Page 129 of After the Burn

No blood.

No broken skin.

Nothing.

Air left my lungs so hard it hurt. “You fucking idiot.”

Taryn narrowed her eyes. “Excuse me?”

“You could’ve been bitten!”

“So could you, if I hadn’t saved your ass!”

“That’s different.” I sat up and wiped the blood from my face.

Her expression became confused. “How?”

Before I could answer, Harper screamed.

Finley stood frozen beside the stall, staring at her. “No,” he whispered in a voice filled with grief.

Harper fought Beck and Adrian with everything she had.

Finley moved closer. “Harper?”

Her head snapped toward him with no recognition, just a hunger for his flesh.

Then Rory started crying again. “Mommy?”

Harper stopped, and the barn fell silent except for the rain. Her eyes found Rory, and something flickered across her face. Not enough to make her human again, but a recognition of her child. Her mouth trembled, and her body went rigid in Beck’s grip.

Finley took one careful step toward her. “Baby?”

A lone tear slid down her cheek, and my stomach dropped. She was still in there. Some part of her recognized her baby and the man who loved her.

Rory tried to move closer, but Wren caught her around the waist. “No, child.”

“But she knows me,” Rory cried as she struggled against her hold.

Harper made a broken sound, then her lips moved. At first, nothing legible came out. Then one word. “Run.”

Rory sobbed as Harper lunged.

Beck barely got her turned before her teeth snapped at empty air.

Finley staggered backward as if she’d struck him. “It slowed it.”

Adrian looked at him. “What?”

“The treatment.” Finley’s voice cracked. “It slowed the neurological progression.”

“This is not the fucking time,” Beck growled, struggling with Harper.

But Finley wasn’t listening. “She still has consciousness.”

Lightning split the sky, and thunder hit almost immediately.

Something crashed against the barn, and everyone froze except Harper.