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Already, I could feel the threads of fate fraying. Glancing down, I noticed black spreading up Maddox’s bent leg. The white wolf had bitten him. Some sort of infection ran up his leg, spreading quickly.
This venture had turned into a mess. I never thought I would run into the murderer here. I’d assumed that we’d left him in Syracuse. The same had gone for Maddox, yet he’d been able to catch up to us, too. I didn’t understand how either had reached us, but now wasn’t the time for thought.
I hoisted Maddox into the back of the Jeep and ran around to the front seat. Before I could get behind the wheel, Vi snatched up her keys. I paused to argue with her, but her eyes had gone back to normal. Away from the wolf’s lair, Vi had returned to her normal self.
I didn’t argue. Instead, I gave her a nod and hopped into the passenger seat. Ness, who’d been prowling at the edge of the woods, leapt in last. Maddox rose to his feet. She flanked him and helped him stand so that they could both keep a lookout as we drove away.
* * *
Maddox groaned.Back in his human form, he fell back onto the couch and covered his eyes with his forearm. While I was relieved to have him back, I couldn’t help but bite the inside of my cheek nervously as I took in his forearm.
The black veins reminded me of the ghosts and the voids over their hearts.
Though he wanted to get his SUV and go home, he’d been waylaid by Ness. She’d grabbed his arm and told him to wait. The Pack witch was on her way to take a look at the infection. Bianca wasn’t cheap. Though she worked for the pack to make up for her past mistakes, I knew Ryder was paying her an arm and a leg.
This was the benefit of being Pack, though. Not only were there others to look out for you and watch your back, but they had resources that could do more than any of us could do on our own.
I’d stubbornly spent an hour trying to figure out what was going on with Maddox’s arm by myself, but he’d fought me the whole time. Whenever I reached out to touch him, he jerked away from me. The way he looked at me, I felt like I’d killed his entire family.
It was like we were back at the beginning all over again.
Feeling bold, I lifted my chin. I grabbed Maddox by the front of his shirt and yanked him off the couch. My hiker strength paid off again, much to my surprise. He complained as I dragged him upstairs where we could talk in private.
My bedroom was silent, something I wasn’t used to. Potato bolted into the room before I could shut the door and lock it. She bounded onto the bed and sat, quiet, watching us with curious eyes.
I sucked in a deep breath and spun on Maddox. “Spill. What did I do this time?”
He gaped at me, but the expression didn’t linger for long. Exhaustion won out. His features fell, lids drooping over his dark eyes. He pressed a hand to his chest as his gaze turned distant.
The black veins on his arms slithered. They reached further before pulling back.
“It’s not spreading,” I said, momentarily distracted as I reached for his arm.
Maddox jerked back. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t have what it wants.”
Before I could ask more, a door opened downstairs. It slammed shut, nearly drowning out Bianca’s voice as she asked if we were ready.
“Not yet! Give me a moment!” I called down.
Maddox glared at me, like I’d lost my mind. We still needed to talk. I wasn’t going to let this man keep treating me like I’d ripped his soul out or something.
Maddox sighed, deeply. When he met my gaze, his eyes were dark and cold. “I don’t have a soul.”
Taken aback, I blinked. The information took a solid thirty seconds to process. At first, I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right.
“What do you mean? How do you even know?” I didn’t mean to be rude, but the questions tumbled out of me one after another.
Maddox raised his arm to show the infection. “It can’t spread because I don’t have what it wants. Earlier, it tried to reach for my soul, but there was nothing for it to latch onto.”
I lifted my hand to touch Maddox’s arm, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I somehow felt like this was my fault. While I hadn’t intentionally taken Maddox’s soul, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d done it accidentally. I had a long history of wayward arcana.
Jerking my hand back, I clutched it to my chest and whispered a soft apology.
Maddox’s eyes flashed with the light of his beast right before he pulled me into his chest. He hugged me tight, much to my surprise. He cradled the back of my head and spoke into my hair.
“I don’t think you did anything on purpose.”
Ah, that meant he thought I did have something to do with it. Maybe he didn’t blame me, but he did suspect me. His confession poked a hole in me. I deflated like a children’s balloon. Only his arms kept me from careening around the room in a panic.
