Chapter 15

I grip the shower handle and squeeze my eyes shut. This warmth that envelops me is barely tainted by the cold water streaming down my back.

I make the water colder, but it is a waste of time, for the heat is springing from inside me and there's nothing I can do to stop it. The fullness of the moon demands it; the virgin state of my body despite the mark on my neck goes against nature, against the natural plan for mates.

If by the first full moon after marking, mates haven't mated yet, the female goes into heat. The pain drives her into the arms of her mate, of the male who won't be able to hold back any longer so great becomes his desire for her.

The fact I'm in this situation all because of Malachi angers me.

Slowly turning the water off and drying myself, I climb out of the shower and stare at my mark in the mirror.

When I first showed my friends, Gabby remarked upon how savage it looked, with a deep and jagged tear in my otherwise flawless skin. She commiserated that it must have h