Page 65 of Bitten, Marked, Obsessed

I meet his stare. “Iwillprotect her.”

He doesn’t push again. Just nods once.

Approval or surrender—I don’t know.

The meeting dissolves not long after that. They file out one by one, leaving Elias and me behind. The quiet hangs between us, thick with unspoken thoughts.

“You told her,” he says finally.

I nod.

“She kiss you?”

I glance at him.

He smirks. “Yeah. Thought so.”

“It’s not what you think.”

“It never is.”

“I don’t know what she wants,” I admit. “But I know what I feel. And I’m not walking away from it.”

“I didn’t ask you to.”

I look down. “This thing… it’s more than just a bond, El. It’s like I’m built from her name. And it’s terrifying.”

Elias claps a hand on my shoulder.

“Welcome to fate, asshole. I pray to gods it never happens to me.”

27

KENDALL

Islip through the front door like the fucking wind.

No creaks. No shoes. No lights. Just me, breathing too loud in the dark, trying not to feel like my skin’s too tight after everything with Callum.

The kiss. The pull. The way I wanted more, even when I shouldn’t have.

Home should feel like a relief.

It doesn’t.

The air smells wrong. Not rotten, just... warped. Like wildflowers blooming where they shouldn’t. Rain-soaked stone. Metal. And under all of it, something sour, something ancient.

I push my bedroom door open and freeze.

“Jesus, Adora.”

She’s perched on my bed like some kind of waiting omen—taller than me, lean and whipcord tense, arms crossed, long legs tucked beneath her like a loaded spring. Her ashy-blonde hair, straighter than mine and slightly damp at the ends, hangs over her sharp cheekbones. Her skin’s paler than I remember, but glowing in a way that doesn’t look healthy. It looks unnatural. Radiant and wrong.

“You scared the shit outta me,” I hiss.

She doesn’t flinch. Just shrugs. “You took forever.”

I shut the door behind me, heart still jackhammering.

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