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Wheeling around, I weave and dart through the parked cars toward the traffic and glittering white lights in the distance
Somewhere to my right, a man and woman argue. Not loudly. It’s the sort of nagging argument that sounds like it’s been brewing for days, but now it’s erupting. A scrape of nails against metal, coming from far closer to me than I’d like, makes me veer toward the couple.
I fling myself through two cars and at the side of theirs, bouncing off it. Pain lances my sides and I gasp at the sharp burn.
The couple snap their heads toward me, argument forgotten as their mouths gape open in surprise.
Spinning around, my eyes probe the dark spaces between the parked cars, but there’s nothing.Maybe I lost him.
I take off again, running faster than I have in my life, knowing it won’t be enough but hoping just once something will go right.
I don’t let myself think of Simon, of Rylan, of anything but the need to get to the road just ahead, because once I’m in the light, I’m safe.
My foot catches in or on something. Don’t know what. But it’s just enough to trip me. I wobble, tilt, and shoulder slams a parked minivan.
A beat later, a hard tug yanks at the back of my gaping coat. It doesn’t take me long to work out what it could be.
Swallowing a scream, I put on a burst of speed.
Shit, he’s close. If I hadn’t just… no, don’t think. Run. Just run.
So I run.
Inches now from the traffic-laden road, glittering lights so close I can feel the heat of them kiss my face. I don’t slow because with a wolf at my back if I slow, I die.
I hurtle out of the parking lot, stumble on the sidewalk, lose my footing and fly forward, my hands stretched out in front of me as I fall. Sirens wail, alarms blare, someone on my left gasps and then I thump to the ground, skidding as fire rakes my palms.
Another alarm comes from closer than the others. Too close.
Jerking my head to my right, I get a lungful of burning rubber as two large wheels scream toward me.
Over. It’s all over.
Flinging my hands up and over my face, I squeeze my eyes shut.
7
SAIGE
“Hey lady, you all right?”
It takes me far too long to realize the voice coming from beside me is talking to me and not some other lady.
I peel my hands away before blanching at the mere inches that separate the car’s wheels from my face. Swallowing hard, I turn in the direction I heard the male voice and blanch again at the small huddle of people gaping at me from the sidewalk.
A car door creaks open. “Hey? She all right?” A gruff voice calls out.
“Yeah,” the same voice beside me yells back. “Just white as a sheet.”
“Shit, she came out of nowhere. There one minute and the next…” The gruff man’s voice trails off.
A woman in a red parka steps closer, her face creased in concern. Yet behind her…
I scramble to my feet and take off, weaving through the traffic I’ve brought to a standstill on one side of the road. On the other, Ijustmiss a matte black sportscar that shrieks past me, blowing my hair up around me. Behind me, shocked gasps follow as I sprint through the fast-moving cars.
I reach the other side of the road. I don’t know how I do but somehow, I’m on the sidewalk in one piece. I don’t slow or stop because if I can do it, Nathan can.
My feet carry me down the street, Simon’s long black coat flapping behind me as I dart past people who turn and gape at me.
