Chapter 23 · Hunter Blood

The pain hits like a flashbang going off inside my skull.

I'm on my knees before I realize I've fallen. The concrete's cold and wet under my palms. Blood mark's not just breaking anymore—it's burning through my skin like acid, peeling back layers I didn't know I had. I can smell everything. The rust on the warehouse beams. The oil stains soaking into the floor. Viktor's cologne, expensive and wrong. Ethan's sweat, sharp with panic.

And under all of it, blood. So much blood.

"Charlotte." Ethan's voice sounds far away even though he's right next to me. His hand's on my shoulder but I can't feel it through the fire crawling up my arm. "Look at me. Stay with me."

I try. I really do. But when I lift my head, everything's too bright. Too sharp. His face comes into focus and I see things I've never seen before. The way his pupils contract. The pulse jumping in his throat. The silver threading through his irbs that wasn't there a second ago.

He smells wrong.

No. He smells right. That's the problem.

He smells like something I need to kill.

"There it is.