Sharp.
We ended up ducking into a building that looked like it used to be a small coffee shop while we waited for them to pass. Fighting humans was one thing, even former humans turned monster.
The fact that this place was overrun with animals made it more dangerous. I had to assume some of them had escaped their enclosures when the rain first fell and found a way to thrive in the safety the resort offered, or maybe the people living here had let them out when they realized there was no saving the world around them.
I had no way of knowing, but it made this place sustainable.
Any other time, I might have tracked them, picked off the ones that looked almost normal for meat. At least then Blythe could stop giving me shit about my dietary needs. “How long do you think it’ll take before they’re all too rabid for the meat to be useful?”
Phoenix flicked his gaze to the door and shrugged. “I’ve been playing in the rain my entire life and I’m not rabid yet.”
My eyes cut to him. Just because the people around our area were long haulers didn’t mean we needed to take risks in the rain—it was the same way I avoided getting bit if I could manage it. If we made it past twenty without turning, I always assumed the world would kill us before the infection caught up. That didn’t mean it didn’t happen sometimes.
The rabid we’d been killing were proof of that. Though who knew how many of them were people who’d come fromother areas looking for a safe haven because they’d heard our little city on the coast had fewer infected than other places. They didn’t realize we had less infection because we didn’tgetinfected the same way.
“I’d rather avoid turning feral during storms. You know, most parts of the world avoid infection like it could kill them, as far as I’ve heard,” I finally deadpanned, and he arched a brow.
“Look at the way those deer are still doing fine. Living.Thriving.They’re following their leader and roaming the land like the world hasn’t gone to shit. Maybe feral isn’t so bad. Maybe the whole world should be more like the animals. At least they aren’t hiding away all the time.” He started toward me as he spoke, and something in my stomach clenched.
We were here, stuck in an enclosed space and…
Something was off.
“They’ve probably passed now. We should start moving.” I didn’t like how desperate the suggestion sounded, and I didn’t like the way he ignored it.
“Why are you always hiding, Aubrey?”
Fuck, I didn’t like the way he said my name.
“Because I don’t want to turn into a mindless horny killing machine in the rain?” I knew that wasn’t what he was talking about.
I knew it, and I started for the door in a vain attempt to escape what was brewing in the air around us. He caught my shoulder, spinning me to face him.
“The rain doesn’t make us feral. It just shows the world who we really are. Is that what I need? A storm? Is that the only way to peel back this bullshit mask you’re wearing?”
I closed my eyes. I’d known this was going to happen. I needed to get out of here. I needed to get away from him.
I needed to do something to protect myself—to protect the little bit of sanity I’d carved out in our time together. It felt toogoodbeing here, and he was going to ruin it.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just a dog, remember? I bark when you ask. You don’t need rain to see that.” As I spoke, Phoenix trailed his fingers along my collar, and I fought the urge to jerk back—what if he tried to take it?
What if my lies weren’t enough anymore?
What if?—
“I want to knowyou.”
Not enough. Not enough and too fucking soon for this to end.
“I told you?—”
“You told me some bullshit story about growing up in the same world we all grew up in, Aubrey. I want more than that. I want to know the first life you took, the first person you fucked. I want to know who you are.” He raised his hand and trailed his thumb along my lower lip. No, not my lower lip. The faint white line that ran across it. “I want your scars.” Phoenix’s voice was raw, rough, a growling demand that reached bone deep and tried to hook claws and teeth into my soul.
It made me jerk back, gave me the strength to break his hold when I’d spent most of my time letting myself fall into it because it was better than letting myselffeel.I knew this couldn’t last. I fuckingknewit from the second I’d slipped up and saidwe.
I just didn’t realize I’d be so mad that he fucked it up so soon after.
“No.” His eyes widened at the defiance.
