Chapter 24 · Marked Registry - Chapter 24: Don't Let Her Die

Mia wasn't breathing.

Ella pressed her palms against Mia's chest and pushed. Once. Twice. The ribs gave under her hands and she didn't care. Behind her something was screaming—alarms, voices, boots on concrete—but all of it sounded like it was happening three floors away.

"Ella." Cain's voice, rough. "We need to go."

"Shut up." She kept going. Fifteen compressions. Tilt the head. Breathe. Mia's lips were cold. Ella pulled back and started again. Blood smeared across Mia's shirt. Not hers. Cain's, maybe. Ella's hands were shaking and wet.

"She's gone," Cain said.

"She's not."

"Look at her arm."

Ella didn't want to look. She looked anyway. The registry mark on Mia's forearm—the black crescent that had glowed red under the extractor's light five minutes ago—was ash gray now. Fading. The edges blurred like old ink.

"It dies with the host," Cain said. He was standing two feet away, one hand pressed against his side. Blood seeped between his fingers. His face was pale, jaw tight. "The mark dies when the wolf does. That's why they needed her alive."

Ella's hands hovered over Mia's chest. Her best friend's face was slack. No tension. No pain.