Page 93 of Bitten, Marked, Obsessed

Adora goes quiet.

I speak slowly. “You think he was taken?”

“Possibly. Or compromised.”

“No way,” I say. “He wouldn’t turn on us.”

Adora crosses her arms. “Wouldn’t he? He’s already been keeping secrets.”

Callum glances at me. “What secrets?”

I hesitate.

“What secrets, Kendall?”

I take a breath.

“He knows,” I say. “He knows about Mathis. About you. I thought he already did, and I went to see him and I may have confirmed his suspicions...”

The silence that follows is thick enough to drown in.

Adora’s jaw tightens. Her power flares again and its sharp, crackling.

“Of course,” she mutters. “And now he’s missing. What a fucking coincidence.”

“Adora—”

She steps back. “I need air.”

“You can’t just run?—”

“I’m not running. I’mthinking.”

She turns and vanishes into the trees. Again.

Callum exhales slowly. “She’s slipping.”

I nod. “I know.”

“We have to hold her together, Kendall.”

I stare into the woods, where my sister vanished.

“I’m trying.”

But I’m not sure that’s enough anymore.

38

CALLUM

Tracking Edmund feels like chasing a ghost in a haunted forest.

Everythingsmellswrong.

The deeper we move into the outskirts—past the last few safehouses, through crumbling backwoods littered with rust and shadow—the more my instincts scream.

Kendall moves beside me, quiet and sharp-eyed, following my lead even when she’s itching to go faster. Her expression’s all steel, but her heart’s thudding hard enough I can feel it in the space between us.

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