Page 24 of Bitten, Marked, Obsessed

Elias hums. “Think the second one’s the dad?”

“Possibly. The spacing’s weird though. Not a chase. A meeting.”

We follow the trail around the block. It cuts through a chain-link gap, into the edge of the underpass. The scent’s stronger here—more heat, more blood.

I crouch again and breathe deep.

That’s when it hits me.

Her.

Everything else disappears. The city, the street, Elias, the sound of tires on asphalt above our heads—all of itgone.

Her scent is wildfire and cold steel and the sting of fresh lightning. My mouth goes dry. My pulse spikes.

I stumble back a step.

“Callum?” Elias asks, frowning.

I don’t answer.

Because I feel her.

Ifeelher.

Every nerve in my body sings with something older and much more stronger than lust. My beast claws up my throat like it’s trying to get out.

Suddenly, there’s movement. I sense it before I see it.

She steps out of the shadowed mouth of the underpass like something half-born of smoke and moonlight. Hoodie up. Face partially hidden. But I see her.

Silver-streaked hair, wild around her shoulders. Lips parted, breath sharp. Her eyes meet mine and time breaks.

There’s a moment—just asecond—where I feel it snap into place.

Fated.

I don’t breathe. I don’t move.

Neither does she.

Her gaze catches with intense blue eyes, holds, then flinches away. Not recognition. Not fear. Just... hesitation. Like something in her felt it too but didn’t have the words for it.

Then she bolts.

Fast and clean. Faster than any of us shifters could move. Or any werewolf I’ve had the misfortune of seeing bolt.

Elias curses. “Shit. She saw us.”

“No,” I mutter. “Shefeltme.”

We race after her, but by the time we reach the mouth of the tunnel, she’s gone. No scent trail. No sound. Just an echo of heartbeats in my skull and a tight ache in my chest that feels likemissingsomeone I haven’t even met yet.

Elias catches up beside me, breathing hard.

“Okay,” he says, wheezing. “So that was different.”

“Yeah.”

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