“Eat shit,” I said, without thinking at all.
His eyes widened. I heard his breath rush out of him as his torso bent. He struggled against my command, his face contorting from the effort. I felt bad for what I’d said, but I stole that moment to run.
I didn’t want to see what might happen. The electronic bell inside the corner store chimed when I threw myself through the doors. A man behind the counter looked up and raised a worried brow. I gave him a meek wave and slunk deeper into the small store so I could hide behind the shelves.
After a while, the coast seemed clear. I exhaled and approached the sandwich counter at the far side of the shop. The guy working the counter, a portly fatherly kind of man, looked me up and down before slapping an extra serving of meat onto my sandwich. I gave him a tired smile because I couldn’t bring myself to speak just yet.
What had I done? I ran my hands over my face and tried to think about anything other than the two word command I’d given Harvey. If it took ahold of him the way my arcana held Ryder, then Harvey would never be able to eat properly ever again.
Oh, man. I didn’t want to think about it, but the guilt sat heavy in the pit of my stomach. Over and over, I looked back. I expected Harvey to burst through the shop doors at any moment. He didn’t make another appearance, though. I paid for my lunch for two and took a cautious step towards the door.
Palm against the glass, I peered at the street beyond it. It seemed empty, which left me unsettled. Syracuse was never empty. There was always someone meandering on any given street.
“You all right, girl?”
I jumped at the gruff voice behind me. Spinning, I caught the sandwich counter guy watching me. He gestured to the younger man working the checkout counter.
“Walk her home.”
I opened my mouth to say that it was all right, but the check-out guy nodded and jumped over the counter. The smell of arcana drifted in the air around him. It was unexpectedly grassy and sweet.
He gave me a wink and pushed the door open so I could step out. We didn’t say a word to each other the entire walk back to Bad Moon Café. When it was time for him to leave, I told him to be careful. He grinned wide, and in between one step and the next, he vanished.
“Fae show-off,” I said, laughing.
Addie’s brow furrowed when I stepped inside. “You were gone for a while.”
I set the bag down on the counter. Every day seemed longer than the one before. At least, this time, no one had drawn any blood. I worried that the fae escort would put me in debt to Beryl, but I hadn’t agreed to anything. There was some wiggle room as far as that was concerned.
I had a bigger problem on my hands. It involved one shit-eating shifter.
Not for the first time, I wished I had a way to contact Ryder. I would have settled for Bri, even. The thought of going outside on my own scared me more than I wanted to admit.
Ryder
Beryl’s medallionhummed against my chest. I gripped it and tried to rip it over my head, but the cord tightened painfully. Still, I tugged and tugged with the hopes that I could power through. It cut off my air. My lungs burned, but still I pushed.
The fae queen’s decree sat in my mind the whole time. I would not give her what she wanted. I couldn’t do it again. I was not a killer for hire. No one could bend me to their will and make me do something so horrid again.
I couldn’t. Even if I wanted to. The other night, when Harvey hunted Ness, I’d tried to stop him. Because of Ness’s command, I still couldn’t lay a hand on Harvey. No matter what Beryl wanted, her demands would never overpower Ness’s arcana. They couldn’t for they were nothing more than words. Beryl told me to do something, but Ness had woven her strange arcana into her voice and bound me to her will.
There were moments, like the other night, where I cursed Ness’s arcana. In this case, it helped.
Lungs on fire from my efforts, I finally released the medallion and let it fall back against my chest. The sound of a car outside prompted me to hide the medallion behind my t-shirt. I stood and went to the window to see Bri climbing out of her SUV.
She shouldn’t have come back. This place was dangerous, and I didn’t want her getting involved in it. Mostly, and I hated to admit this, I didn’t want Bri to see me like this. She didn’t need to know that I’d gotten caught in Beryl’s machinations. I wanted to spare Bri from finding out about the tyrannical Alpha here, too.
She leapt up the front steps and didn’t even bother knocking before entering. Inside, she peered around and startled when she found me near the window.
“Creep,” she muttered with a shake of her head.
Laughing, Bri threw her bag down and headed into the kitchen. I didn’t know how to tell her there wasn’t much to eat.
“I spoke with your brother,” she said while opening the cabinets. Her shoulders slumped when she noticed they were empty.
While Bri bemoaned my lack of food, my stomach churned angrily.
“You don’t have to be our intermediary,” I said. “Go home and pretend I don’t exist anymore. I died with him. You don’t have to worry about me ever again.”