Page 21 of Moonmarked

Because I heard the muttering of the women coming closer, and I knew they were the sorcerers—and I would rather die by being thrown off a cliff a million times than to be left in their hands. To be caged and used for magic—fuck that.

I wasthankfulfor that dog and the death she’d give me now.

It couldn’t be long, considering all the pain I felt. I’d die of internal bleeding possibly within the next few minutes, and I was thankful for that, too.

Then someone stopped right next to my right side.

My eyes opened on instinct—couldn’t help it if I tried. Worn leather boots and black fabric—and the sorcerer fell on one knee.

Eurith’s face took over my vision and held my heart hostage for a long beat. I couldn’t even breathe. My lungs refused to expand as I watched her reach those claw-tipped fingers for my hand that was right in front of my face. She grabbed me by the wrist and pushed me to the side hard.

A scream ripped out of me—my God, it hurt. It hurt so much, stars exploded in my vision. It took me a few blinks to clear them, to look up, to see the blue sky—and the two sorcerers towering over me on either side. Eurith on the left, the brown-haired one on the right.

They both looked pissed off.

“Infected,”Eurith spit, and my stomach twisted something awful. I couldn’t move, couldn’t think straight, andmy instincts demanded I get the hell up and run right now. But the best I could do was breathe and blink.

“Are you sure?” said the other, turning her head to the side as she looked down at my body like she was searching for something.

“Yes, yes, I’m sure—the werewolf put those nasty claws in her—look for yourself!” Eurith exploded.

The other squatted down to my side the next moment, grabbed my right hand and pushed the sleeve of the jacket up.

The pain was unbearable. My eyes rolled in my skull and I probably passed out for a moment, but when I came to, I could still see.

I could see the four long cuts on the inside of my forearm oozing blood where the dog had scratched me when she pushed me off the cliff.

The…thewerewolf.

White noise in my head.

The sorcererthrewmy arm against the ground as if it were something dirty, filthy, rotten.Infected,just like Eurith said. I saw them speaking, saw their lips moving as they argued with one another, but I couldn’t hear a single word for a while.

Werewolf.The dog wasn’t a dog—it was a werewolf. And I’d fed it, had given it water, had let it out of a fucking cage.

“Enough, ladies.”

The voice of the third sorcerer, the one with the corset, chased away the thoughts in my head. I blinked the darkness away to find her standing by my feet, both hands on her tiny waist as she looked down at me and shook her head.

None of them were smiling anymore.

“She scratched her,” Eurith said. “Look, look, she?—”

“Yes, I see it,” the other cut her off. “It is what it is. The werewolf’s dead. That wound is already too old for healing. This piece of meat will be dead in minute. I think it’s time for some cold brew.”

With that, she turned around and walked way.

My heart pounded. The sorcerers looked down at me for a second longer before they squatted to my sides again. Looked at the scratches on my arm.

Tears slipped silently from the corners of my eyes.

“Do you think it’s worth carrying her to try a potion? Maybe the infection hasn’t spread,” said Eurith.

“It’s been an hour, if not more. Ithasspread, sister. There’s no saving her now.” The other seemed pissed off and sad as she said this, then licked her index finger and brought it just over the wounds on my arm.Growled.“No. No saving her now.”

Eurith began to speak in a language I didn’t understand, but it sounded a lot like she was cursing.

“Unless…”

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