Page 79

Rhett looks pointedly at the blood running down his side. “Obviously.”

Something shifts in Malakai’s expression. “That’s not good,” I stare at him. “You have a fascinating way of making everything worse.”

He ignores me, his attention fixed on Rhett’s injury. Then some of the tension leaves his shoulder. “His blood doesn’t matter.”

Ezra’s eyes immediately shift toward me.

I catch it. And suddenly, I’m not thinking about Rhett anymore.

His blood doesn’t matter.

Mine does.

A cold knot forms in my stomach. I don’t like that… at all.

“Why does my blood matter?”

Silence.

A short, humorless laugh escapes me. “Answer me.”

“Sage,” Ezra warns.

“No.” I step closer. “Why did everything go insane the second my nose started bleeding?”

No one answers.

Again.

Mariah looks between us, confusion slowly replacing the panic on her face. “Wait.”

She points at Ezra. “Who the fuck are these people?”

I throw up my hands. “Excellent fucking question.”

Rhett raises his hand like we’re in a classroom.

“Rhett.”

Mariah stares at him.

“This is not the time.” I tell him.

“I thought introductions might help.” He laughs.

“They don’t.”

Ali wipes beneath her eyes before looking from Malakai to Ezra and finally back to me. “Do you know them?”

“I met them tonight.”

Mariah’s eyebrows shoot up. Then her gaze lands on Malakai. “Oh.”

I know that oh.

My stomach sinks for an entirely different reason. “Don’t.”

Her eyes widen innocently. “I didn’t say anything.”