Page 66 of Marked
My eyes widen.
What?
My pulse skips and my lungs can’t seem to hold enough air as I suck it in through my nose.
Ruin stops moving. “What do you want?”
“For you to stop looking for Vlad.” Something presses into my shoulder and then my cheek. The man fits his face against mine, bringing an almost imperceptible fragrance of mildew and stone with him.
My heart slams.
A shield.
He’s using me as a shield.
“Vlad is responsible for too many supernatural deaths,” Horan calls, his eyes backlit by gold light. “We can’t just let him go.”
The man moves his head and something sharp digs into my neck. I cry out.
Ruin turns ashen across from me. “Don’t–”
Twin pricks burn into the column of my throat and my stomach roils in pain. I twist and try to wrench away. To stop the ache.
There’s a loud retort. I’m pulled back and to the side, falling.
We crash to the ground, those sharp punctures seeming too large. Warmth flows down my neck and shoulder, soaking my blouse in heat. I whimper. The sound pulls at the wound. And not in a good way.
Nausea rolls through my insides as acid washes my mouth. I roll and vomit in the grass.
Ruin is just there, naked gun in hand. Gage crowds my back, pulling at my hair and pressing one massive hand over my throat.
I spit hard, shaking uncontrollably as the wrong feeling in my stomach grows.
Everything seems to spin like a really bad rollercoaster.
I hunch over and will the spinning to stop.
It doesn’t.
Bone crunches beside me and I start to turn. Ruin’s hands catch my face, the stock of his weapon surprisingly cool against my cheek. “Don’t.” He looks past me, eyes rimmed in gold, and nods.
Heat engulfs the air, suffocating and almost too strong to breathe past. I gasp. My head swims as I try to pull in a lungful of air. But it’s hot. Too hot. Dizziness turns my brain to mush.
My lips part to ask for help. The world flickers in and out of focus and a black ring builds all around my vision.
Every blink is heavier than the last.
“Uh... Cap–”
I sway forward as the dizziness becomes too much.
And I fall right into Ruin’s waiting arms as darkness swallows me whole.
Chapter 29
Ruin
Lilah is small in my big bed; dark hollows rim under her closed eyes and her tan skin is too pale. Markus peers down at her, his fingers carefully moving the new bandage over the tear in her slim neck. A tear caused by the dead vampire’s fangs. In the exact place that I bit the damn waitress from Underground.
