Page 105 of Bitten, Marked, Obsessed

But I straighten. “You’re right. I don’t. Not fully. But I know I’m not afraid of it anymore. And that’s something.”

He looks down for the first time, breathing heavy. Like his lungs are full of grief.

“I loved you,” he says. Barely a whisper.

I nod. “I know.”

His eyes meet mine again, and in them, I see the ghost of what we were. Movie nights. Kisses in the truck. Promises we never said out loud because they felt too big.

But that version of us is dead now.

“You only loved me when I was small,” I say. “When I didn’t ask for more. When I didn’t become more.”

He doesn’t deny it.

“You should go,” I tell him, heart low in my chest. “Before this gets bloody.”

“You won’t hurt me,” he says. Maybe it’s a plea. Maybe it’s a dare.

“No,” I agree. “But they will.”

I glance back at Callum, and his eyes meet mine. There's something unspoken between us, something steady. He won’t let Stefan lay a hand on me. Not again.

Stefan’s gaze flicks from me to Callum. To the others. Then back to me.

And for one second—just one—I see him falter. A sliver of the boy I knew trying to fight his way through the man he’s become.

Then it’s gone.

“We don’t take orders from animals like you,” he spits.

And that’s it.

Callum moves, fast as lightning.

I throw an arm out, stopping him mid-step, my fingers brushing his chest. His heart pounds like a war drum beneath my palm, but he stops. Because I asked him to.

Stefan sees it.

He sees how easily Callum listens to me. How natural the bond is—even unspoken.

And it wrecks him.

42

CALLUM

Stefan’s voice cuts through the trees like a whip.

“We don’t take orders from animals like you.”

Kendall flinches beside me.

And something inside mesnaps.

I step forward, slow and deliberate, every inch of me crackling with control I don’t want to hold onto.

Stefan lifts his chin when I approach, but I can smell the fear on him Not the kind you show. The kind that seeps into your sweat and stutters your heartbeat when you realize you're standing in front of something you don’t understand anymore.

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