Head Case

by Kendra Moreno

  He shakes his head, sliding his hand up my cheek and past my ear. He cups my head as he pulls me in for a kiss. This isn’t like the kisses we’ve had before. This is pure, raw need. He’s hungry for something that only I can give him. My fingers trace up his neck to his jaw, and I hold on, slipping my tongue between his lips. For a moment, we dance, deciding whose dominance will win out in this tiny war, this kiss. I don’t think it’s possible for either of us to lose at this point, though, if I’m honest.

  Crane pushes forward, leaning me back until my head hits the pillow. He deepens the kiss, sliding his free hand down my side to my hip; he pulls my leg up and hooks it around his waist. His hard length presses against my core, even through my sweatpants, and I break the kiss, meeting his eyes again.

  “I really, really want to feel you,” I whisper.

  His only answer is a grunt, I’m not sure if there was English in that at all, but it seems like he feels the same way since he begins fumbling with the tie at the front of my pants. I arch my back and lift my hips, helping him pull the annoying fabric down and out of the way.

  “Mine,” he growls, sliding his hand between my slick folds. I hadn’t worn panties today? How convenient. I nod, my forehead bumping gently into his as he slowly works two fingers deep inside me, playing with my g-spot. “Say it.”

  “Yours,” I whisper, trying to hold back a sigh. Part of me wants to rebel against being owned, but the other part knows better. I want him to own me, this part of me, anyway.

  Crane snarls his appreciation before he begins pushing his own Whisperwood uniform down and out of the way. His hard cock presses against my entrance in an instant, but he doesn’t push inside me just yet. All the possessive alpha leaves his body as he peppers soft, sweet kisses along my jawline. Crane’s fingers creep up my shirt to my breast, palming it as he rolls the nipple against his hand over and over.

  “Please,” I whisper, dragging my fingers over the back of his shoulder. “I’m all for foreplay, but this has been a—”

  He enters me in one, smooth, fluid motion, and whatever I was about to say dies on my lips. My mouth flies open, but his hand quickly covers it as he slowly grinds his hips into mine. “Quiet, Princess,” he hisses between gritted teeth.

  I nod my head, wrapping my other leg around his back, trying to pull him deeper. It’s not possible. I’ve never been so full in my life. Every pass he makes between my legs bumps my clit, pushing me toward something. My head falls back, and Crane makes use of the new territory, kissing and sucking across the bend in my neck as he slides in and out of me, over and over.

  “Oh, my God,” I moan, digging my nails into his back. Every thrust builds a pressure deep in my belly, begging me for release. “Oh, fuck.”

  “That’s it, Princess,” Crane groans against my earlobe, slamming hard inside me, then pulling out slowly again. “You feel fucking amazing.”

  I nod, it’s all I can do without making too much noise. His hand leaves my mouth, and I worry for a moment that he’s going to let me get too loud, but he quickly slides two fingers between my lips to replace it. My tongue licks the digits reflexively, and I shudder when the salty-sweet taste hits my tongue.

  He’s making me clean the fingers he used on me . . .

  “Mmm, that’s it,” he growls again, thrusting harder. I whimper against his fingers, my teeth grazing them. Everything feels so—so—so—

  “So much!” I cry out as the first wave of pleasure rolls through my body. All I can do is hold on for dear life as my pussy spasms around his cock. The tighter I get, the bigger he feels, and I’ve never been so stretched in my entire life. My teeth sink into his fingers as I try not to scream.

  Crane snarls, setting a punishing pace, each thrust getting harder, going deeper. He buries his face in my neck, mumbling nonsense as he swells inside me.

  “Kenzie,” he whispers my name like a prayer and shivers run up and down the back of my neck.

  “Please!” I groan, grinding my hips up against him.

  “Love—” he shudders against me as warmth fills my core. I sigh as each warm jet of cum coats my inner walls. Crane’s thrusts slow, and he leans up on his elbow, staring down at me in the darkness. “You’re amazing,” he whispers, sliding out of me.

  A slow smile curves my lips, and he falls on the bed beside me and wraps me in his arms again. “You’re pretty great yourself there, FG,” I whisper into the dark.

