196 Grace: Unwanted Interruption
196 Grace: Unwanted Interruption
But now I’m forcing every extra step. Running for thirty seconds? Doable. A minute? Sure. Three minutes straight? Torture. D
My blood freezes. This isn’t just bullying or intimidation anymore. The gleam in her eyes tells me everything I need to know–Ellie has completely fucking lost it. Cuckoo and bonkers, but with the ability to kill someone and hide the evidence if she so
wishes.
Something hot and electric pulses under my skin, building with my desperation, and I snap, “Get off me, you psycho bitch!”
Her eyes narrow dangerously. “Don’t lie to me, you wicked little bitch.”
When I’m afraid, I don’t notice things like how my thighs ache and I have a stitch in my side and how my breathing’s getting too short and shallow. Adrenaline takes over and I just go until I can’t go anymore.
Behind me, there are shifters shadowing my every move, probably not even breathing hard. They’ve been following me since I burst out of the camper, probably watching my every move to feed gossip to the pack. Or maybe wait until I’m even farther and more isolated to bully me to tears.
Seven minutes. That’s all I have left.
I can’t help but flinch when she raises her hand again, but I meet her gaze squarely. “I haven’t pulled any tricks.”
“Shut up! I know what you are. You filthy little whore. What tricks have you pulled?”
A contemptuous laugh bubbles from her throat. “No? Then explain how a worthless human like you caught not only my mate’s attention but the Lycan King’s as well?” Her voice drops to a silky purr. “Don’t worry though. Once I’ve mangled their precious little human–maybe taken a limb or two–they’ll both lose whatever ardor they hold for you.”
I pull again, fighting back a wince as her grip tightens. “Why do you care? I’m not going after your precious mate, so you don’t have to worry about that.” She can have Rafe in all his disgusting glory.
11:40
<196 Grace: Unwanted Interruption
Her face contorts as she demands, “What did you say to my father?”
Not quite as strange as how she’s acting, though.
“Let me go!” I snap, trying to wrench free.
But my heart beats traitorously as I wonder what she means when she says she knows what I am. Does it mean Ellie knows about the App? About Anchors and Chaos and all the crazy shit still making my mind twist into pretzels to understand?
Her body flies backward, slamming into a parked car with enough force to dent the door. She crumples to the ground, momentarily stunned, her face a mask of shock and
rage.
“Let me go!” I scream, true panic flooding my system. She starts dragging me across the ground toward the alley, and I swear I can feel my shoulder socket straining. My free hand claws at the pavement, fingernails breaking.
There’s a crack like thunder in my ears. A flash of blinding light. And Ellie is suddenly airborne.
She starts dragging me sideways, toward a narrow alley between houses. For the first time, I realized her hair’s a mess instead of neatly brushed, and there are dark purplish bruises on her arms and legs.
The back of Ellie’s hand connects with my face so fast I don’t even see it coming. My head snaps sideways, and I hit the ground hard, my knees scraping against the pavement. Blood fills my mouth as my lip splits open. Still, she doesn’t release my arm, and I’m left dangling awkwardly from her grip.
“It all started with you, and I’m going to end it,” she mutters, and I flinch.
A hand clamps onto my arm, yanking me backward with enough force I nearly topple over. The world spins as I’m whirled around, meeting vicious green eyes.
Had I known this was going to happen, I would have started working out days ago. Maybe trained like I was going to enter a marathon.
Too bad. There’s a scary little app in my phone far more terrifying than the shifters I grew up with.
Strange.
11:49
2/4
196 Grace: Unwanted Interruption
My arm doesn’t budge an inch in her grip. My human strength is nothing against hers, and we both know it. I glance at my phone screen–6:42 and counting down.
She’s exactly as beautiful as I remember–long black hair framing a perfect face, emerald eyes, pretty nose. But now her flawless features are twisted with something feral, something unhinged as her lip curls into a snarl.
My destination is still too far, and—
The words tear out of my throat with the taste of coppery blood and with it all comes a rush of… something.
As if anyone on this planet would think I’m lying…
Panic floods my system. The shifters who were following me haven’t moved a muscle to help, of course. They’re loyal to Rafe, which means they’re loyal to their Luna.
I don’t wait to see what happens next. I grab my phone and run.
I cut across someone’s front yard, earning a startled curse from an older shifter out watering her herb garden.
“Why the hell are you back?” she hisses, her nails digging into my skin. They’re the sharp, pointy kind of manicured nails, and they hurt like hell when paired with her level of power.
A quick glance at my phone shows she’s wasted twenty seconds of my precious
minutes.
It surges through my veins, races under my skin, and aims straight for the place where her slender fingers bite into my flesh.
I stare at my arm where her fingers had been. There’s no mark, no bruise–nothing to explain what just happened.
“Sorry!” I gasp, not slowing down.
I sprint down the street, phone clutched in my sweaty palm as I check the map for the fifth time in thirty seconds. The little blue dot of my location inches painfully slowly toward the destination marker. This app doesn’t bother with luxuries like street names or turns–just a straight line cutting through buildings, yards, and whatever else stands between me and this mysterious Guardian.
3/4
196 Grace: Unwanted Interruption
For a single moment, nobody moves. The shifters who’d been following me stand frozen in disbelief. Ellie blinks at me from the ground, her expression morphing from surprise to murderous fury.
“Your father?” I blink, genuinely confused, temporarily pausing at trying to regain ownership of my own limb. “Seriously? I’ve never even met your father.” How she expects a human girl to contact the alpha of another pack, I just can’t fathom.
Ellie.
My lungs burn, legs already turning to jelly. I’m no stranger to running away from danger, but there’s a huge difference between running on demand and running out of fear.
“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about!” I struggle harder, digging my heels in. “Leave me alone, for fuck’s sake! You can have Rafe–I don’t want him!”
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