Page 276 of Immune

My skin crawls, and Ewan sees the same thing I do. Maybe even feels it through the bond. His concern presses into me, hot and sharp and careful.

Davis glances between us, his gaze pausing on the collar of my shirt, on the place where Ewan’s bite is hidden. His expression shifts, only slightly, but I see it.

The new bond isn’t quiet. Not to an Alpha looking for it. Smoke and clove cling to my skin, threaded through wild honey and rain, and that’s exactly what Davis smells when he inhales.

His mouth twists.

“Well,” he drawls. “Someone was quick.”

Ewan’s voice goes low. “Walk away.”

Davis barely looks at him. “You first.”

“Nah, I’m good.”

And then a baton snaps toward Ewan. He manages to dodge the worst of it, but not all. Electricity crackles against his side, blue-white and ugly, and it sends him to one knee with a strangled sound.

The bond screams, but not with pain exactly. This is worse. This is shock and fear. His fear. For me. It tears through the thread and slams harshly into my chest so hard I completely forget how to breathe.

Ewan.

My vision whitens at the edges with something I don’t understand just as the man closest to me swings my way with a baton.

He’s too slow.

I break his wrist first.

There’s a sound.

Small bones giving up.

He screams.

The other man grabs my arm.

Bad choice.

Very bad choice.

His fingers close around my skin, and something old wakes inside my blood.

Not anger.

Not fear.

Not instinct.

Older.

Colder.

NOVAC moves. That’s the only way I know how to explain it. Not like a thought, but like a door opening in a part of me I didn’t build.

My scent changes.

I feel it happen.

Wild honey vanishes under something sharp enough to taste like copper. The air around me seems to tighten. The lights flicker once, or maybe it’s just my vision that does.