Chapter 26

Anna’s POV

I felt his fangs sink into my neck and the second they did, my whole body froze, my eyes wide, my heart hammering in my chest like it was about to explode from confusion and panic and everything else flooding me all at once, and it wasn’t just the bite, it was the heat that came after, that weird, burning ache pulsing through my skin where his mouth had been, like something inside me had just been claimed and there was no going back now because I knew exactly what that meant.

He marked me.

Ryan freaking marked me.

I didn’t need anyone to tell me, I just knew, like my body knew before my brain caught up because after Mom had dropped me off at the dorm and had left after helping me settle in, I got curious, spent hours scrolling through random articles and forums about werewolves, trying to understand this world I was being pulled into, and that’s how I found out about marking, about how it was permanent, sacred, and nothing, no laser, no surg