Page 51 of Stone Temptation

“You shouldn’t be here.” The mark had to be made, a nick to his skin to take him under my wings for round the clock protection.

The tips of my fingernails itched, ready to act.

“Please… I… I…”

Mark him…

I moved forward, the desire to claim him irresistible.

He stepped back. “Please don’t hurt me.”

Mark him

Mark him.

Mark him.

The compulsion overwhelmed me, forcing me into a charge. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. I cut the side of his neck. Blood beaded to the surface, his hand slamming over it.

I released a long breath.

I’d done it. I’d marked a human.

“What… What did you just do?” he managed to say, his voice raspy from fear.

I backed off, plotting my next move. This human was a sneaky shit, somehow breaking into this office and safe. A slippery eel for that fur-swaddled fucker downstairs.

“Ever heard of the gargoyle marks?” I asked.

He swallowed, throat doing the heavy bob again. “From years ago?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought…I thought that wasn’t a thing anymore.”

“Until now.” He seemed so…delicate.

“Does that mean… What does it mean?”

“You’re someone or something’s target. Consider me your bodyguard.” It felt right to say it out loud. Right and confusing. None of this made any sense.

He backed off a tad. “How is that possible?”

“Hoping you can tell me. But let’s start with why you’re in here.”

Luke went to speak, cut off by a mighty roar outside.

A roar I’d not heard since my first day on Earth.

No. It couldn’t be. The motes hadn’t made one of those in a long, long time. Not since that morning in the Thames estuary.

The scar across my left eye throbbed in memory of the close call.

Shit.

I ran to the window, confirming my suspicions.

“Bollocks.”