Page 53 of Dark

I angled my head back, nuzzling his throat right where his scruff tasted like espresso and aftershave. Ethan caught my lips in a kiss, tongue sweeping through my mouth. The mirror provided a wide-angle view as he bit my neck and shoulders, palming me through the open top of my corset, each tug at my nipples twisting pulses of need down to my core. I could feel the wolf rising in his blood, his dominance burning hot and feral as he thrust into me from behind. I exhaled, keening from the intensity.

I stared back at my reflection. Flushed cheeks. Dilated pupils. My ponytail trailed back and forth over the counter, slashing jaggedly in time with our joined bodies. Ethan hovered over me, the broad expanse of his shoulders dwarfing mine as his lips memorized the tempo of my pulse, counted every freckle across the span of my back and sucked kisses down the length of my spine. Possessing me. Surrounding me. Claiming me in every way.

“You’re mine, Hayden. You always have been.”

“Just. Like. That.” I braced myself against the wall. “Don’t stop.”

The beat from the club shifted to something darker, a hard, sadistic tempo that raised goosebumps across my bare back. Ethan gripped my wrists, holding my eyes in the glass. Hot tendrils of pleasure washed through my hips. I cried out. His arms tightened, locking us together. With a shudder, I fell.

When I came back to myself, music was pumping outside in the club. I blinked, seeing Ethan’s phone lit up on the counter next to the sink. It went silent. Started to buzz a second time.

“Ethan,” I slurred.

He straightened. “What—"

“Something’s wrong.” Shoving his phone at him, I disappeared into one of the stalls.

When I came out less than a minute later, he was scrolling through his messages, brow furrowed. Seeing me, he cursed. A glance in the mirror revealed why. Red marks covered my neck and shoulders.

“No time. We gotta go.”

My heart kicked in my chest. “What is it?”

“Your trailer’s on fire.”

Then

Ethan

I BEGAN TO RETHINK MY PLAN of walking the twenty miles to the hospital in Burnet sometime around the fourth hour. My head ached from colliding with the window frame. The glass working its way out of my fur had begun to itch like the devil. Most of the dirt had washed off in the first creek. But I was willing to bet they didn’t let kids in shredded, bloody Batman pajamas into the ER. Not the visitor’s entrance, anyway.

A truck approached. Slinking deeper into the grass, I shifted back to human. The eastern sky out towards Llano had lightened to a soft nectarine-orange. Using a sliver of pink granite, I scraped the latest round of glass shards from my arms and legs.

Headlights crested the top of the hill, sending me flat onto my belly down in the grass. The car slowed. Senses on high alert, I inched backwards towards a low barbed-wire fence. A door opened.

I stilled.

Ben folded his arms, leaning against the hood of the cruiser. “You okay?”

Releasing the barbed wire with a low twang, I scrambled up.

“Where’s August?”

“He’s asleep. The doctors are running tests. They’ve got him sedated.”

I pulled at the ruined hem of my shirt.

“Got everyone back at the house pretty worried,” Ben continued, dragging the toe of his boot through the roadside gravel. “River threw a fit after you left. Cal and Dallas were out looking for you.”

I frowned. Ben kicked some more rocks and leaned over to pull a pile of clothes out of the front seat. My garbage bag was there, too. At the sight of it, my stomach churned.

“Somewhere you were planning on going?” He leveled me with a look.

I shrugged, thinking of my social worker, Mrs. Parsons, who always smelled of cats and garlic bread.

“Know this hasn’t been the easiest year.” Ben scratched his jaw. “But you’ve got people here who care about you, even if maybe you can’t see that yet.”

When I still said nothing, he sighed.