Asterin’s hand stayed half raised toward me, suspended in the air as if the world itself held its breath. His fingers were long and impossibly smooth, carved with thin silver runes that pulsed in rhythm with my mark like we were two pieces of the same malfunctioning machine.
The glow from his fingertips matched the glow crawling beneath my skin.
My mark throbbed as if trying to answer him.
I hated that.
Nathan did not wait for explanations. He shifted halfway before my next breath finished, claws out, fangs lengthening, every inch of him coiled like a spring ready to launch. The sound he made was not human. It tore from his chest like the growl of a furious animal who had just seen someone reach for its mate.
He planted himself in front of me so fast I barely saw the movement.
I grab
