Page 50 of By the Orchid and the Owl
Coen followed casually, a predator hunting prey. There were only two balls left on the field now, my team’s right here in my arms and his team’s in Sylvie’s, so I knew he was playing defense… but right now it wasmewho felt defensive.
“As you should,” he said aloud, all haughtiness and ease from having heard my thoughts. “It’s a good thing you have a Shape Shifter on your team, or we would’ve smoked you within minutes.”
“I don’t know,” I called, still back-pedaling—towardhisdisc, dammit. I’d need to find a way to get around him. “I thought the birds came in handy.”
He was grinning now. “So does the fact that we’re all holding back, I’m sure.”
I stopped, right before my heels hit his disc.
“You’re toying with me.”
“Absolutely,” he agreed, and… were his hands actually sliding in his pockets right now? As if he hadn’t a care in the world and felt so confident he could catch me that he wanted to savor the moment?
Behind him, Sylvie had come sprinting toward us with her ball, but Rodhi chased her right into Gileon’s waiting arms, who carefully took the ball and held it out to Lander, who began to leap away with it on shifted hind legs… only to slam into a pillar of solid ice from Terrin.
Coen, meanwhile, wasn’t even making a move to steal my ball from me. He simply cocked his head, observing me like you’d look at a menu in a village diner.
“You know, this isn’t a good strategy, whatever you’re doing,” I seethed.
“Isn’t it?” He was past a smirk now, his grin widening into full-blown glee. “You seem so disarmed right now that you’re not even trying to make a run for it. Which means I’ve got you trapped here, across the field, which means your team can’t win.”
Shit. He was right.
But for some reason, my feet didn’t want to move when I knew he’d pounce as soon as I so much as twitched.
“How about this, little hurricane?” He leaned toward me, so that I had to crane my neck to look up. “I’ll give you a ten second head start. I’m curious to see how fast you can run, anyway.”
Dare I call him a bastard? I threw up my best glare. “Fine.”
“Run,” Coen whispered.
CHAPTER
18
Ishoved past him and ran.
This time, Terrin was too busy to trip me up with a sudden swell of ground, and the twins were thoroughly distracted by a whooping, weaving Rodhi to tug me toward them. I made it halfway to our disc without anyone noticing me when Coen’s voice filled the empty spaces in my mind, and I knew he’d begun his chase.
You’re faster than I thought you’d be, I’ll give you that.
I get it from my mother, I shot back without forethought—not because I knew that for certain, but because Fabian had never been the athletic type. And even if he’d been my biological father, Don sure as hell didn’t have a body built for speed.
It was a mistake to think about my mother right now, though. As soon as I did, something heavy seemed to slam into my chest. Not a person, but the weight of Quinn’s words again.
A Mind Manipulator abused your best friend for years, but you’re choosing to fraternize with them now.I couldn’t picture my own mother—beyond, perhaps, a slender, dark hand holding the handle of that crescent knife—but Icouldpicture Quinn’s mother. Quinn’s red-haired controlling, Manipulating mother who’d torn my best friend to pieces right in front of me.
Coen’s next words hurled right through all those thoughts, scattering them.
I’m sure your wonderful ass has something to do with it, too.
I almost tripped from the shock of that. Was he trying to distract me? From my guilt and anger? If so, it was working. Knowing his eyes were on my backside as he chased me—it made the ache in my chest drain straight to my toes.
I brought my arm back to fling the ball through my team’s disc…
Just as Coen’s own arms wrapped around me from behind, immobilizing me.
“I’ll take that,” he whispered in my ear, plucking the ball from my hand.
