I must have dozed off in the uncomfortable plastic chair sometime around three in the morning, because the next thing I knew, someone was squeezing my hand and saying my name in a voice that sounded like they’d been gargling sandpaper for hours.“Lily? Lily, wake up.”I opened my eyes to find Naomi staring at me with a confused, disoriented expression. Her face was still pale as paper, but all the signs of those horrible black veins that had been spreading across her skin were completely gone, and her eyes looked clear and alert instead of that terrifying blank stare she’d had in the coffee shop.“Oh thank god, you’re awake,” I said, sitting up so fast that my neck cracked from sleeping at such an awkward angle. “How do you feel? Are you in pain? Do you remember what happened to us?”Naomi was quiet for a long moment, staring at the ceiling tiles.“I remember everything,” she said finally,. “The coffee shop, Jonathan attacking you, me jumping between you two like some kind of idiot. B
I was thinking frantically, trying to remember everything I’d learned about toxins and venoms and how they moved through the human circulatory system. The way the black veins were spreading suggested that whatever was in Naomi’s system was being carried by her blood, which meant it was contaminating her entire cardiovascular system“It’s acting like a hemotoxin,” I said, more to myself than to anyone else as I paced around the examination room. “Something that’s breaking down her red blood cells and spreading through her cardiovascular system faster than her body can filter it out.”“Lily, what are you talking about?” Ethan asked, but I was already moving toward the supply cabinets along the wall.“I need sterile scalpels, surgical tubing, blood collection bags, gauze and antiseptic. Help me find them now.”“You absolutely cannot perform surgery on your friend,” the nurse said, stepping between me and the supplies. “You’re eighteen years old and you’re not a licensed medical professio
The sound she made was absolutely horrible, somewhere between a scream of pain and a sob of betrayal, and I watched in terror as a substance that looked dark and poisonous started spreading from the bite wound across her skin like black ink spreading through water.“Naomi!” I grabbed the first thing I could reach, which happened to be a heavy ceramic mug from the table behind me, and brought it down on Jonathan’s head with every ounce of strength I could muster.It shattered against his skull without seeming to affect him at all, and he backhanded me so casually that I went flying into the wall behind me hard enough to knock the breath out of my lungs. My vision went white around the edges from the impact, and I could taste blood where I’d bitten my tongue.“Help!” I screamed, struggling to get back to my feet while my ears were still ringing from hitting the wall. “Somebody help us! Call 911!”But when I looked around, I realized the coffee shop was completely empty except for the t
The gold hadn’t completely faded from my eyes yet, and I could feel my wolf pacing restlessly just under my skin, frustrated that we’d let Maya walk away instead of finishing what we’d started. The rational part of my brain knew that throwing her around the room had been necessary to make my point, but the other part, the part that was getting stronger every day, wanted to hunt her down and make sure she could never threaten anyone again.I needed to see Aurora before this got any worse, before I did something that would give the pack elders legitimate reasons to question whether I was fit to lead anything at all.By the time I reached Aurora’s chamber, my hands were shaking with barely contained violence, and I could feel claws trying to push through my fingertips.Aurora was waiting for me in the center of the room, her chains arranged around her like she’d been expecting this visit. She looked up when she heard my footsteps, and even blind, she seemed to see exactly what state I wa
I got to Grind Coffee about ten minutes early, which gave me time to find a table near the back where we could have a conversation without the entire campus listening in. The place was practically deserted - just me, an older guy reading a newspaper by the window, and a barista who looked like she’d rather be literally anywhere else on earth.Naomi showed up right at seven looking more anxious than I’d seen her since we’d had to give presentations in AP English senior year. She kept checking her phone every thirty seconds and glancing toward the door.“He’s running a little late,” she said, sliding into the chair across from me and immediately starting to fidget with her coffee cup. “Traffic or something.”“No problem. Gives us time to actually talk without Mr. Perfect hovering over us.” I signaled the barista for a refill, then leaned back in my chair. “So how are your psych classes going? You haven’t mentioned them in forever.”“They’re fine. Good. Really interesting stuff.” Naomi w
“Everything alright?” Dr. Dooley asked, looking up from her camera.“Yeah, just friend drama.” I put my phone away and tried to focus on the slide in front of me. “She wants me to meet her boyfriend tonight, and she’s being really insistent about it for some reason.”“Ah. The mysterious older man she’s been seeing.”I looked at her in surprise. “How do you know about that?”“I overheard you mention it a few weeks ago when you were worried about her missing so many morning classes.” Dr. Dooley pulled on fresh gloves and walked over to where I was sitting. “What are you seeing in the cardiac tissue?”I was grateful for the subject change, mainly because I have realized thinking too hard about Naomi’s relationship was making me more anxious than I wanted to admit.“Every blood vessel is completely empty, but the cellular structure is perfect. No damage to the heart muscle, no signs of trauma or disease.”“That should be physiologically impossible. The human circulatory system doesn’t wo