  He chuckles against my hair and kisses the top of my head lightly. “Get some sleep, Princess. I promise I’ll stay up and leave, I just want to hold you for a bit.”

  And honestly, I can’t argue with an invitation like that. I snuggle my back against his chest and sigh as I wrap my arm around my pillow. This feels safe. This feels like home for once.

  Chapter 13

  Crane

  The weather changes rapidly in New York for October. When I first arrived at Whisperwood, the weather was still crisp. Now, the wind that rips through the gardens has a chill to it, bringing the feel of Halloween with it. In celebration of the commercial holiday a week from now, some of the orderlies went out of their way to decorate the common room with paper dancing skeletons and that fake spider web stuff which is always a bitch to take off. Whoever decorated, they didn’t bother to add anything outside of the common room. That was spook central. The rest, well, I suppose we were already decorated for Halloween with our crazy chants and legitimate insanity.

  I’d managed to slip away from Kenzie’s room before the orderlies started moving around for the morning. Luckily, I hadn’t run into Vic again. I’m still honestly surprised he wasn’t waiting outside the room. The asshole has it out for us.

  We should have killed him when we had the chance.

  “We can’t just go around killing everyone you have a problem with.”

  Why not?

  Those two words force the realization that H and I are very different people, even if we’re somehow sharing the same brain. “Where are you from?”

  Sleepy Hollow.

  “So, that was the truth, then?”

  I have never lied.

  “Good to know. Maybe you can tell me some more about these superpowers we have?”

  Not yet. Soon.

  “Always soon,” I grumble. “I’m getting real sick of your shit, Harold.”

  This time, H’s anger over the nickname I’d fondly started calling him surges through me. He’s not a fan, but honestly, I don’t really care. He’s literally me. He can’t hurt me. H’s voice might be getting stronger, and he seems to come out more around Kenzie, but that doesn’t mean I’m not still in control. I need to know I’m in control, or I might as well be as insane as I feared.

  I stare at the decorations in annoyance. Funnily enough, even though Halloween should be my favorite holiday as a pathologist, I’ve never been into the occasion. As a kid, I had bad memories of asshole kids picking on me for the handmade costume my mom worked hours on. I have other memories of them bastards talking me into essentially killing a man. I was a stupid kid, and I grew into a jaded adult. Grinning paper skeletons and flaming pumpkins don’t really float my boat nowadays. Of course, the sexy blonde staring happily at the decorations makes it less of an annoyance.

  “Have you seen the decor, FG?” she asks, smiling up at me from her seat on a couch. Mitzy sits next to her, staring at the same decor in suspicion. I wonder if she thinks they might come alive at any moment. I can’t imagine someone who sees spies and ghosts everywhere would enjoy Halloween.

  “I’m literally looking at the atrocity.”

  Kenzie gasps dramatically, placing her hand over her heart. “How dare you? This is a wholesome holiday, FG. You take that back!”

  You have offended our woman, you twat.

  I roll my eyes at both Kenzie and H. I swear the two are out to make me more insane than I apparently already am. “I won’t take it back because it’s true. They could have at least added some of those terrible plastic spider rings to the webs.”<
br />
  “They stopped using those when someone choked trying to eat them,” Mitzy points out, but her eyes aren’t looking at me. She’s staring at the webs in wonder, her finger running up and down a single strand where she sits.

  “Definitely a choking hazard.” I nod as if I understand a grown person swallowing plastic spider rings. I don’t think anything can convince me I’ll eventually do that, but who knows? Maybe H’s superpower is swallowing weird things.

  The only one who will be swallowing is—

  “So, what’s on the books today?” I ask, cutting H’s thought off. Now probably isn’t the time to start imagining all that.

  “I think someone mentioned we get a game day.” Kenzie looks around curiously, searching for the games.

  “Oh, I hope they let us play monopoly again,” Mitzy claps excitedly.

  Kenzie purses her lips. “They won’t bring it back. The last time we were allowed, we sat for hours playing a never-ending game and when lights out came, no one was willing to go back to their rooms quietly because no one ever fucking won.”

