Page 53 of Such a Feral Little Lamb
Mason nods. He lowers his head to kiss my shoulder, and I idly run my fingers up and down his spine. “Pushing the zombies out took a ritual, a lot of power. It’s easy to keep them out, but since you hunters arrived…”
“They’ve come back?”
“It would appear so.”
“I don’t know why the Citadel sent us here,” I say, finally voicing the words that have been going around in my head sinceI got off the train. “It’s too far north. There are so many towns we could clear between here and there. And we get here and you—”
Mason holds my gaze when my eyes meet his. “We?”
“You’ve been holding this place steady for years on your own. Why send us here? Why now?”
“I suppose you might have to ask your team leader about that.”
I scoff, and Mason laughs and kisses me again. We need to leave his bed. I should see Otto. I need to get ready for the day.
But the bed is warm, and Mason’s hands are steady, and I might stay here for a while yet.
Chapter Sixteen
Wewokeupearlyenough that I’m out of bed and dressed by ten. Mason stays in my orbit as I wash up and tug my clothes back on, constant, possessive touches sending goosebumps skittering over my skin.
Still, I slip upstairs without him, citing a need to talk to Dane alone. I already know I’m going to have to deal with his attitude after going with Mason last night. That’s not going to be helped if Mason is standing right next to me the entire time.
Rae is the only one inside the church when I get up there, chewing on a protein bar as she sits on her sleeping bag. She raises a hand in greeting, then gives me a dispassionate once-over.
“You might want to change before you go and talk to him.”
I sigh. She doesn’t really care about what I am, same as Otto. It’s why I gravitate to them the most. I know that. And speaking of him…
“Where’s Otto?” I ask.
“They said he’s coming up soon.” Rae jerks her chin in the direction of the church doors. I see Callum’s outline over there, with Autumn. She tilts her head and looks up at him, saying something that, at this distance, I can’t hear.
“How’s she doing?”
“It’s a weird job for her first. Even she knows that.”
I nod as I cross to my pack, then switch my T-shirt for one that’s wrinkled but clean. “And Dane? Blake?”
“Haven’t seen Dane since I woke up,” Rae replies. She crumples the empty wrapper of her protein bar. “But Blake was on watch. He’s on edge. I don’t think it’s just you.”
“I haven’t helped.”
“Not your fault,” Rae says with a snort. “Dane’s fucking unhinged. I’m not taking a job with him again.”
I jerk my head up, looking at her. We work where we’re assigned, for the most part, though the better the hunter, the more leeway we have to ask for particular jobs.
Requesting to never be assigned with a specific person is rare. It happens, of course, but it can be a death knell for this job—we’re not supposed to make waves.
“Yeah,” I say slowly. “I don’t think I will, either.”
Otto won’t. If we manage to get him back at all, of course, because there’s risk involved in that, too. It’s what I need to talkto Dane about, though I’d prefer to see Otto first and check he really is okay.
I press my fingers to my cheek. My faceishealed. I should have a bruise, should still feel a dull ache when I press a little harder.
I shake my head and get to my feet, bat in hand. “Right. I’m gonna find Dane. Sort this out.”
“The zombies?”
