Page 73 of Marked

He nodded again. His pink tongue lolled out of his mouth, and he started prancing back and forth, shaking his head tomake his tongue flop back and forth. An obvious attempt to get me to laugh.

It worked—sort of. Something that sounded like a mix of a chuckle and a sob burst out of my mouth. The wolf sat again and stared at me. The eyes were nothing like Nate’s, yet I could almost seehimin there. Hesitating only slightly, I lifted my hand, palm out, toward him.

The wolf—Nate—stood and padded over, pressing his head into my hand. Soft fur, thick and warm on my fingers, drew a real laugh from my lips. How could this be happening? Was I dreaming? A small sliver of my mind tried to convince me that I was still at the gala, that I’d chugged too much champagne and passed out on a chair in the corner. That this was all a weird fever dream.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t a dream. It was real. The silky fur beneath my fingers told me everything I needed to know about reality.

“What’s two plus two?” I asked.

The wolf tilted its head to the side, much like a confused dog would. Their version ofWhat the hell did you just say?Raising its paw, it tapped on the concrete floor four times, then sat down.

“Holy shit,” I said. “It reallyisyou.”

I didn’t think dogs or wolves could roll their eyes, but this one did as close of an approximation as I’d ever seen. That was definitely Nate in there.

That meant… oh, God, that meant what he said earlier was true. I was evolving into this. I was one of them. If I let myself believe that what I’d seen had really happened, then I was going to become one of these things. What were they even called? Werewolves? Skinwalkers? Maybe all those old legends were based on creatures like Nate?

“The man who attacked me? He was like you?” I asked.

Another nod from the wolf.

So some psycho wolf/human hybrid had bitten me, and now I’d turn into some mystical creature? It always looked pretty cool in the movies, but would the reality of it be? Were you more wolf than human?

Wolves ran in packs and needed companionship. That much I knew from school and nature documentaries. Could that be why I felt strange around Nate? Since meeting him, I’d had a strange desire to be near him. Most of those desires had been carnal in nature, sure, but I also felt bizarrely safe when I was around him. Maybe that was some effect of this spell or curse or whatever.

Running my fingers deeper into his fur, I allowed myself a few seconds to enjoy the moment. Nate’s eyes closed in pleasure as I rubbed and scratched his back and chest. The smile died on my lips. If I was right, did that mean the feelings I was starting to acknowledge for Nate weren’t real? Just some biological process pushing me toward one of my kind?

“Get away from her!”

The bellow of rage made me jump. Rick ran across the room, panicked anger in his eyes. He looked psychotic, lips peeled back, nostrils flared, hair messy and falling across his eyes. He was waving something wildly through the air, so fast that I couldn’t quite make out what it was.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded. “How did you find me?”

Bang.

I screamed, slapping my hands over my ears. Rick was holding a gun. Turning, I found a divot in the floor where the bullet had struck, only a few inches from where Nate had been standing. His wolf had backed away, glaring at Rick from behind a squat rack.

“Get your mangy fucking ass away from her, you piece of shit!” Rick spat, aiming the gun in Nate’s direction.

“Stop, Rick!” I shouted. “It’s not a wild wolf. It’s okay, it’s… it’s tame.”

“He knows that.”

The sound of Nate’s human voice made me flinch again. I glanced over my shoulder. Nate had transformed back to normal, fully clothed and human as though nothing had happened. He still stood by the squat rack, his gaze pinned on Rick.

I snapped my head around, expecting to see shock on Rick’s face, but instead, there was only hatred. No surprise, no horror—none of what I’d experienced. He looked like he’d just watched someone change a tire. As though seeing a wolf transform into a human was some trivial thing unworthy of comment.

“Do you want to tell her? Or should I?” Nate asked.

“Tell me what, Rick? What’s he talking about? And put down the fucking gun,” I said, swatting his hand away.

The gun didn’t tumble to the floor, but he lowered it, keeping his finger on the trigger.

“Yeah,Ricky,” Nate said. “Tell her what I’m talking about.”

Rick was practically vibrating with rage as he stared at Nate, his lips pressed into a thin line. As I glanced from his angry face to Nate’s cocky knowing smile, a puzzle piece seemed to slide into place. There was only one reason Rick wouldn’t have been surprised to see Nate transform.

“You’re one of them? Like Nate?” I asked Rick in a shaky voice.

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