Page 92 of Bitten, Marked, Obsessed

“Nope.”

“PEACE?”

She shakes her head. “Not branded. Could be merc. Could be Brood.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re glowing like a goddamn beacon every time you shift. You think the world doesn’t notice?”

I rub my face, still buzzing. “Thanks. For the assist.”

She just nods. Doesn’t smile. Doesn’t soften. Just stands and wipes her hands off on the guy’s cloak.

There’s tension in the air. Still sharp from the fight. Still loaded from everything that’s gone unsaid between us.

I break the silence first. “You’ve changed.”

“So have you.”

“I mean it.”

“So do I.”

I sigh, backing off, giving her space. “You scared me yesterday. You were... something else out there.”

“Iamsomething else,” she says, voice hard.

“You don’t have to prove it to me. You never did.”

She looks at me then. And for one flicker of a second, I see my sister.

A branch cracks.

We both whirl, claws up, power ready to rip.

But it’shim.

Callum bursts through the trees, half-shifted, eyes locked on me. He stumbles to a stop when he sees us, gaze darting from the body to our postures to our faces.

His shoulders drop.

“Shit,” he breathes. “I felt you shift. I came running.”

“We handled it,” Adora says flatly.

“Yeah, I see that,” he mutters, eyeing the body. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” I say, voice tighter than I mean it to be.

“Good,” he says. “Because we’ve got a bigger problem.”

My stomach knots. “What?”

He looks at both of us—serious, grim. “Your dad’s missing.”

Adora scoffs. “What, he forgot where he stashed his next bottle?”

Callum shakes his head. “This isn’t like that. He didn’t just vanish. Hedisappeared. No sign. No scent. No signal.”

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