Page 242 of Red Marked

He looks around. His eyes dart from the trees to the dragons assembled and then back to me.

“No.” His voice is a croak. “No, no…”

He comes at me again, fists swinging clumsily. I hit him in the face, and he goes down on his side with blood coming out of both nostrils, his hands over his face.

He rolls onto his knees, and that’s when he sees her.

“Star.” He gets it out through the blood. “Star, baby. Star, it’s me. Tell him. Please. Tell him to stop.” He crawls a yard toward her on his hands and knees. “Help me. Star, please, you have to help me.”

She doesn’t move.

“We’re leaving you here,” I tell him.

He turns his head. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“You can’t.” He’s shaking his head. “You can’t do that. You can’t do this to me. I’m not…I’m not one of them. Flint. Flint, listen to me. I have money. I have a lot of money. I can⁠—”

“You’re a feral male now, Jett,” I say slowly so he gets it. “As of about a minute ago. A dangerous one. That mark on your shoulder says so.”

His hand goes to his shoulder. His fingers find it, and he screams and yanks them away.

He comes at me again.

I catch his wrist and twist it, putting him face down in the sand with my knee on his back, and hold him there while he bucks.

“Stop.” I lean on the knee. “Or I’ll break something. An arm. A leg. Maybe both. Do you want to find out what your first couple of days out here look like with a leg that doesn’t work?”

He stops. I let him go, and he rolls onto his side in the sand.

Then he starts to cry.

Holy fucking shit!

This again.

It comes out of him in big, wet gulps. His shoulders shake. His face is a mess of blood, snot, and tears, and he doesn’t wipe any of it.

“Star.” He crawls again. “Star, please. Please don’t. I love you. Everything I did, I did because I love you. Please.” He’s begging her on his knees. “Don’t let him do this to me. Please don’t let him.”

“You had no problem leaving her out here.” I don’t raise my voice. “Her and the others. You put them in a mountain with a story about a freak accident and told them they’d be killed if they walked out, and then you went home and got on with your life.”

He sobs.

“Star has said all she wants to say to you. It was her wish that you be left out here. I wanted to kill you.” I crouch down so he can hear me over himself. “You’re getting exactly what you deserve, Jett. Nothing more and nothing less.”

“I’ll die out here.”

“Maybe.”

“The ferals will kill me. You know how they are. You know.”

“If you go for the border in your scales, patrol will take you down. If you go for it in your skin, they will take you down. The penalty for a feral male trying to leave this jungle is death.” I stand. “This is your home now. Get used to it.”

“No. No, no, please. Star. Star!”

“And don’t come after us.” I look down at him. “If I ever scent you within a mile of that clinic, I will kill you. I will take my time doing it. I’d even enjoy it.”