Page 164 of Burning Embers
He traces a mark on his own skin, and I lean in closer to see it.
It’s not the flame I have on my arm, but it is the zigzagging line.
“I don’t understand,” I whisper, hovering my finger over the puckered skin.
“It’s a mark. A mate mark.” His eyes ensnare my own, and I get lost in them. Lost in him.
“A mate mark?”
“It means you’re mine, little human.” His eyes flare red with possessiveness and heat. “It means you belong to the wolves.”
Fifty-Five
GRAYSON
Idon’t know why I assumed that the “cell” they’d put me in would be anything but a prison. Maybe because the Council chamber was cozy and comfortable, exuding an aura of homeliness.
Instead, I found myself moderately surprised when they shoved me into a dank, ten-by-ten cell with steel bars, a smelly cot, and a single toilet pressed against the wall.
It’s only been half a day, but it’s half a day too long.
I need to be with Izzy. My Gracie.
Hearing that asshole threaten her…
Rage pulsates through me, and the only thing capable of calming my internal turmoil is knowing she’s safe. Alive.
I didn’t know if she would find her birthday present, but I hoped she would. With it, I’ll always be able to know where she is, and I can feel her heartbeat pound as if it’s my own.
I close my eyes and rest my head against the wall as I allow my thoughts to drift.
Everything I’ve done has been to protect the woman I love. When the Hunters came to me a year prior and demanded Iwork with them, I initially refused. I’m a lot of things—most of them psychotic—but I don’t hurt people who don’t deserve it.
But then they threatened the one thing in the world I give a damn about.
Izzy.
My job was supposed to be simple. Date Sydney. Get information. Send the information back to my contact. No one was supposed to get hurt.
Those girls…
Guilt threatens to swallow me whole, eating away at me like moths devouring a blanket. Yet, beneath the guilt is something akin to resolve.
If I didn’t do what they said, what would’ve happened to Izzy? Would she be one of the bodies in the morgue?
I’ll kill the entire goddamn world if it means keeping her safe and alive. Maybe that makes me a psychopath, but I don’t care. Izzy is the only thing that matters.
Where is she now?
What is she thinking about?
I reach for the crystal hanging around my neck and give it a squeeze.
It cost a pretty penny, but I was able to hire a witch to create these necklaces for me. With my blood inside each of them, I’m able to feel Izzy in a way that defies logic. Right now, I get a vague sense of her location—the school—and I can feel her heartbeat through the crystal. It’s slightly erratic, but that doesn’t surprise me. She’s probably terrified and confused.
I should’ve told her everything when I had the chance.
That monsters roam this world and I’m one of them.