“The city closed it down.”
I’m not surprised, considering what was happening right under their noses. “The pack wants us back?”
Jericho’s soft smile speaks volumes. “They’ve pretty much demanded it. They’ve been here just as much as me, in small groups.” He lowers his voice. “Besides, this isn’t over, Ev. Not by a long shot.”
Something in his voice catches my attention, so I shift to see him better.
Jericho hesitates. “I’ll tell you later. You need rest.”
“No. I’m fine now. Tell me.”
He takes a steadying breath. “One of the prisoners was marked by the vampires.”
“What does that mean? What kind of mark?”
“We don’t know, but I can definitely smell that it was put there by a vamp. We think they were going to do that to the other humans, we just don’t know why.”
“Wait. You cansmellthat it was put there by a vamp?”
His eyes soften as he reaches for my neck, gently brushing a thumb over my collarbone on the right side. “In the same way I can smell myself on you. We all smell different, but vamps almost always have a metallic undertone.”
I shiver from his touch, then sit up as I remember. Reaching up, I feel the other side of my neck, afraid that somehow Breck has marked me when he bit me. Mypulse spikes when I feel raised, bumpy flesh covering a large area of my neck.
“Did he do that to me?” I say in a rush, twisting to see him.
Jericho sits up. “No, hon. It isn’t a bite mark on him. It’s…something else.” He considers his words. “It’s like a brand or something.”
I can't stop touching the scar. It must be six inches long at least. “But he did bite me? I remember that.”
His reluctant gaze drops to my neck, right where Breck sank his teeth in. He jaw ticks. “He didn't just bite you. He ripped a piece of your neck away. I thought I lost you for good, Ev. I thought you…” His eyes close. “There was so much blood. And you were so weak. Your pulse… I didn’t think there was anything I could do. I fed you some of my blood, but it wasn’t working. You weren’t responding.”
“So what did you do?”
As a tear slides down his cheek, it clicks.
“Your tears,” I whisper. “Holy shit, your fucking tears?”
Jericho wipes his face again, eyes still misty. Slowly, he nods. “I still don’t understand it.”
I shake my head, in awe. “That’s amazing.You’reamazing. I bet even when you die…” I trail off, a suffocating, overwhelming ache filling my heart as the truth hits me.
When Jericho dies, he’ll be able to come back to life through his ashes.But what about me? What will happen when I die?
Is there no way we can be together?
“Why didn’t you turn me?” I blurt.
He doesn’t say anything.
“You said when vamps turn someone, they have to be close to death. So why didn’t you?”
He doesn’t pull away, like he had been expecting this. “I was too late, Evan. You were already so weak, and there wasn’t enough blood in your system. Your heart wouldn’t have pumped the venom—”
“So you didn’ttry?”
He cups my neck, dark eyes searching mine. “As much as I hate what I am, I would still turn you right now if it meant we could be together. You think I like the idea of living longer than you? Fuck no. But if—”
“No if! There has to be a way!”
