Page 78 of Marked By Night

“Reed!” I cry out.

A hand to my chest stops me short of reaching him.

“What the fuck?” I snarl, startling Dante with the ferocity of my tone.

“You know him?” he questions, looking between the two of us like he can’t quite believe what’s happening right now. Me neither asshole.

“We met at my work a few nights ago before I was fired, and he protected me from a man who tried to lay his hands on me. Not that I needed the extra help, but it was nice.”

Dante and Kaos share a loaded look over my head.

“Sadie,” Reed whispers, moments before his eyes roll to the back of his head and he passes out. Likely from all the pain.

What the hell happened to him?

All those injuries didn’t come from falling through a roof.

I try to escape Dante’s hold to make sure he’s still breathing, but he doesn’t let up. Instead, Kaos grabs me by the forearm and hauls me back inside the mansion. Dante follows closely behind, blocking me in.

My jaw clenches. “What are you doing? We need to help him. We need to figure out why he’s here and what happened to him,” I say feeling an overwhelming tug in my chest for my starry-eyed stranger.

Kaos’s head whips around, his eyes hardening as he closes the gap between us, leaning so close that our breath mingles together. “You realize who that is, who heis, don’t you?”

I shrug, trying not to let Kaos’s nearness affect me but it’s hard. This man is magnetizing. I lean in a little closer until his lips are almost on mine.

“All I know is his name is Reed and he protected me, even when he didn’t have to.” I pull back slightly to get my bearings again, but Dante doesn’t let me get far, pressing his lithe body into my back.

Damn these alphaholes.

“Reed is the future leader of the Light Weavers, Sadie. He’s the heir we’ve been talking about.” Kaos drops that fucking bomb into the air and watches it explode. And by that, I mean my head explodes.

Well, not literally, but my mind is blown.

“Say what?” I ask, reaching up to rub the smooth metal of my necklace. I let the feeling of the metal wash over me.

“He’s the future leader of the Light Weavers,” Kaos repeats, running a hand through those inky black locks of his. “He is who we had our pact with.”

Then it clicks in my brain. Reed is who they have their pact with and we’re still not sure if he broke it because Elian couldn’t get a hold of him. Shit.

But for some reason, I can’t shake the feeling that Reed isn’t here to hurt us—or me rather. He had plenty of opportunities after we left Harborview, or even at the restaurant. Hell, he could’ve let the meathead beat me to a pulp, but he didn’t. He protected me and gave me a huge tip.

His thoughtfulness must count for something, right?

Then again, he didn’t know who I was at the time. No one did.

Elian pops out of the shadows in the entryway, tainting the air with his heavy aura. Luckily, I’ve learned to recognize his presence, or else he’d be getting an elbow to the face.

His green eyes waver as he takes in the scene on the porch. Though he doesn’t show any outward expression, I see it, the moment his eyes harden. He may be a frosty asshole on the outside, but his eyes give him away. Much like my own do.

“Well, well. Look what the Sun God dropped into our laps,” he says, stalking toward Reed.

Finally, Dante and Kaos release me and we follow Elian onto the porch as he leans down, checking for a pulse with his long-inked fingers.

“Alive,” he states clinically.

My breath escapes me in a rush.

“Looks like he has internal injuries too. Dante, help me take him to the spare bedroom. Kaos, I want you to heal him enough that he lives, but not enough that he can attack us. We need answers,” he says, slipping into the leadership role. I can see why, truly, but I don’t like it. Every part of me wants to rebel against his orders. More so than the others.

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