nope.”

“Couch?” She quietly patted the back of the cushion.

“Nope.”

“The car?” She stood up like she was going to walk out the front door.

“Nope.” He wiggled his finger at her to follow him to his room.

Bray rubbed her chin like she was thinking hard about it, then shrugged and let him lead the way.

They both sat on the bed after Wes closed the door behind them. “Since we can’t do anything now that Luca has a friend over, there’s only going to be cuddling tonight.” He smiled, then leaned over and whispered, “And maybe a kiss or two.”

Bray softly patted his shoulder. “What about shoulder time? I like sleeping on your shoulder.”

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