  I raise my brows at the obvious resentment still in Kenzie’s words. “Who was in the lead?”

  “Me,” Kenzie says at the same time as Mitzy, and I can’t stop the smile that spreads across my face. There it is. I found where the resentment lies.

  “Maybe they’ll bring out the game, and you can have a rematch,” I supply helpfully. Kenzie turns and glares at me in accusation. I hold up my hands in surrender. “But a game of UNO always gets my gears going.”

  “I’ll whoop your ass at UNO, too,” Kenzie argues, shaking her finger at me.

  We will let her win. It will make her feel better.

  “Fuck no. I’m winning fair and square.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing. H said he’d let you win. Fucker obviously doesn’t know the importance of beating everyone’s ass in a card game and getting to scream UNO at the top of your lungs.”

  “Hey! Fuck you, H! I’d beat your ass without you letting me win.”

  Tell her she can beat us whenever she wants.

  I sigh heavily. Seriously? “Do you want me to tell her to bring the whip?”

  Kenzie perks up, a grin on her face, but I only shake my head. “I’m kidding. You’re not whipping me.”

  “That’s a damn shame.”

  Agreed. You spoil all the fun.

  I’m laughing, enjoying the banter back and forth, when something shifts in my body. I can’t pinpoint what it is, if anything really changes at all, but my chest tightens, and a fuzziness I hadn’t realized was in my brain disappears. It leaves me breathless for a moment, long enough that I brace myself against a wobbly chair.

  “FG, you alright?” A crease appears between Kenzie’s brows, and she shifts a little closer.

  I shake my head to try and dislodge the feeling, but it only serves to erase more of the fuzz.

  We are getting stronger. H’s voice in my head rings crystal clear, and my head jerks hard to the side in answer. What the fuck?

  “Crane?”

  My chest starts to rise and fall, dragging in both too much air and not enough. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.

  “Crane!”

  Kenzie’s voice barely registers as my eyes dance over to Mitzy, who sits with her head tilted, staring at me in accusation. Her fingers dance across her leg in nervousness, sensing the energy no doubt coming from me.

  Do not panic, Crane.

  “Why the fuck would I panic?” I ask, my voice bordering on hysteria. Whatever is happening, it’s like someone injected a dose of adrenaline straight into my heart.

  Stay calm.

  I hate to say it, but it’s too late for that. My calm went out the door with my sanity.

  “Are you okay?” Mitzy asks, her voice soft.

  Red dances at the edges of my vision but without the anger that usually accompanies it. This time, it feels like blood leaking into my eyes, like I’m wearing some fucked-up version of beer goggles. Mitzy shifts a little closer, studying me, and then her eyes go wide in shock. I gasp and clench my hand hard into the material of my pants.

  “Crane!” Kenzie tries again, her fingernails digging into my arm.

  I watch in horror as blood drips down Mitzy’s neck, coming from nowhere, staining her blue shirt quickly. When her head slides from her neck with a wet squelch, I yell and fall backward, tripping over the chair I’d been leaning against and landing hard on my tailbone. I don’t even register the pain as I scramble backward away from the gore. My dreams have been filled with moments like these, but I’m not sleeping right now. Is this real? Am I losing my damn mind? I realize with some small sense of logic that maybe I’m having a nervous breakdown, but I can’t compute any more than that. I can’t even think about what to do or how to handle it. Do I ride it out? Do I panic and ask for help?

  I open my mouth to beg for someone to come clean up the blood, the gore splattering against the worn linoleum floor, the head that rolls toward me. I open my mouth to yell that I’m done, I need medication, but nothing comes out more than a strangled gargle.

  “Crane! Talk to me!” Kenzie kneels in front of me, her blonde hair swinging forward to frame her worried face. Her green eyes sparkle against the backdrop of blood, the red that spilled from her friend’s veins, and she isn’t even paying any attention to her.

  I stare in horror as a thin red line appears slowly across Kenzie’s neck, as if teasing me with the pace.

  This is not real, Crane. Stay Calm. It will pass.

