Page 58 of Bitten, Marked, Obsessed

“I didn’t know how to say it.”

“You say it!” he shouts. “You don’t let me fall in love with a goddamnmonster!”

My stomach twists—but not the way I thought it would.

I expected to crumble. To cry. To beg.

But all I feel is... tired. Hollow.

There’s a silence between us that feels like a canyon. The kind you don’t build bridges across.

I step back. “I didn’t ask for this.”

“You sure as hell didn’t fight it.”

I blink at him, something icy crawling up my spine.

“You’re afraid of me,” I whisper.

He doesn’t answer. And that’s the answer.

The set of his jaw. The tightening of his fists. The way his blue eyes shimmer with something that isn’t just pain—it’s disgust.

And somehow, I feel...relief.

Not devastation. Not heartbreak. Just this dull, steady weight sliding off my chest like a final decision has been made for me.

Because maybe this was already falling apart long before I shifted. Maybe the rot set in the moment I stopped letting him see the version of me that didn’t want to be seen. Even before I knew who that girl actually was.

Or maybe it’s because there’s someone else now.

Someone whose voice feels like gravity. Whose hands make the noise in my head go still. Someone who’s already seen me shift—and didn’t look away.

Stefan’s breathing hard now. His dark hair, usually neat and styled, hangs messily across his forehead, like he ran his fingers through it too many times trying to claw the truth out of his skull.

He used to look like home. Now he looks like a closed door I forgot how to knock on.

“Get out,” he says.

I nod.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

He doesn’t say it back.

I step out into the hallway and let the door slam behind me.

And just like that, we’re done.

The walk’s quieter now.Not just the streets, but alsome.

Something uncoils in my chest. I can’t tell if it’s grief or just the loss of another mask I was tired of wearing. I pull my phone out of my pocket and scroll to Adora’s name.

Call.

It rings.

And rings.

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