Page 13 of Bitten, Marked, Obsessed

Get it together.Get it together, Kendall.

But nothing’s together.

Everything’s broken and bleeding andchanging, and the worst part is—I canfeelsomething watching me. Not out there.

In me.

Something is awake. And it’s not entirelyme.

My head pounds. My pulse skitters. I don’t know how to move. Or if I even want to. I’m scared if I take another step, I’ll turn into something that doesn’t remember how to be human.

Is this what happened to Adora?

A sob catches in my throat. She knew. She fuckingknew.

I slide down the wall until I’m curled into myself on the ground, arms wrapped tight, like that’ll keep my bones from breaking apart and remaking themselves.

6

CALLUM

The city’s quieter tonight, but it’s the wrong kind of quiet, like the moment before a snare snaps shut.

I breathe in deep and nearly gag.

Beneath the usual stench—smog, old oil, fried food gone sour—there’s something else. Something wrong. Metallic and wild. Like storm lightning pressed under your tongue.

“You feel that?” I murmur, low.

Elias walks beside me, boots crunching gravel. “Yeah,” he says, sniffing the air. “Smells like new blood. Fresh. Female. Could it be the same one as the other night?”

I grunt. “No, it’s not.” I’m not sure how I can tell, but I can. This one is… different. “Plus, they usually don’t drift this far. Even the rookies know better.”

“Unless they don’tknowanything,” he replies. “Could be one of those suppressed types that popped hard during the full moon last night. There has been more and more lately, especially with the Blood Moon.”

I stop near an alley mouth, scanning the shadows. “This isn’t just any pop. It’s deeper. Feels like... the Veil shifted.”

Elias arches a dark brow. “The Veil’s already gone.”

“Not all the way,” I say. “There’s still cracks. Still stuff buried in us that doesn’t wake up until something shakes it loose.”

Elias doesn’t argue. He just watches me, silent.

I feel it again, that pressure building in my chest. Like my ribs are too small for whatever’s clawing at them from inside.

The scent strengthens.

We round a corner, and my feet slow.

It’s here.

Not the source, but close. The air hums with it. The alley is empty, but there are signs—scrapes on the wall, a smear of something dark on the dumpster edge, and the faintest trace of heat in the air.

Elias crouches, touching the ground with two fingers. “Movement. Fast. Someone fell here.”

I crouch next to him. “She was hurt. And she’s shifting.”

The air around us is vibrating like a tuning fork. My beast snarls beneath my skin, pacing, restless. I close my eyes and drop lower into instinct.

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