Disbelief.
And something else that was starting to grow stronger the longer people stood there talking.
Confidence.
I took a slow breath.
Then the mark on my shoulder flared again.
“Ah—”
The sting shot down my arm before I could stop it. I sucked in a sharp breath and instinctively pressed my hand against the spot.
The movement didn’t go unnoticed.
“Maeve.” Keegan was beside me before I even realized he’d moved.
He wasn’t in wolf form anymore. His dark shirt clung to his shoulders where sweat and dirt had soaked into the fabric, and there was a thin scratch along one side of his jaw that hadn’t been there earlier.
His hazel eyes dropped straight to my shoulder.
“You alright?”
“Fine,” I said quickly.
The word came out a little tighter than I intended.
He didn’t look convinced.
Before he could say anything else, Luna hurried over with something wrapped in a knitted square.
“I thought you might need this,” she said.
The compress was cool when she pressed it gently against the back of my shoulder.
The relief was instant.
“Oh,” I sighed. “Okay, that’s… wonderful.”
“Don’t move,” Luna said firmly.
Nova stepped up on my other side, arms folded as she studied me.
“That mark is reacting to the shadow magic,” she said quietly.
“Good to know,” I muttered.
Keegan’s gaze flicked between the three of us.
“What does it mean?” I looked from him to Nova, and over to Luna.
None of us said anything for a few seconds.
Finally, I shook my head.
“I don’t know,” Nova admitted.
The words felt strange coming out of her mouth. She usually had answers.
