Page 52 of Cost of Courting

But I’m struggling to move, and I keep blacking out when I pause and rest.

I pull out my phone, trying four times to get to his name.

“Mael?” I whimper.

“Where are you?” His sharp voice cuts through the fog, and I cling to it.

I look around, but I don’t recognise where I am. “No idea.”

“What do you see?” Edric asks quickly.

“Factories, a service station, but it’s shut down.”

“Good, good. What else can you see?”

I cough and let out a shrill whine when it turns to lightning fire.

Waking up in the gutter in this neighbourhood is dangerous. But I’m so tired I’m not even alarmed. I push up and look for my phone. It’s cracked, and when I try the screen, it won’t work. I swallow thickly and touch the side of my head.

I wince and pull my fingers away, seeing the dark fluid. I’m lucky.

I’m not that cold, so I probably haven’t been here long. I sit up and put my forehead on my knees, breathing through the nausea.

The slamming of a door wakes me up. I startle and find Edric kneeling in front of me.

He’s really, really careful when he lifts me up.

“Have you been fighting again?”

He sounds so much like his mother that I get the giggles, but it hurts, so I stop.

“Take me to Dot’s house.”

“Dot?” Mael asks in a dark voice. “She’s in on this, too?”

“Mmm, yup. But I won. Three times.”

“You fought three times?”

“No, I fought four. It was my punishment for Anchor disappearing.”

My words are slurring, and I’m in too much pain to hold myself up, so I slouch into the warm body beside me, wincing when my bruises protest.

Someone is cursing in a long string of violent words that don’t seem to be ending.

“Tell me the name of the guy we’re killing this time.”

I blink at Kingston and reach out to stroke his cheek. “You’re so beautiful.”

“Who did this to you, my crazy love?”

I turn into Edric’s chest.

“A name, Selene.”

The alpha bark hits me hard. But I don’t have any will to protest.

“Hammer,” I murmur.

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