Page 115 of Bitten, Marked, Obsessed

She wassmiling.

I’m on my feet before I register the shift in the light outside. It’s still dark—just before dawn—but there’s a surge in the air that makes my skin crawl.

“Shit,” I mutter, grabbing for my boots.

Elias stumbles into the hall at the same time I do, shirt half on, eyes wide.

“You felt it too?” he asks.

“Vision,” I snap. “Adora. Hollowed.”

“Fuck,” he breathes. “Where’s Kendall?”

We sprint.

The main safehouse is silent when we get there—too silent. No fire burning, no chatter, no breakfast pots clanging.

My stomach twists.

“Kendall?” I call out.

No answer.

Elias moves faster, checking the tents, the outer patrol line. I race for her quarters. Empty. Just her scent lingering. Warm and steady. But something else layered over it.

Adora.

I press two fingers to the center of the cot where Kendall slept. The heat is gone, but the residual power isn’t.

“She was here,” I mutter. “So was Adora.”

Elias reappears, breathless. “Found a trail. Light. She didn’t take supplies.”

“She left willingly.”

“But with what intention?”

I look at him. And we both know.

Adora didn’t run.Sheanswered a call.And Kendall might be walking right into it.

We don’t get a chance to track them before the alarm blows.

A sharp, high whistle—cut off halfway.

Then the roar. And fire.

The first explosion rips through the northern watch post, lighting the forest edge in a sickening orange glow.

Elias draws his blade. “They found us.”

I shift mid-sprint, leaping into the trees as my pack moves to intercept. I howl once—loud and long.

The rest follow.

Kendall appears on the far side of the line, eyes locked on the flames. Part of me is relieved to see her still here. That she didn’t follow her sister.

“You saw it too,” she says when we meet mid-charge.

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