Page 123 of Bitten, Marked, Obsessed

I glance down at Adora.

She’s not speaking anymore. Just breathing. Barely.

Kendall touches her face, mouth trembling. “There has to be another way.”

I drop to my knees beside her.

“Kendall—look at me.”

She does. Barely holding it together.

“If you tell me you believe—really believe—you can pull her back again… I’ll stand down.”

Her lip trembles.

“But if you hesitate—if you lie—I’ll end this.”

Kendall closes her eyes. One beat. Two.

“She’s still in there,” she says softly. “I don’t think the Hollowed chose her.”

I blink. “What?”

“I think she choseit.Out of pain. Rage. Loneliness.”

“Then that’s worse.”

“No,” Kendall says, gripping her sister’s hand. “It means she canunchooseit.”

I exhale hard. “Then we don’t have time.”

Kendall drops her hands onto Adora’s chest—no fear, no hesitation now. Her eyes glow gold-bright, her lips part in a whisper I can’t hear, and the air around her thickens like it’s holding its breath.

The moment her palms make contact, Adora’s body jolts violently. Her back arches, mouth open in a silent scream, and a thick, black smoke begins to pour from her mouth, her nose, her eyes.

The Hollowed.

It fights like hell.

The smoke coils upward, shrieking—not with sound, but withfeeling. Rage. Hatred. Desperation.

Kendall tightens her grip. “You don’t get her. Not today. Not ever.”

She leans forward and presses her forehead to Adora’s, whispering something only sisters could share. I can feel it—powerful and private.

A golden light blooms between them. Not magic. Not Bolvi. Something older. Somethingsacred.

The Hollowed shrieks again, the smoke thrashing—until ittears away, sucked into the sky, up andoutlike it’s being exorcised by the sheer force of Kendall’s will.

It disappears.

The silence that follows is crushing.

Adora gasps once. Then slumps, her body limp, but warm and alive in Kendall’s arms.

Kendall exhales shakily. Her hands tremble, coated in sweat and blood. She cradles her sister tighter and leans into me when I reach her.

I press a kiss into her hair.

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