Page 73 of Marked

Twenty-three

Istare down at my friend as she falls to the floor, blood gushing out from the gaping slit across her throat. A high-pitched whine escapes my throat even as the rest of my mind shuts down with denial. Still, I reach for her, but I’m stopped by a hard grip on my arm.

Fury and pain consume me as I meet Seth’s mocking expression. “I’m a very jealous god, Val. I had to eliminate my competition for your affection.”

Without hesitation or regard for the possible repercussion of my actions, I swing my fist with full force into the god’s throat. I feel a satisfying crunch against my knuckles before he stumbles back from me. As soon as there’s distance between us, Jack tackles him. He slams Seth’s head into the tiled floor with a savage snarl.

It all happens in the blink of an eye, but it still feels like it takes too long for me to finally drop down next to Taylor. I quickly cover her neck with my hands, trying to staunch the flow of blood pouring from her neck.

“I’m here,” I whisper, as if the volume of my voice will do more damage to her battered body.

“V-Val,” she chokes on my name, a splatter of blood spilling across her lips.

“Shh, don’t talk.” I’m only aware of the tears rolling down my cheeks when they splash onto hers. “Just stay with me, Taylor. It’ll be okay. You’re going to be fine.” I repeat these promises to her over and over, praying to whatever god will listen that I don’t break them.

I can hear snarls and grunts as Seth and Jack fight, their auras rising and filling the small kitchen as they try to overpower each other. I try to ignore it and drown out the familiar sound of flesh hitting flesh so I can focus on the sound of Tay’s breathing.

“No, no, no!” I cry when her eyes begin to flutter shut. I want to shake her, but I’m scared to hurt her more. “Don’t you fucking dare close your eyes, Taylor! You’re not giving up on me, do you understand me?!” Her eyes snap back open at my panicked shouting but take a second to focus on me. “You can sleep all you want later, okay? But not now. I need you to stay with me.”

I flinch when there’s a loud bang followed by the cracking wood of a cabinet. When I hear the screech of metal scraping against tile followed by a hollow thud, I tear my eyes away from Taylor’s and glance over my shoulder to make sure Jack is okay. Jack is straddling Seth’s body with the knife sticking out of his side. Jack pulls it out without a second thought and jabs it down into Seth’s shoulder. Seth snarls and bucks his hips, throwing Jack off him. I watch as he yanks the blade free before jumping to his feet. Jack is already standing again, hands raised and poised to fight.

“You’re coming back with me, Shezmu,” Jack states in a low growl.

The blonde god glares back at him defiantly. “You’ll have to drag me there,” he sneers.

Jack lifts a brow at him. “You say that as if it’ll be a problem.”

“I’m going to enjoy beating you, Guardian,” Seth hisses.

He’s oblivious to the swirl of black shadows materializing behind him, but my tingling pawprint tells me all I need to know. I hold my breath as three sets of gleaming red eyes appear from the mist. Before Seth can turn around, an arm wraps around his neck in a chokehold.

“Cerberus,” I breathe in a mix of relief and awe as the other two triplets appear on either side of Seth, caging him in. When Taylor makes a gurgling sound, I snap my attention back to her and shake my head at her wide, questioning eyes. “I’ll explain everything later. Her lips part as if she’s going to speak, but I gently shush her. “Don’t waste your strength talking. I’ll tell you every secret I have after this, I promise.”

“Give him to me,” Jack’s deep voice commands.

“We think not,” Cerberus says, the three voices an echo of each other. “This is our mark, after all.”

“Mark?” Seth chokes out indignantly. “What are you talking about? You can’t interfere with other factions, you fool!”

I can’t help it; I look over my shoulder again as Cerberus responds. “Normally, yes. However, you have been marked by one of my hounds and thus you are mine.”

Seth’s protest sputters to a stop when he finally sees me glaring hatefully at him. “You?!” he spits in disbelief. “You’re a hellhound?!”

“Indeed, she is. One of my favorites,” the triplet behind Seth comments, arm tightening around his prisoner’s neck.

“You knew this would happen.” Seth’s face blooms red with anger as he continues to stare at me as if I’m the one who did him wrong. He begins thrashing against Cerberus, clawing at the arm at his neck in a futile attempt to get to me. “I will fucking kill you, Val. Do you hear me? I will utterly destroy you. I will—”

Jack’s fist slams into Seth’s face before he can finish his threat. The nose shatters, causing blood to drip down Seth’s chin. “You won’t ever touch her again,” he snarls low, grey eyes glowing with his rage. He shoves aside a triplet when he tries to stop him and grabs Seth’s face, thumb and fingers digging into the cheeks. “Because if by some small chance you do, you’ll be begging to be fed to Ammit in order to end your suffering. And you will suffer tenfold for everything you did to Valkyrie.”

My heart flutters at that. The backstabbing bitch.

The two triplets not holding Seth swing at Jack simultaneously, forcing him to release Seth and jump back to dodge the attack.

“He’ll already be busy begging us for mercy,” one of the triplets says, clasping his hands behind his back as they flank Seth once again.

“You can’t have him,” Jack growls.

A triplet smacks Jack’s hand away when he steps forward to grab Seth’s arm. “He has been marked by my hound in the living world fair and square. He’s ours.”

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