Darkest Powers Bonus Pack 2 by Kelley Armstrong Read Free Book Online

That meant going all the way around to the back. It would have been shorter cutting through the mall, but Simon didn’t suggest it. The place was packed on Saturdays, and if I could avoid walking through crowds I would.
    I pulled open the doors and stepped into the food court.
    “Ow,” Simon said behind me.
    I glanced back to see him rubbing his shoulder where the door must have hit him.
    “Sorry,” I said.
    “Yeah, yeah. Just get in there and find her.”
    It was long past lunchtime, but there were people at nearly every table, more milling around with trays. I stayed back just inside the door and scanned the sea of faces.
    Beside me, Simon murmured. “One, two, three—”
    “There,” I grunted and strode toward Chloe’s table.
    “Damn,” he said as he jogged to keep up. “Three seconds. That’s a record.”
    I scowled at him.
    “What?” he said. “It’s cute.”
    My scowl deepened.
    “ So cute,” he said, grinning. “Incredibly, adorably cute.”
    I flipped him off and walked faster. Then I stopped so abruptly that he plowed into my back.
    From the doorway, I’d only seen Chloe, eating fries at a table. Presumably, Tori sat across from her, but there’d been someone standing in the way, blocking my view. Now I saw that the “someone” wasn’t just standing there. He was talking to them.
    “Chill,” Simon murmured as he followed my gaze. “It’s just a kid.”
    The “kid” was at least a year older than me. Simon meant he wasn’t likely to be a Cabal assassin. Just a guy. A college-aged guy. Talking to Chloe.
    I watched him bend over the table, hands planted on it, his gaze fixed on Chloe, his lips parting in a smile as he said something to her. A slow burn started in my gut, and before I could stop myself, I was barreling down on them, Simon’s protests fading behind me.

Three
     
    Simon grabbed the back of my shirt and yanked hard enough that I staggered. And hard enough that people looked over, which stopped me like a bucket of ice water. The cardinal rule of being on the run: don’t call attention to yourself.
    Across the food court, the guy was still talking to Chloe. I could see now that Tori wasn’t there. Just Chloe. And a stranger.
    “Chloe is not flirting with that guy,” Simon said.
    “Course not.”
    “I mean it. She’s—”
    I glanced back at him. “I’m not blind. She’s only paying enough attention to him to be polite. He’s the one flirting, which is bugging her, and that’s why I’m pissed off. She’s trying to eat her fries and he’s interrupting.”
    Simon chuckled. It did sound kind of stupid, as rationalizations went. I worry what will happen when we stop running. When we go back to school. When Chloe meets other guys. Guys who don’t argue and snap at her. Boys who don’t obsessively worry about her. Guys who could take her to a movie and stay right until the end, not have to leave halfway through because they start turning into wolves.
    But even then she wouldn’t pick up some random guy in the mall.
    So why was I overreacting? I don’t know. I saw the guy and a flash-fire ignited in my brain, burning away reason and common sense. If Simon hadn’t stopped me, I’d have made an idiot of myself and called attention to us. Worse, I’d have embarrassed Chloe. I was too protective as it was. Frothing at the mouth because a guy talked to her? Really not going help us get to that next anniversary.
    “Okay,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Thanks.”
    “No problem. Just keep it cool. And remember, in public, you’re not her boyfriend.”
    I let out a noise that sounded a little too much like a growl.
    “Yeah,” Simon said. “It’s a bitch. Especially at a time like this. But that’s the rule.”
    It was a stupid rule. I’d been fighting it since we moved here. We were pretending to be a blended family—Lauren and my dad posing as a couple with their assorted kids. I’ve argued that it’s not a blood relationship, but apparently, dating my