Page 66 of Such a Feral Little Lamb
I do, but Mason does not. He sets the bag on Nia’s desk, then stands behind me, resting his hands on my shoulders. I fight the urge to lean into that touch, though I’m sure it doesn’t matter. Everyone knows what we’ve been up to.
“What do you know?” Nia asks.
I hesitate. Mason squeezes my shoulders.
“I know there’s magic here,” I say. “I know what we were told about the virus, all of it… It’s a lie.”
“And what’s the truth?”
I lick my lips. “A necromancer. Someone raised the dead.”
Nia sighs and leans back in her chair. She pinches the bridge of her nose like my answer pains her. “Mason, what were you thinking?”
“His teammates are missing. One is dead. He needs to know the truth.”
“The truth,” she says, tone lightly mocking. She hasn’t so much as looked at the bag, though I’m certain she knows what’s inside. “You know the necromancer has nothing to do withthis.”
“Magic, I mean. He needed to know about that.”
Nia glares at him again. “Because he would have figured it out otherwise.”
She doesn’t say it like a question. Mason’s grip on me never tightens, and his breathing stays even. He’s calm, even in the face of her anger.
Nia might run this town, and I’ve no doubt of that, but she doesn’t tolerate Mason or allow him to live here—she can’t get rid of him, even if she wants to.
“What now?” I ask.
“We need to get to the bottom of this,” Nia says. “And as of tonight, your team will be staying down here with the rest of us. Zombies can’t come onto church grounds, but we have no idea who took your teammates and, obviously, the threat has become even more serious. Mason, you and Emma will secure the door once everyone’s inside.”
“What if they’re already down here with us?” I ask.
“What?”
“Who else could be in this town? You’d know if any other survivors were here.”
“It’s not one of us,” Mason says softly. “We need to find them too. What happens when they run out of your team to take?”
I tighten my hands on the arms of the chair. He’s right, but I don’t like it. Something else is going on here.
“We’ll start again at first light tomorrow,” Nia says. “Get some rest.”
Mason squeezes my shoulders again and when he steps back, I stand. Nia’s attention is already off both of us, and she doesn’t look up as we open the door and walk out.
“Tell the team they’re staying down here tonight,” Mason says to Emma. “Don’t take no for an answer.”
She looks between the two of us, then nods, taking off down the tunnel.
“I should—” I begin, but Mason shakes his head.
“Let her handle it. They’ll listen. You all know it’s not safe.”
“You said it would be.”
Mason frowns and then pushes me gently back, crowding me in until I bump into the wall. He towers over me this close—or, at least, it feels that way.
“Youwill always be safe with me, little lamb. I’ll never let anyone hurt you.”
“You can’t promise that.”
