All Chapters of Marked in the Middle: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The night in Viremont had its own rhythm, and it wasn’t one I could ever sync with. Too many shadows, too many eyes that weren’t human watching from places the city never meant for them to exist. By the time we made it back to the safehouse, my lungs still burned from running, and the scent of iron clung to my clothes like it had stitched itself into the fabric.Roman shut the door hard enough for the frame to rattle. He paced once, twice, before throwing me a look sharp enough to cut glass. “You shouldn’t have gone after him alone.”I peeled off my jacket and dropped it onto the couch. “And what, wait for permission? If I had, that bastard would’ve slipped through the cracks like all the others.”Kellen leaned against the kitchen counter, arms folded, jaw tight. “You almost got yourself gutted in an alley, Nora. That wasn’t just some low-tier wolf. That was one of your uncle’s enforcers.”The word uncle landed like a strike to the ribs. I rubbed

The night air clung heavy with the kind of silence that always meant something ugly was waiting just beyond it. Viremont wasn’t ever really quiet, not in the back alleys or the crumbling neighborhoods, but tonight the streets felt abandoned, like even the city itself knew to stay out of what was about to go down.Roman walked beside me, his shoulders tense but his stride steady. Every step he took had that Alpha weight to it, the kind of presence that drew eyes even in the dark. Behind us, Kellen ghosted along with the kind of ease that made it hard to remember he’d once been Silver Ash. He barely made a sound, but I could feel him, his eyes cutting across every shadow.I told myself to breathe, to stay focused, but my chest felt tight. This wasn’t just another lead, not just another breadcrumb on the trail. Tonight, we weren’t chasing whispers. Tonight, we were walking into enemy territory, and every instinct in me screamed that I was about to find something I was

The night in Viremont tasted like metal. Cold, sharp, and heavy on my tongue.I kept moving, boots scuffing against cracked pavement as the neon lights overhead flickered like dying stars. The city was restless. Rogues skulked in the alleys, whispers followed me like smoke, and every step felt like a warning: You’re being watched.Roman’s voice replayed in my head from hours earlier. “They’re not going to stop, Nora. Silver Ash doesn’t just hunt—they purge. You need to be ready to do the same.”I hated that he was right.The streets stretched long and empty, but I could feel them—shadows trailing, pressing in. My pulse quickened, a predator’s rhythm. I wasn’t sure if I was more afraid of them catching me… or of what I’d do when they did.A sound cracked through the quiet. A bottle rolling across the street.I spun, claws half-sprung before I even realized it. My eyes burned amber, my wolf pushing forward with a growl that wasn’t entirely mine.Out of the dark stepped Kael, casual as e

The night pressed heavy on Viremont, a silence so thick it felt like the city was holding its breath. From the rooftop where we’d taken cover, the streets below looked normal enough—cars parked crooked along the curb, a flickering streetlight buzzing like a dying insect, the faint hum of someone’s radio from a second-story window. But the quiet was fake. Beneath it, the city trembled, waiting for the storm to break.I could feel it in my bones.Roman crouched beside me, his sharp eyes scanning the streets as if he expected a wolf to materialize from the shadows at any second. His hand brushed mine—steady, grounding—but he didn’t look at me. He didn’t need to. His silence carried the same weight as his words: Stay sharp. We’re not safe yet.Behind us, Janie shifted impatiently, whispering in a low hiss. “We should’ve been out of Viremont hours ago. We’re sitting ducks up here.”“She’s right,” Kael muttered, running a hand through his tangled hair.

The night in Viremont had a way of swallowing sound. The further we pushed out of the city’s cracked streets, the quieter it became—like the dark itself wanted to hear us breathing. My boots crunched over gravel as we moved, and every step reminded me this wasn’t just a mission. It was a setup waiting to happen. Roman walked ahead, shoulders squared, his shadow stretching long under the half-moon. Kael flanked the left side, silent, his hand resting near the hilt of the knife strapped at his thigh. Janie kept close to me, her energy jittery as though she’d had too much caffeine, though I knew it wasn’t nerves of her own—it was nerves for me. The lead we were chasing was thin: a whisper from a frightened informant about a supply cache the Silver Ash Pack had hidden near the derelict rail lines outside Viremont. Roman had framed it like a chance to cripple their operations. But the way Grayson’s words