ROWEN
Sitting back in the chair, I tap my pen against the desk. The list of websites I need to complete is a mile long, and some of them are a few days past due, yet I can’t seem to make myself care. Instead, all I can think about is my pack, the coven, Jericho and Evan—Tobias.
For four hours, I’ve been staring through my open bedroom door at Tobias’ room across the hall, wondering when he’ll have the courage to come out. The poor man had been terrified of us, and for good reason. I would be too if I were in his shoes—waking up in a place I have no memory of.
Flexing my hand, I dig a thumb into my palm where his brand burned me. There’s no evidence of it, of course, nothing to say he’d physically harmed me, but the pain was real. I’d felt it. How is that possible? I’ve never heard of a mark harming someone else. Was it a protection spell of some kind? A claiming spell? It makes no sense.
Opening a new tab in the internet browser, I type in “supernatural brand that burns.” The results are slim at best. A few pages dedicated to mate marks or healing runes, and one page describing temporary protection spells, but nothing to explain why a mark would physically hurtanother person. That can only mean one thing: it was created using dark magic.
The supernatural government blocks websites about dark magic, for obvious reasons. And yet, I saw the way Red recoiled after seeing how it affected Sage and me. Something about the mark scares him. There’s danger in it, even if he doesn’t understand it.
If Tobias would only tell us…
I close the laptop and drag a hand down my face, unsettled. My mind is at war with itself—one half needing to demand answers and protect the pack, the other understanding Tobias’ fear. He’s just a human, after all. Not a shifter or a mage. A mortal who was pulled into this supernatural war for who knows what reason.
And he’s been through more than any of us, including Jericho, enduring days or maybe weeks of physical abuse and trauma. He needs to heal before he can trust us.
But do we really have time? Foxx is out there right now, regrouping with his coven, and I can’t shake the feeling that whatever this mark means, it’s just the beginning. Foxx is up to something dangerous, and he’s using Orem to do it.
“Fuck.” My voice is barely a whisper, yet it’s loud in the quiet room.
I stare at the blank screen for another minute before slamming the laptop shut. My head is pounding, my chest tight, and all I can see when I close my eyes is Tobias’ shame-filled expression. His fear. What are we going to do? How can I protect my pack?
Giving up on pretending to work, I shove the chair back and push to my feet. As I make my way downstairs, my body feels heavier than it should, like every step is covered in mud. The pack is gathered around the kitchen table, where books are scattered across the surface—some cracked and yellow with age, others new.
At the center sits Taren, wearing purple pajama bottoms and a gray tank top. Her short dark hair falls into her face as she flips furiously through a heavy tome, and her expression is one I haven’t seen in months. Focused and determined. But her energy is stressed. Almost frantic, like she’s chasing something she can’t quite see.
“What are you doing?” I ask, grabbing a La Croix from the fridge.
Taren glances up, eyes bright with frustration. “Trying to find it.”
“What?”
“Tobias’ mark,” Red says.
My eyes widen. “You think it’s one we know?”
“It has to be.”
I walk around the table, peering down at the mess. Each book is full of drawings and symbols, yet none of them match the image on Tobias’ shoulder. Not that I remember anyway. I didn’t get a good look at it.
Red pushes a legal pad toward me, revealing a sketch on it. “Is this what you remember?”
I study the drawing. “Maybe? I can’t be sure.”
Taren groans. “See! If I could just see it for—”
“No,” Red cuts in firmly. “No one talks to him until he’s ready, aside from Rowen, Sage, and me. We don’t want to scare him off.”
“Why Rowen?” Grant asks.
Red hesitates. “Tobias met him earlier and seemed to trust him.”
He did? He seemed just as terrified of me as he had them.
But I also agree with what he’s saying. Tobias is extremely skittish. Pushing the issue could just make things worse. Make him run. He’s already shut us out once before.
“But if I can justseethe mark, it would help, Red. Because this doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen before.”
