Even as I think it, the mark burns colder, and somewhere in the distance, I swear I hear something laugh.
Chapter Four
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Vex
Church is already insession when my phone buzzes.
I’m leaning against the wall in the back corner, half-listening to Blade talk logistics about a shipment coming through next week, when I feel the vibration in my pocket.I pull it out, expecting club business.
It’s Hannah.
Tessa’s hurt.Something’s wrong with her.Please.I’m outside.
My entire body goes still.Every instinct I have screams at me to move, to run, to get to hernow.But Blade is still talking, and church protocol demands I wait.
Fuck protocol.
I’m already moving toward the door when Blade’s voice cuts through the room.“Vex.Where the hell are you going?”
“Emergency,” I say, not stopping.
“Sit your ass down.We’re not—”
The door to church bursts open, and Hannah storms in, her face flushed, her eyes wild.She doesn’t care she’s interrupting, doesn’t care every brother in the room is staring at her.She looks right at me.
“Something’s wrong with Tessa,” she says, her voice shaking.“She won’t tell me what happened, but I saw there’s something on her shoulder.Something’swrong.”
The temperature in the room drops.I can feel Prophet’s attention snap to Hannah, feel Blade’s eyes on me.
“What do you mean, ‘something on her shoulder’?”Blade asks, his voice careful.
Hannah wraps her arms around herself.“A mark.It looks like a tattoo, but it’s black and it’smovingunder her skin.She tried to hide it, but I saw it when she reached for something in the storeroom.”
Prophet is on his feet.“What did it look like?The pattern?”
