Read Marked: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Thrice Cursed Mage Book 2) for Free Online

Faustian deal to take out Pierce. Well, I’d tell her later. You know, after Pierce was dead, and I had my family back. If, after this was all over, she wanted to call me a two-faced jerk and hit me with a werewolf-sized fist, I could live with that. Theoretically.
    “I know,” I replied, fighting the urge to comfort her. We definitely weren’t at that level of physical contact yet, and she might take it the wrong way. That was the absolute last thing I needed. I wasn’t exactly one hundred percent sure how a female werewolf fought off unwanted advances, but something told me it might reduce my overall quantity of limbs, and at the moment, I was pretty attached to them. Even still, the feeling to reach out and comfort her was nearly overwhelming.
    “You could get off this bus right now. We’re still a few stops away.” She hazarded a glance at me. Her eyes were red and puffy like she’d been crying. It was a little weird since I hadn’t seen her cry since we’d gotten on the bus. Then again, maybe it wasn’t weird. She was both a werewolf and a woman, and I wasn’t exactly an expert on either. Still, it didn’t look like she wanted me to leave, more like she felt obligated to give me an out.
    “The only way I’m getting off this bus is to kick some ass or dance a jig,” I said, grinning at her even though I felt like a car salesman saying he had to check with the manager before he could lower the price because the beater in question was already such a bargain. “And I’m a terrible dancer when I’m sober.”
    “Whatever, Mac,” she said, narrowing her eyes at me. “If that is your real name.”
    “Wouldn’t you know if it was my real name?” I smirked. “You knew me as a kid, after all.”
    “So you say.” She waved off my comment with one hand. The nubs of her nails had been bitten down so far, it was a wonder she wasn’t bleeding. Without thinking, I snatched her hand before she could go back to gnawing on her fingers. Her eyes widened as I reached out and brushed a lock of hair from her face.
    “I’m surprised you don’t remember me,” I said, my eyes roaming over her face. “I remember you. I forgot everything else, but I remember you.”
    “We were just kids,” she said. Color spread across her cheeks, making the smattering of freckles on her nose stand out.
    “Maybe if I had eyes like yours, you’d have remembered me,” I said, tucking the strands of red hair behind her ear. “I could never forget them.”
    “What are you doing?” she asked in a voice so quiet, I almost didn’t hear her.
    This was when I realized two things. The first was I had no idea what I was doing. The second was that our faces were really close together. Her lips were only a couple of inches from mine, and as I stared at them, I realized I really wanted to kiss her. The urge to pull her close to me and never let go was almost overwhelming even though we were in the back of a bus heading toward our more than likely demise. There were probably worse things to be doing in such a situation.
    “The only thing I want to do right now is grab you up in my arms and never look back,” I said. Where the hell had that come from? It didn’t sound like something I’d say, but as the words left my mouth, I knew one thing to be true. I didn’t regret saying it. Somehow it felt right.
    Thankfully, she didn’t go all “pissed off werewolf woman” on me. She simply gazed back into my eyes, and I could have sworn that despite the sadness etched into her features, she wanted to smile.
    The seconds stretched into what felt like eons as her gaze moved from my face to our hands and back up to my face. The look in her beautiful eyes gave me the impression she’d seen things deep down in my soul.
    “You shouldn’t want to do that,” she whispered, and I had to strain to hear her speak. She bit her lip nervously but didn’t look away from me. “It’s not safe for you to want to do that. Not safe for either of