Page 66 of Wanted

Caden gives Ambrose a little shove, saving me the need to answer him. “It doesn’t matter if she hurts. She’s injured and needs to be fixed.”

Ambrose’s attention zeroes in on Andrei. “Fix her,” he hisses.

Andrei flashes his fangs at Ambrose, then turns to his black bag and snaps it open. Grabbing out a few things, he turns back to me.

“I’m going to pull the shard of wood out. I’m sorry if it hurts,” he says, setting all the stuff he pulled out in his lap.

I nod, ready to get this over with.

Andrei bends over my hip and it seems like only a split-second passes before he straightens with the shard of wood pinched between his fingers.

Caden gags. “Fuck, that smells terrible.”

Ambrose snarls at Caden.

Chloe lifts her hand and presses it over her face.

Mortification fills me and my eyes burn with tears. I can’t smell what they smell, but their reactions alone fill me with shame.

“Yes,” Andrei says very slowly. “But she doesn’t smell exactly like Isaac. There’s something different to her scent.”

Wrapping the shard of wood up in a tissue, he sets it to the side.

Then he does the unthinkable. He bends over my hip again and takes a deep, audible breath in.

“There’s something else to it…” he says thoughtfully after a few seconds. “Something I can’t quite place yet.”

Sitting back up, he grabs a long, white swab out of his lap. “Do you mind if I take a sample?”

I wave my hand at him and choke out, “By all means.”

Andrei pauses and tilts his head slightly to the side. “Did I hurt you when I removed the shard?”

I shake my head. I didn’t feel a thing.

He frowns. “Is it the smell that’s bothering you?”

“No.” I frown right back at him.

His thick brows furrow together. “Then why do you look like you’re about to cry?”

“Because you’re saying she stinks, you clueless jerks!” Chloe cries out in my defense.

“Oh,” Andrei says, and at least has the decency to look ashamed.

“Don’t worry, little sister,” Ambrose sing-songs. “Your fragrance doesn’t bother me at all.”

Before Caden can add his piece, I plead, “Can you please clean me up so I can leave?”

Everyone does that thing where they seem to freeze in time, becoming utterly motionless.

Again, I feel like I should be freaked out, and not being freaked out is starting to piss me off.

Chloe is the first to move, walking slowly back over to us. “You can’t leave, Alena.”

Tipping my head back to look up at her, I ask, “Why not?”

“Because you’re Raphael’s soulmarked,” Caden answers.

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