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She shook her head. “No. Shifters don’t get fevers.”
“She’s fine.” Kingston wrapped one large arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side. “She just needs her mate to warm her.”
My brows snapped together. I’d known he was her mate, of course. But last time we’d spoken, she’d rejected the bond they were supposed to share. So what had changed between now and then? She didn’t deny his words, nor was she trying to pull away. But she wasn’t happy about his possessive claim, either.
“Sunny?”
“It’s fine, Alek.”
“Balder’s foreskin, Sunday. If you tell me it’s fine one more time, I’m going to pick you up and carry you out of here. You are clearly not fine. Stop lying to me. I thought...” I shook my head, hating that she was pushing me away. Locking me out. I had no claim on her, but we were friends, at the very least. I deserved to be treated as more than an annoying, clingy little boy.
Sunday gaped at me, biting down on her lower lip and shaking her head.
“Yeah,Alek. It’s fine.” Kingston began running his fingers over her collar, leaning closer and inhaling her scent. “Fuck, you smell better today than you did yesterday.”
My chest rumbled, darkness clouding my vision. How had he wormed his way into her circle without me noticing? Was this why she’d been avoiding me? And then, the fucker tugged her collar away and exposed the skin at the juncture of her throat and shoulder. A deep purple bruise marred her perfect flesh. He nuzzled her hair as his fingers played across the mark, across the undeniablebite mark.
I stood so fast I shoved the pew in front of us forward. The students seated there let out shocked cries and managed to bring their legs up in time to avoid being crushed.
“Nordson!” Father Gallagher shouted. “What the devil is this?”
“Class is over,” I growled.
“Not until I dismiss you lot.”
I stared him down. “Well?”
“Dismissed.”
After casting a few worried glances between a smirking shifter, annoyed priest, and enraged me, the rest of the class scattered.
“What the hell is going on?” Father Gallagher demanded.
I pointed a shaking finger at Kingston, knowing that my control was slipping. I hadn’t felt this angry... this unhinged... ever. If I didn’t spill the fucker’s blood—soon—I was going to lose it completely.
“He forced his mating mark on her. He fucking raped her.”
The wood of the pew Father Gallagher had his hands on groaned under his grip.
“What?” Sunday said, her eyes going wide. “Alek, no—”
“Look at her. She’s shaking. He’s forcing her to be with him.” I reached over and tugged her shirt to the side, exposing the ugly bruise. “Look at what he did to her. Tell me that’s what a mating mark is supposed to look like. Because to my eyes, that’s not something one gives their lover. That’s something a rapist leaves on their victim.”
Before I’d finished speaking, Father Gallagher blurred, taking Kingston by the throat and shoving him up against the wall. Stone dust danced through the air from the force of the impact. The priest’s voice was ice-cold and filled with menace as he snarled, “If you touched her against her will, there is nothing in heaven or hell that will keep me from exacting a swift and deadly punishment upon you, Kingston Farrell.”
“Not if I get to him first,” I said, my own voice pulsing with rage.
“Um... as much as I’m really enjoying this caveman moment, Kingston didn’t force me. My wolf asked for it.”
“Youasked for it,” Kingston said. “In fact, I remember the wordsplease, don’t stop,andyescoming from your lips more than once.”
Crimson stained Sunday’s cheeks as she glared at him from her place beside me. “So what if I did. It was the heat of the moment. I already told you, my wolf took over. I wasn’t exactly in control of myself.”
Kingston jerked in the priest’s hold, trying to shove him off. Sunday’s denial, more than any of our threats, had gotten beneath his skin.
“Don’t you fucking dare start that shit again, Sunshine. I was there. I know exactly what happened. Stop denying your part in it.”
She stood, swaying on her feet a little before gaining her balance. “I need to go. I don’t feel well, and you three are just making it worse.”