  But it doesn’t feel like it’s going to pass. It doesn’t feel like everything is fake or like I’m imagining it. It’s as vivid as my nightmares, far more horrifying than I ever imagined. I deal with dead bodies daily, and some of them are mutilated beyond repair, but this is a whole different ball game.

  When the blood begins to spill from the slice in Kenzie’s throat, I begin to scream.

  I scream, and scream, and scream.

  And this time, I don’t stop. . .

  Chapter 14

  Kenzie

  Crane’s screams pierce my ears; my hands fly to cover them on instinct as I stare at the man in front of me. His body curls uncomfortably over in the chair, his chest rising and falling with panicked breaths, his fingers digging into his cheeks as he stares at nothing.

  “Crane!” I shout, my panic testing the limits of my patience. I have no idea what’s happening to him and no idea how to fix it. If he would just speak to me. . .

  He raises a shaky finger and points to me. I lean closer, braving the screams. Crane wraps his hand around my throat, and my eyes go wide. I’ve never been afraid of him before, but for a moment, I’m scared for both of us. Movement out of the corner of my eye draws my attention away from Crane, even as my hands come down on his wrist, pushing his hand away from my throat. His hand moves awfully easy for a grown man trying to choke a woman.

  “Your throat,” he whispers in horror, his face pale. “Please, God, no!” Tears well up in his eyes, and I drop my hand away from his, letting him do whatever it is that he feels like needs to be done.

  Crane’s hand quickly returns to my throat, putting pressure but not squeezing. His other hand wipes at my skin over and over as if trying to clean it.

  “FG, what is it? What do you see?”

  “There’s so much blood!” His eyes scan the room around us, falling on Mitzy, and I follow his gaze. She sits with her legs spread, her elbows on her knees, staring at the two of us. Everyone here is staring at us.

  Grey movement catches my eye again, and I wince as the orderlies close in around Crane and me.

  “Let go of the girl, Woodward,” a dark-haired orderly pleads, holding his hands out as if trying to calm a wild animal.

  “I’m fine, he’s not—”

  “Kenzie!” Danny yells, sliding to a stop at the edge of group of orderlies. “What the fuck is going on here?” I shake my head, waving him down.

  “I’m fine.�
� But no one is listening to me. Two different orderlies rush us, one quickly grabbing Crane’s hand from around my throat, and the other pulling him out of the chair by his armpits. My eyes rocket up from the twisted look of horror and rage on Crane’s face to the orderlies dragging him away.

  Of course, one of them would be Asshole Orderly Vic. Because, of course.

  “You’re all dead!” Crane shrieks, struggling against the arms holding him. Two more orderlies rush to help subdue him, and I cover my mouth when one gets cracked across the jaw. Everyone in the common area stares after them as they try to maneuver him through the door.

  “Where are your heads?” he screams, surging back toward the common area, back toward me.

  Danny clears his throat, and my eyes meet his. He flashes the syringe in his hand, and I nod, quickly glancing away. I hate it, but honestly, if they don’t subdue him, he’s going to get himself hurt.

  Danny jogs off toward the other group of orderlies and quickly jams the needle into Crane’s arm.

  “You’re all dead!” He blinks several times, shaking his head as the orderlies readjust their holds on him. “Not her, not her, not her,” he chants over and over as he’s pulled through the door to the hall, the medicine obviously kicking in.

  I sink down into the chair—the one Crane abandoned—and hide my face in my hands, trying to put it out of my mind. What in the hell is going on with him? H doesn’t usually fuck with him like this, his other personality is just a snarky badass who likes to make inappropriate comments. Sometimes about heads. But this?

  “Your boyfriend is fucking nuts,” Mitzy snorts from her chair by the cheap sticky spiderwebs. Raising my face from my hands, I meet her amused grin and shake my head.

  “You’re fucking nuts, too, Mitz,” I remind her.

  She shrugs, dismissing my accusation. “Do you think they’re going to let us play Monopoly again?”

  Everyone within hearing distance bursts out laughing, and I’m no exception. Of course, Mitzy would be more concerned about our fucking Monopoly feud than Crane. My stomach growls, and I glance to the clock. “It’s lunch time,” I sigh, holding my hand out for Mitzy.