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Three days until the full moon. He’d already be feeling the change like fire in his blood.
“He’s at her apartment now. She screamed—” Charlie choked on a furious sounding sob.
“Give me an address.” I’d already pulled my phone out.
Lex answered immediately, and I relayed the information Charlie gave me. It took less than ten seconds, but I knew Lex, Ari and Rue were on it. “They’ll take care of it.”
“Take care of it?” Like she was suspecting the men would hurt her friend, which, I would admit was protocol for some packs. If a human was accidentally bitten, chances were that human would disappear under mysterious circumstances, never to be seen again.
“They’ll handle the ex and make sure your friend is okay.” The ache in my chest was sudden and unnerving. It bothered me that she didn’t trust me or even know me well enough to understand intuitively that I’d never do anything to hurt her—and, by extension, her friend.
But that kind of trust came from a bite, and my world had shifted where that was concerned.
“I’m going.”
I knew there was no talking her out of it. “I’m coming with you.” She might not be the alpha of the Duke clan, but she was destined to be, and I wasn’t letting her go without backup.
“You’re an alpha,” Charlie said, her tone mocking as she repeated my words from earlier. “You don’t run into the danger.”
“If you’re going, I’m going,” I countered. Levi opened his mouth to argue but I cut him off. “You and Johnny will stay here, monitor the situation and keep me posted.”
“Fuck that, I’m coming,” Johnny said, his expression one I knew well. If I didn’t let him come with us, he’d show up on his own anyway. Headstrong fool.
Charlie moved to Johnny, her expression softening as she closed the distance between them. It made my heart spike like jealousy was a drug flooding my system. She put her hands on his cheeks, leaned up then kissed him tenderly, lingering long enough for the tension in the den to peak, and my desire to storm out of the room and punch some walls became unbearable. I looked at Levi, but he only had eyes for Charlie.
How could he watch this and not realize she was making a choice?
As she pulled away, she tilted her head so their foreheads touched, then she whispered, “I need you here with my uncle’s—” She gulped. “My pack. Make sure they know what’s happening. I’ve cut off their voices and their connection for my own sanity. Way too much noise. Make sure they’re okay. Tell them to sit tight.”
Johnny swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. I could tell that he wanted to argue but instead pulled back enough to nod. She’d made him her ambassador. She’d gotten him to listen, something I’d never been able to do with him.
“On one condition.” He lifted his hands to cup her face. “Let’s make this official before you go.”
I couldn’t believe those words, heavy with consequences, just came out of his mouth. Panic washed over me. I looked to Levi again, but he was nodding like this was all part of the plan. I whipped my gaze back to Charlie to see determination spread across her face.
“You’re sure?”
Johnny nodded once, his eyes never leaving Charlie’s
My world turned inside out. My chest constricted. What is happening here?
She wrapped her arms around his waist, hoisting herself up his body on tiptoes. He guided her face toward his throat as her fangs grew past her plump lips.
I opened my mouth to stop it—to tell them to take some time, think about it. We didn’t even know what it would do to us. What if it made us mindless proles like Gareth?
Then I backpedaled on my own thoughts. Why would it? A mating bond was nothing like a pack bite. She wasn’t creating werewolves in biting us. She was bonding with our entities. And yet…and yet…my gut wasn’t right on this. It was beyond taboo. It broke all conventions.
I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. It should have been me marking her.
As her fangs sank into Johnny’s neck, he sighed, and his eyelids fluttered closed. She moaned and right there in front of my eyes, a starburst formed, spreading across Johnny’s skin. Dark, solid lines stretched from where her lips met his neck, up to his jaw and down below the collar of his shirt. Just like in the print. It was a moment from history come to life.
My mouth dropped open. My lungs froze. My heart pounded against my ribcage.
Johnny looked like a man in heaven. His eyes were hooded, his lips parted slightly and his body languid. Charlie stepped back, leaving him to sway like he was in a trance.
This was all wrong. It was too fast. Too public. No. No. No.
She turned to Levi, stepping toward him and he to her. She kissed him passionately, lovingly. She didn’t have to give him direction. He already knew his place.
