He pulled at the arm I cradled and pushed up my sleeve to scan for injuries. “Joey, I don’t see anything.” He turned over my hand. “Tell me where—” His words caught in his throat. His fingers flew to the zipper at my collarbone and pulled it down. He ignored my pleas and removed my jacket despite my screams.
It felt like the fabric had fused to my skin.
“Jesus,” Hill whispered.
Trying to catch a breath, I inhaled through my clenched teeth. I forced my eyes open and looked down.
Dark veins crawled underneath my skin, burning like venomous spiders. They traveled up my arm and across my clavicle, leading straight to where my heart throbbed.
“I’ve seen this before.” Hill glanced at the dead girl’s body before furrowing his brow. “You’ve violated your blood pact.”
My chest tightened as I swallowed another scream. The Moon Goddess was wrong—I didn’t break my fucking oath. But the searing pain coursing through my body didn’t end.
Hill’s eyes flicked to mine. “There’s nothing I can do, Joey. You have to wait it out.”
I stared at him through the tears. I was going to die. “But… Marcus,” I cried. “How long?” My heart pounded against my ribcage, threatening to rip through my chest.
Hill picked my jacket up from the floor and dusted it off. “Just be thankful it wasn’t Marcus on the receiving end of your bullet.”
His ominous words provided some conceptual relief, but none of it would’ve matter if the burning didn’t stop. Because the gun still had bullets, and I wasn’t afraid to use it—
“Hill,” Viper called, making me jump. “Backup’s on the way.”
She was standing by the werewolf I’d eliminated, and I hadn’t even heard her come in. I hadn’t heard… Malik come in.
He was standing between Viper and Hill with only streaks of blood on his otherwise cleaned-off face. But his eyes were wide and dark, as if he were ready to bathe in more.
Hill glanced over his shoulder at Malik as he helped me back into my jacket. “You two, get out of here. We’ll handle this.” He faced me, and his expression softened. “Can you stand?”
I nodded, and he helped me to my feet. Malik crept toward me and draped my arm around his neck. I hissed through the pain. He gave a head nod to Hill and Viper without saying a word.
We passed Tobias as he was covering the omega’s body with a tarp. But even then, Malik kept silent. And he remained so until he sat next to me in the driver’s seat of his car.
“Do you need help with your seatbelt?” he snapped, slamming his door.
I lowered my head to swipe a lingering tear from my cheek. “I got it.”
Malik grew tired of watching me struggle. With a huff, he pulled the seat belt across my chest. He snapped it into place before choking all life from the steering wheel in front of him. “Tell me Hill doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about, Joey. Tell me you didnotform a blood oath with fucking werewolves.”
I sighed, still cradling my arm, but relief creeped over me as the pain subsided with each passing second. “Or I can tell you the truth.”
Malik slammed down on the steering wheel, making me jump. “Have you lost your damn mind?” he barked.
The right words evaded my lips. I stared at the blood splatter ruining my yoga pants. “No one was supposed to find out.”
“Oh, that makes itsomuch better.” He pulled off his jacket and pelted it onto the back seat. “The very essence of our tattoo goes against what you did.”
“That’s not true. The bond is between me and Marcus. He’s our ally, you know that.”
“Then what did you do to piss off the bond, Joey? Besides getting rid of a bitch slightly more delusional than you?”
My ears burned. Malik had asked an acceptable question, and I didn’t have an answer.
“Marcus is fighting with us to end the uprising,” I said instead, voice strained.
Malik stared straight out the windshield, pulling at his goatee. “You couldn’t commit to us, but you throw your soul away for a fucking dog you’ve only known for a few weeks. Make it make sense, Joanna.”
He pressed the ignition button, and the car hummed to life. He closed his eyes to calm himself, allowing me the opportunity to study the way his face had turned red, sweat beading around his hairline.
