Page 31 of Such a Feral Little Lamb
Dane mutters something under his breath and when I glance back, the others have caught up. Like Emma and Callum, Sal and Lucas appear to have no intention of ingratiating themselves with us.
Does Mason have the same mark they do? I swallow. I haven’t seen it. Where could it be?
“Come on,” Mason says, still only looking at me. My skin prickles under the weight of that touch. “Let’s show them where we encountered the one yesterday.”
He strides off without waiting for an answer, and I don’t look at any of the rest of my team before I trot after him. Dane growls something again, and Blake replies, but it’s only a few seconds before they’re out of full hearing range.
Mason smirks over at me when I catch up. “Hopefully, today’s trip out will be fruitful.”
“You need to be more careful with him,” I whisper. “The angrier he gets…”
I trail off. Have I ever seen Dane truly lose his temper? No. And I believe he’s not one for killing for the sake of it, but he takes out zombies with vicious efficiency. That, combined with how clearly angry Mason is making him, is an unsettling mix.
“Oh, don’t worry about me.” Mason flashes me a smile. It isn’t fake, but it isn’t friendly, either. “I don’t worry about bullies like him.”
The way he says it makes my heart beat a little faster. His voice is playful, but there’s a menacing undertone that I…
God, I don’t hate it. I stare at Mason for a beat too long, cheeks heating, and that smile widens as he looks at me in turn.
I clear my throat and tear my gaze away. “Well, you should,” I mutter, passing my bat from hand to hand.
Mason chuckles. “I take it back. Keep worrying about me. I think I quite like it.”
Chapter Eleven
Weturnupnothingfor the rest of the day. The remains of the zombie I destroyed have been removed, and though the shadows deepen as the sun lowers in the sky, no more emerge to attack.
And as for shadows, Mason remains mine. Dane, too, though I’m uncertain whether he wants to remain near me or to annoy Mason, who only seems more and more amused by how much he can rile Dane up.
Blake is furious the entire day, of course. Autumn and Rae are on edge, and I want to apologise, but none of this is really my fault.
The only one who shows any true interest in the matter we’re here to solve is Otto. At some stage, Sal switches out with Callum, who follows Otto as he tries to trace where the zombie might have come from. Otto treats him—and Lucas and Emma, for that matter—like they’re extra members of the team, and they treat him in return less coldly than the rest of us.
Still, none of that finds us another zombie. We head up to the church again as the sun begins to set and Mason vanishes into the bowels of the building once the sky is dark, though not without sending me another heated look. I expect Dane to bother me, but he doesn’t, just snaps out orders about who’s on watch first.
I’m taking the middle watch of the night with Otto. Never mind that Callum and Sal seem to have been left up here to keep an eye on us. No, that isn’t fair. Dane is right to have us protect ourselves; we cannot trust the others here yet.
The middle watch is the worst, of course. A few hours’ sleep before, a few hours’ sleep after, because Nia has already agreed to let us out to hunt tomorrow. Despite the sleep I got last night, I’m exhausted again, less from any physical exertion and more from the emotional whiplash I’m feeling from being pulled between Mason and Dane.
I stretch out on my back and settle my hands on my stomach. Moonlight filters through the stained glass window, shattering colours across the church floor. Autumn and Rae are on the first watch, and I hear them murmuring a few feet away.
Mason is an enigma to me, and though I’m still not certain why I saw him that first night, that question matters less and less. He did not back down to Dane at all today, and the expressions that crossed his face—heat rushes through me,tension quivering in my stomach. I do not believe he would hurt me, though I’m not certain why that is the decision he has come to.
But Dane? I think he could kill Dane. I think he just might.
I sleep fitfully, and Rae wakes me with a gentle shake when it’s time for my watch. Otto is already sitting on a pew. Sal is gone, but Callum remains, watching Otto from his post against the church wall.
“All quiet?” I murmur to Rae.
Blake snores quietly behind me; I’ve never heard that from him before.
She nods and as I extract myself from my sleeping bag, she and Autumn both settle. Otto smiles faintly when I lower myself down next to him.
“Think we’ll find anything in the morning?” he asks a few minutes later.
I shrug. Weshould. I killed that one zombie. They’re so rarely found alone, especially in that state.
Besides, we all saw the horde.
