“Looks like it’s game over, little kitty,” I said with mock sympathy.
Dropping to one knee, I reached out for the scruff of her neck.
Those eyes met mine, and for a split second in time, I wasn’t looking at a cat. I was looking ather.
The hesitation, just enough for our hearts to share a single beat, provided both a damning and redemptive opening. And she took it.
She fucking took it the way she had taken Corbin and me—without hesitation, without fear, and without apology.
Harlow lunged at me, claws extended, all fury and fierce determination.
It took me by surprise. Her sharp nailssank into my arm, tearing at my flesh as she scrambled up to my shoulder, leaving a host of bloody scratches in her wake.
Before being able to grab hold of her wriggling figure, she launched herself off the peak of my shoulder and darted off behind me.
Grinding my teeth together, I hopped up onto my feet. Sharply, I gestured at the crows. “Stay on top of her!”
Unlike before, now I was moving swiftly to chase after her. We were already too close to the maze’s exit point. The curse’s desire to spill her blood was painting my vision in shades of red. Rage and violence crescendoed in my veins at the threat of her escape.
My hands smacked away corn leaves that dared to hinder my advance, my boots crushed anything that didn’t have the sense to flee, and my eyes carved through the dark that threatened to obscure my vision.
One more turn and I spotted her—we were at the final corral.
Those four little legs of hers were sprinting hard and fast.
Up ahead of her was the gap in the corn, the exit that ninety-eight others had never seen from within this maze. Visible just beyond the exit lay the unlit pile of wood that would be the near-century-long curse’s undoing.
All the crows in the air turned into a frenzy of caws and a maddening blur of wings moving chaotically.
Seeing her so close to escape, my legs were moving, but my heart remained frozen in my chest.
With only a couple of feet of me coming within reach of her, those tiny little paws crossed the threshold. At first, my mind refused to believe it.
She made it. Shefuckingmade it.
Gradually coming to a halt before the exit, the bloodlust waned the moment she crossed over out of the maze. Alongside the recession of the predatory instincts, my scarecrow form dissipated, and I took my human shape again. Standing there shirtless, arm streaked with blood from her claws, and stricken with relief.
All of Corbin’s crows fell from the sky in unison, combining into one form at my side. The feathers faded away as he stood, returning to his human state. His eyes were wide as mine in awe and disbelief.
Harlow shifted back to human, as gloriously and beautifully naked as she had been when she had taken off after our carnal indulgences in the center of the maze. Her bold emerald eyes were blinking rapidly with shock and exhaustion.
“We did it!” she shrieked breathlessly. Then, looking down at her naked form, her cheeks turned the cutest shade of pink at her realization that she wasn’t wearing any clothes.
Corbin smirked and, like me, didn’t mind the view.
“Let me go change before anybody shows up here,” she stated quickly before she ran off towards the corn pit, where Corbin had stashed a bag of clothes for her. He hadknown that after we had fulfilled all our desires, there was a good chance she wouldn’t have a chance to dress herself.
Couldn’t have our girl walking around naked for all of Falston to see, now could we?
Turning, Corbin pulled me into a firm embrace. We had survived this together, after all this time. Now, we would finally get the chance to take back our lives.
When we parted, all I could think about was how I wanted to scoop Harlow up in my arms and never let her go. To tell her she’s everything and more. That I’d spend every waking day feeding her as much grilled cheese as she could fill up on, wake up next to her every morning, and love her like I was bonded as tightly with her as Corbin was.
Finally, this curse could be broken officially. All thanks to her.
Stepping forward to join Harlow out of the maze, something knocked me back on my ass at the threshold.
Whatever invisible barrier was there had enough power to send me to the dirt, rattling my brain in my skull.
