Page 2 of Wild Heart
“Put. Your hand. On theFucking.Desk.”
Feet twitching against the floor, his father’s toes curled tight in his shoes, and he shifted as though he planned to run. Chest rising and falling with choppy breaths, he considered his options before deciding he didn’t have any.
Not really.
Palm against the desk, all five of his trembling fingers were wide and waiting. A puddle bled into the carpet beneath his shoes, saturating the cool air with a foul smell.
The boy choked on it.
The shadows were no match for the way the blade glimmered when the wolf tore it from his belt. Wood split when he sliced across the desk, creating a sound that made the boy’s teeth hurt.
His wide eyes filled with tears, and he had just enough time to slap his hands over them when abangmet his ears, followed by a pained wail he would never forget.
ChapterOne
Marcos
His eyes were the iciest blue, like the coldest parts of the ocean, and I swore I was drowning in them.
“Marcos.”
My name trembled against his pale lips, escaping his mouth in a weak wave I felt across my jaw. Toned, threatening muscles quaked against the pain that held his large body captive.
His nostrils flared with it, his forehead tightening. Sharp lines of his jaw quivered hard enough to punch through skin, but his eyes… they were full of grit.Strength. Like magnets, they held tight to mine with a determination only a man like him could possess.
Don’t let him die.
Panic surged through me in flashes of hot and cold, leaving me dizzy and gasping for breath. The hands I held against his stomach fluttered, and I felt the familiar tingle of numbness work its way past my knuckles.
No.
Digging my fingertips into his wet skin, I used all my body weight to press against his wound. My palms slipped against the balled-up t-shirt I’d put there to slow down the bleeding. The thin fabric had turned crimson too quickly, and the blood that left his body had taken to staining my skin.
It oozed between the cracks of my thin fingers, steady as a river. Cresting over the top of my hand, the warm liquid dripped off my skin with aplop.Each bead of blood had found its way to another, and soon, there was a dark puddle beneath us both.
The scent it carried was overwhelming, reminiscent of an old bag of coins. It blew through the narrow hallway we were in, draping over me like a too-thick blanket. Somehow it worked its way into my throat. Tears pebbled in the corners of my eyes, and I started to choke.
God.
It was everywhere.
How much blood could a human lose before they just… ran out? Desperation was making my brain tick, and for a moment, I considered trying to shove the blood back through the small hole it was pouring from.
One bullet.
A singlepopwas enough to bring this man to his knees, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forget the fear I felt climbing up my spine when that one-second sound touched my ears.
My old sneakers were squeaking against the laminate floor as I walked through the dance studio. The lights above me were dim, and the only presence I felt was mine. Youth classes were over for the day, and the instructors had rushed out the front door to enjoy their lunch break. The back of the studio was eerily quiet—the locker rooms empty as I searched for my best friend.
The air thinned seconds before it stiffened. One by one, the hairs across my body rose. I opened my mouth to call out, but what echoed off the walls instead was an eerie explosion. It blew the air straight from my lungs. Eyes wide and hands frantic, I searched my body for torn flesh.
My heart beat fast, but the rest of the world felt slow as I stared down at my clean hands, confused and out of breath. Chin lifting, I studied the surrounding space, and through my panicked gaze, I found him.
Shock spread across Ivan’s face just seconds before blood bloomed across his abdomen and dripped on the floor. He pressed a large hand to his wound while the other used the wall to help steady himself.
Head low, an ugly sound tore through his throat before his muscles began to shake, and he sank to the floor beneath him. I was beside him as soon as his back hit the ground, pressing my shirt to his wound with a pressure that made him grunt. In the center of his chest was my phone, rising and falling with his pained breaths. The line rang twice before it picked up, and I almost didn’t recognize my voice when I said… “Please, don’t let him die.”
The small bones in his face twitched. Framing his eyes was a set of lashes that fluttered against his skin, and I nearly screamed at him.
