Scarlet

Terror and hopelessness choked Scarlet all at once and she fell, silt and concrete digging into her palms. Gasping, drenched with sweat, she rolled onto her back. Wolf had stopped running, but he still came for her. Prowling toward her with measured, patient steps.

He was panting almost as hard as she was.

Somewhere off in the city, another chorus of howling started.

Wolf did not join them.

His attention was all for Scarlet, cold and sharp and hungry. The pain was clear. The fury was clearer.

She scrambled away on her burning palms.

Wolf paused as he reached the center of the intersection. He was silhouetted by the moonlight, eyes gold and green and black and seething.

She saw him drag his tongue across his fangs. Watched as he curled and uncurled his fingers. His jaw worked as if to take in a bigger gulp of air.

She could see his fight. His struggle. As clearly as she could see the animal—the wolf—in him. As clearly as she could still see the man.

“Wolf.” Her tongue was parched. She tried to wet her dry lips and tasted blood. “What have they done to you?”

“You.” The word was spat out at her, full of hatred. “What have you done to me?”

He took another stumbling step toward her and she scooted away, pushing at the ground with the heels of her shoes, but it was useless. In the blink of an eye he had crouched down over her, knocking her onto her elbows without even having to touch her. His hands hit the ground on either side of her head.

Scarlet gaped up at eyes that now seemed to glow in the dark. His mouth was ruby red, the front of his shirt black from the gore. She could smell blood on him, on his clothes, his hair, his skin.

If it was this pungent to her, she couldn’t imagine how it must overwhelm him.

He growled and lowered his nose to her neck.

Sniffing.

“I know you don’t want to hurt me, Wolf.”

His nose bumped against her jaw. His breath caressed her collarbone.

“You helped me. You rescued me.”

A steaming tear escaped down her cheek.

The tips of his hair, wild and messy again, brushed against her lips. “Things have changed.”

Her heart fluttered like a firefly with a missing wing. Her pulse pounded through her veins, expecting the clamp of jaws on her throat at any moment. But something was holding him back. He could have killed her already, but he hadn’t.

She gulped. “You protected me from Ran—it wasn’t so you could kill me now.”

“You don’t know the thoughts going through my head.”

“I know you’re different from them.” She attached her gaze to the enormous moon over the skyline. Reminded herself that this was not a monster. This was Wolf, the man who had held her so tenderly on the train. The man who had given her the ID chip to help her escape. “You said you never wanted to scare me. Well, you’re scaring me.”

A growl vibrated against her. Scarlet shivered, but forced her body not to shrink away. Instead, she gulped and brought her hands up to his face. Stroking her thumbs over his cheeks, she placed a kiss against Wolf’s temple.

His body tensed and she was able to angle his head back just far enough that she could see his eyes. His lips curled into a snarl, but she held his gaze.

“Stop this, Wolf. You’re not one of them anymore.”

His brow twitched, but his resentment seemed to fade. His expression held pain and desperation and mute anger—but not for her. “He’s in my head,” he said, his voice a rumbling growl. “Scarlet. I can’t—”

He looked away, face scrunching.

Scarlet traced her fingers along his face. The same jaw, the same cheekbones, the same scars, all splattered with blood. She brushed her fingers through his wild hair. “Just stay with me. Protect me, like you said you would.”

Something whooshed by her ear and thudded into Wolf’s neck.

Wolf went rigid. He looked up, eyes wide and already brightening with bloodlust, but then they grew bleary. With a strangled gurgle in his throat, the strength left him and he collapsed on top of her.

Forty-One

“Wolf! Wolf!” Craning her neck, Scarlet saw a man and a woman sprinting toward her, the moonlight glinting off the woman’s gun. Scarlet’s terror was short-lived; they weren’t crazed Lunars. She returned her attention to Wolf, searching out the dart imbedded in his neck. “Wolf!” she yelled again, prying the dart out of his flesh and dropping it to the ground.

“Are you all right?” the woman yelled as she got closer. Scarlet ignored her until her own name cut through her panic. “Scarlet? Scarlet Benoit?”

She glanced up again as the woman slowed—but no, not a woman. A girl, with messy hair and fine, vaguely familiar features. Scarlet frowned, sure she’d seen the girl before.

The man caught up, gasping for air.

“Who are you?” she asked, locking her arms around Wolf as the two stooped to pull him away from her. “What did you do to him?”

“Come on,” said the man, grabbing Wolf. He tried to pry Wolf away but she held tight. “We have to get out of here.”

“Stop it! Don’t touch him! Wolf!”