Page 48 of Such a Feral Little Lamb
“I’m aware. I won’t let anything happen to her.”
Rae huffs. “I’ve got Autumn well in hand. Besides, I think Dane might be in for a surprise if he targeted her. He’ll be sneakier with you. Don’t let him be.”
“Got it.”
Rae and Autumn take the first watch. Rae says she’ll take the last with me, leaving Dane and Blake to take the middle, but I have no intention of letting them wake her. Callum is up here anyway, and though I don’t see Mason again before I bed down for the night, I get the feeling that if anything does happen, he’ll be up here before I know it.
I dream of him. Or of something that feels like him anyway. It’s all sharp claws and gnashing teeth, tearing into my skin, and I let it because I want him to take me apart and put me back together again.
When Dane’s hand lands on my shoulder, I startle awake, breathing hard. He gazes down at me, grin crooked. “Having fun?”
Heat claws its way into my face, and I sit up with a sound of annoyance. Blake is already lying down, and Rae is still asleep. Small mercies. Callum stands over by the church doors, one cracked open as he stares out into the night.
“I’m up,” I say. “Go rest.”
Dane doesn’t move or let go. His weight shifts as he gets more comfortable in his crouch. My shoulders tense.
“What do you want?” I ask.
“To fuck.” The bluntness of his words surprises me, even if it shouldn’t. I know what he wants. I’ve always known what he wanted.
“No.”
“You’ll let that pale little freak fuck you but not me?”
I don’t know how he worked it out, though I suppose we weren’t really discreet. I don’t care. It’s none of his business and I’m tired of all of it. My fingers close around the handle of my bat, and I don’t know when I moved my hand.
“Let go or I’ll fucking kill you,” I snarl, for once truly meaning it.
Dane bares his teeth. Working out his chances? He has size and weight on me, and he’s possibly as vicious, but we both know I won’t go down without a fight. I can’t grab my knife without him noticing. Blake might not be fully out yet. Callum might choose to stay out of it.
“Touchy,” Dane says, and there might be no edge in his voice, but it’s clear in his eyes. He lets go of my shoulder, raising his hands so they’re level with his shoulders. “I’d make you feel better than he did. I can promise you that.”
“We’re not talking about this.” I lift my bat and rest it over my knees.
Dane’s eyes track it, and his hand tightens on his hatchet. Callum moves from the church door but doesn’t close it. He keeps to the shadows, but I feel like his gaze is on us.
“Go the fuck to sleep. I’ll keep watch.”
Dane shifts his weight again, cocking his head to one side as he thinks. “Come on,” he says, tone wheedling. His eyes travel the length of me, and even though I’m wearing a T-shirt and am otherwise covered by my sleeping bag, my skin crawls. “I promise it’ll be good.”
Violence sparks in his expression when I raise my bat.
“Dane, I swear to fuck—”
“Enough,” a cold voice says.
My heart skips a beat at the sight of Mason standing over us. I didn’t hear him come in, didn’t even know he was outside at all. His cheeks are faintly flushed from the cold.
Dane scowls up at him, too. Seems like he didn’t hear Mason leave in the first place. He pushes to his feet all at once, an explosive move, but Mason doesn’t step back or back down.
“You turned him against us,” he snarls, and I’m struck by the similarities between what he’s saying and what Blake said before he hit me. “You shouldn’t go anywhere near him.”
“That’s not up to you,” Mason replies. “It’s up to Isaac.”
“Bullshit! This is my team. I protect them.”
He didn’t protect Otto, though. Didn’t kill the zombie after, either. He won’t see him now but—as far as I know—he hasn’t been down to kill him.
