Chapter Eleven Ren #4
I didn’t know where to go, but I could start by heading west. The direction of the hunt house. An easy direction to find. I just had to follow the sunset.
To get away from the house without risking being seen, I cut through the next yard.
Once I reached the street, I sped up, my bare feet pounding on the pavement because I hadn’t taken time to put on shoes.
The pavement was still hot from the sun and didn’t feel entirely pleasant on the soles of my feet, but I didn’t care.
Moving fast, I headed toward the bridge that connected Winthrop to East Boston.
Passing cars drove right on by. Passing pedestrians paid no attention to the frantic trans guy racing past them. I heard nothing in my mind, no wolf, no Xavier. The only sounds were traffic, goddamn jets taking off from Logan Airport, and my breathing.
I reached the bridge and hesitated. I didn’t have to cross it.
I could turn around and go home. Slink back to my room and hide in my blankets.
Sure, I would have to face Xavier eventually, but maybe he would leave me alone.
The Anax and Kyle would be back in a couple of days and I could go back to being useful to Kyle, if I didn’t fuck up anything else in the website code.
Or I could keep running. Back to the hunt house. Beyond it. I would be in another pack’s territory, but who gave a shit? I’d be in a pack’s territory once I crossed the bridge, too. As long as no one saw me, no one would know. I was good at not being seen.
I didn’t have to figure out where I was going. Only whether I was going.
I went. Across the bridge into East Boston, not slowing because now there were too many people around.
A few pedestrians gave me weird looks as I rushed past them, but I ignored them.
Up the street, across a ridiculously busy intersection where drivers and pedestrians all ignored the signals.
On through East Boston. Eventually, past a sign that told me I was entering Revere.
Good. That wasn’t the city, though it sure as hell still looked like one.
Away from Boston. Away from the streets. I kept going, breathing more heavily but not tired. Not physically, anyway. Everything hurt, but the pain wasn’t physical either.
Footsteps behind me, loud and rapid. I’d lost track of how far I’d gone, how long I’d been running. I was pretty sure I was still somewhere in Revere, since I hadn’t seen another city limits sign, but who the hell knew?
I ignored the footsteps at first. Probably just another pedestrian. Then I realized they were keeping pace with me.
Hands grabbed me, shoving me off the sidewalk against a brick wall. I looked up into a face twisted and red with rage. A face I recognized.
“You fucking freak!” Gregory Malkin screamed inches from me. “You cost me everything!”
My heart pounded, thudding in my ears, as my blood ran cold. He was bigger than me. Stronger. And furious.
“L—let me go.” I didn’t struggle. That would only make him angrier. “Let go!”
A man and a woman walked past and glanced at us. Gregory turned toward them and they hurried away.
He yanked me forward and slammed me back against the wall. My head connected hard and painfully with the bricks, and I couldn’t bite back a yelp.
“Shut the fuck up,” he snarled, yanking me forward again. “I should fucking kill you. Lost my pack. My home. Because of you!”
Lost my pack. What the hell was he thinking, saying that with humans around?
He had to have known better. Something was wrong with him.
I felt it. Smelled it, maybe. Behind the anger lay…
I didn’t know what, but this was not the Gregory Malkin who’d invaded the gathering.
Or even the one who’d stood guard while I was beaten to hell.
Wincing, my vision slightly blurred from pain, I managed to look up into his eyes. Yeah, nothing remotely resembling sanity lay there.
“Careful.” My lips were numb, my voice hoarse. “Humans.”
“Fuck you!”
He pulled me toward him and spat in my face.
Rage spiked through me, flames and hatred, and now I fought, trying to free myself as my skin crawled.
I couldn’t get away. Not in my current form.
But my wolf was stronger, and he battered at the edges of my mind as Gregory slammed me into the wall again. And again.
I couldn’t shift here. Humans would see.
I couldn’t survive repeated collisions between my head and the bricks.
My vision grayed. Blurred and narrowed until all I could see was the twisted, ugly face of the man who wanted to kill me. My body ached. My brain couldn’t process the sounds spewing from Gregory’s mouth. Something crept under my skin, millions of pinpricks.
If I shifted here, I would die. The Anax would put me to death for revealing myself in front of humans.
I couldn’t stop it. Any more than I could stop the man who kept hammering me against the wall, or the darkening of my vision. Or the pain.
Xavier had said losing your mate was agony. I hoped losing me wouldn’t hurt him too badly.
As the last of the light left my vision, the only thing I could see was in my mind. Xavier’s face. His tall frame. His strong arms holding me.
My mate. I loved him, and I would never be able to tell him.
Xavier. I’m sorry.