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“I know you don’t want to see her like that. I don’t want to fucking see her like that, but someone has to stay with her.” Narrowing my eyes, I nodded towards where Doc was watching our exchange with rapt attention. “Unless you want her to be alone with Doc.”

At those words, his resolve strengthened, and he scrambled to his feet. Doc muttered something about “taking offense to that” behind me. Without another word, Tamson strode past me and slammed the door shut.

I winced at the sound.

Alone for the first time I could remember, I wandered aimlessly into the bathroom. Since the acid rain fiasco, we hadn’t been able to use the stream to clean ourselves up. Instead, Asher had brought numerous packages of water bottles. I didn’t like wasting such a precious resource, but the blood staining my hands felt just as acidic as the rain. I needed it off of me.

My tired eyes took stock of my reflection in the mirror.

Blood coated my black shirt and pasty skin. It had even found its way into my onyx black hair. I looked as if I had been through a war zone. How was I still standing?

How was I still breathing?

I was a soldier out on a battlefield with no purpose. No leader. No reason for fighting.

Sarge had abandoned us in our time of need. The man with all the answers, all the strength, had ran with only a vague note explaining why and that he had a radio with him for quick contact.

Declan, my brother, had left us.

Everyone was fucking leaving us. Leaving me.

With more vigor than I intended, I pulled off the cap of a water bottle and dumped it on my head. The water was warm from being inside for so long, and it did little to lessen the blood on my skin. Instead, it merely turned the color pink. For some reason, I found that hysterical.

Fucking pink blood.

Addie would have a field day with that.

I conjured up images of her perfect, heart-shaped face. That fire in her eyes I had come to both fear and love. The brown tresses that were just as soft as they appeared. The tenderness in her face when she told me that she loved me.Me. A beast. A monster.

My laughter contorted into heart-wrenching sobs. I gripped the sink until my knuckles turned white.

I couldn’t lose her.

Not again.

I had thought I had lost her once, and that pain had been unbearable. Now, I knew that she loved me. I knew what it felt like to be with her, to be loved by her, to taste her. She was a drug, and I was an addict.

Losing her would be the death of me. I wouldn’t be able to survive such a fatal wound.

I had lost everything and everyone in my life. I couldn’t lose her as well.

My body sunk to the ground, my legs unable to support my weight.

For the first time I could remember, I cried.

I cried for the little boy who had lost his innocence. I cried for the family I never had. I cried for the girl I loved and lost.

It didn’t completely diminish the pain I felt.

But it helped.

* * *

Ryder

“They’ll be fine,” Asher said easily, the katana sword cleanly slicing through flesh and bone. The Rager fell at his feet, a collection of sinewy, pale skin and black veins. He offered me a timid smile while simultaneously wiping the blood off on his jeans.

The blood of Ragers was not like normal blood. It wasn’t red like you would expect, but instead a strange black color like molten onyx stone. It was as thick as tar and smelled something fierce.

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