Page 15 of Bitten, Marked, Obsessed

“So what do we do?”

I hesitate. My jaw tightens.

“We wait,” I say. “We watch. She’ll show again.”

Elias doesn’t push, but I know what he’s thinking. Same thing I am.

This wasn’t just a trigger.

This wasan awakening.. And those… those are illegal, even with the veil lifted. PEACE would have a field day with this. And so would my pack.

Whoever she is, whatever she’s becoming, she's about to upset the thin balance we all have been teetering on.

I know for certain that the pack isn’t going to like it.

7

KENDALL

Iwake up with blood on my hands.

Not metaphorical. Not poetic.

Real. Sticky. Crusted.

I jolt upright, heart slamming against my ribs like it’s trying to escape. My sheets are twisted, damp with sweat. The sun slices through the blinds, bright and unbothered, like the world didn’t turn inside out sometime in the last twelve hours.

I touch my neck and flinch.

There’s a bite there—deep and raw, like teeth tore through me. My fingers come away red.

Suddenly it’s all rushing back, too fast and too broken to make sense.

My dad.

His eyes.

The voice in myhead.

The pain.

Theshift.

I breathe like I’m drowning. Inhale too sharp. My senses spike, and everything in the room screams at me—the sour-sweet smell of old coffee in my trash can, the dust layering my bookshelf, even the faint chemical tang of my shampoo from across the room. It’s too much.Waytoo much.

What the actual hell.

I stumble to the bathroom, lock the door, and brace myself against the sink.

My reflection stares back at me, but it’s... off. My eyes look brighter, my skin flushed like I’ve been running. My lips are cracked, cheeks streaked with dried tears and god knows what else.

I wash my hands. Scrub until they’re raw. The blood swirls down the drain, but it doesn’t feel gone.

It’sinme now.

My mind flashes with everything I know since the veil thinned. Shifters, fae, vamps, all of it. But this, this isn’t anything like what I’ve been told. Shifters know they are shifters, right? And can control it. I had no control… and it all started after Dad fucking bit me. Whatisthis?

“What did you do to me?” I whisper, voice shaking.

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