Page 47 of Bitten, Marked, Obsessed

“I know. It’s okay.”

Edmund comes over, crouches beside us, gaze sweeping the scene.

“Your shift was strong enough to flag underground. That’s not supposed to happen. You’re too young. Too new.”

“Tell that to my body,” she snaps.

I fight a smirk.

Edmund wipes a hand across his mouth. “I’ll mask the trail. They’ll send more once they realize this crew didn’t report back.”

I look at him. “Where should I take her?”

He meets my eyes, and for a second, I see something almost like trust.

“Somewhere off-grid,” he says. “Somewhere only you know.”

My stomach drops.

Because Idoknow a place.

A cabin deep in the greenbelt. Old. Half-rotted. No tech. No neighbors. Just trees and silence and survival.

“I’ll take her.”

Edmund nods once, then stands. “Keep her out of sight until I say otherwise. Don’t fuck this up.”

And just like that, he’s gone—back into the dark to clean up a mess no one was supposed to see.

I turn to Kendall, who’s watching me like I’m the only thing keeping her here, coherent.

“You ready to run?” I ask.

She doesn’t speak, just nods and grabs my hand.

19

KENDALL

The cabin door groans like a dying animal when Callum kicks it open. Pine needles crunch under my boots as I follow him inside, the scent of mildew and old wood smite hits me. Moonlight slices through cracks in the boarded-up windows, catching on dust motes that swirl around his shaggy hair.

He tosses the car keys onto a rusted wood stove. "Home sweet shithole."

"Charming." My laugh comes out brittle. Fake. I press my palm to the peeling wallpaper—cold, damp, alive with rot. "How many girls have you brought here to impress?"

"Just the ones I'm trying to piss off." Callum's eyes flash green in the dark as he drags a hand through his hair. "You should sit."

"Sit? I just wolfed out in front of my boy..exboyfriend, Callum." I thrust my hands between us, fingers still streaked with dried blood under the nails. "He saw. All of it. The claws, the teeth, that...soundI made." My voice cracks. I spin away, shoulders hitting the stone fireplace. "They found his parents in pieces, you know. Supernatural kill team or some bullshit. Now I'm the monster underhisbed."

Callum's boots scuff closer. "You're not a?—"

"Don't." I press my forehead to cold stone. "We were already sinking. Now? He's never looking at me without seeing fangs."

Silence. Then the heat of him at my back, breath stirring the silver streaks in my hair. "You think that's the worst thing someone can see in you?"

The dam breaks.

I whirl, shoving both hands against his chest. "My dadlied! My whole life, hunting with him, tracking scat and—fuck, Callum, weatevenison chili the night after he made me this!" My claws erupt on a sob, slicing the air between us. "You know what he said when I shifted? 'Now you're safe.'Safe?I'm a loaded gun!"

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