Page 78 of Bitten, Marked, Obsessed

“Not after Mathis.”

My stomach drops. I’ve heard that name somewhere before.

“…What?”

Her mouth trembles, and when she opens her eyes, I already know.

“Adora’s not Edmund’s,” she whispers. “I was young, and stupid, and Edmund was already spiraling when we got married. I thought if I just… held it together long enough, things would level out. And then I met Mathis. I didn’t know who he really was. Not then. I just knew he looked at me like I wasn’t something to be hidden.”

“Youhad an affair, Mom. There’s no excuse.”

“It was a mistake,” she says quickly. “A brief one. And I never told either of them. But when the powers started waking up in Adora, I knew—Iknewit wasn’t from me. It washim.”

My hands are shaking.

“You’ve kept this from her her whole life?”

“I was protecting her,” Margreet pleads. “You don’t understand what it would mean if people knew who she really was. If they found out she’s a?—”

She catches herself too late. And I pounce.

“If they found out she’s awhat, Mom?”

Her mouth twists, like the words burn her throat.

“…A Wulfson,” she says.

Click.

The back door of the alley creaks open.

I whip around just in time to see Adora standing there. She must’ve followed me. Must’ve found us somehow. She’s not even trying to hide it—just standing there in total, frozen silence.

“What did you just say?” Adora whispers.

Margreet pales.

“Adora—”

“You said Wulfson.”

Her voice is shaking. Not loud, not angry. Justshocked. And I get it. Because that name meanssomethingnow. It’s not just a name.

It’s Callum. It’s blood. It’s the Hollow. The old pack. The wars. It’severything.

And Adora?

She just realized her entire life has been a lie.

“I have to go,” she says abruptly, voice raw, like it’s barely holding together.

“Adora—” I start.

But she’s already gone. Vanished into the alley like smoke on wind.

And the silence that follows is the sound of everything breaking.

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