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

us.”
    “Maybe I don’t care?” I offered, smiling at her as best I could even though my heart felt seconds from bursting. I couldn’t understand why I felt this way so suddenly, but at the moment, I didn’t care. I brushed her face with my knuckle, trailing it down her cheek. Her skin was so soft, so warm.
    “You don’t even know me,” she replied in a totally serious voice that sort of shocked me. Still, she didn’t pull her hand away. Instead, she looked down at our hands and took a huge gulp of air. “Even if I wasn’t a werewolf, and you weren’t a Cursed, you just think you like me because of adrenaline and pity. Neither of those things are a good foundation to form a relationship upon. Trust me on this one, Mac. This is all hormones.”
    She started to pull away, and as she did, it felt like she was wrenching a piece of me away with her. Yet, I could feel the reluctance in her reaction. She didn’t really believe what she’d said. Somehow, that made me feel better. Not much better, mind you, but better.
    “Maybe you’re wrong,” I said, trying my best to smile at her as her fingers slipped from my own, and I was left feeling cold and empty.
    “Maybe,” she replied, setting her newly-freed hand in her lap like she had no idea what to do with it. “But I’ve been to this particular rodeo before, Mac. Getting emotionally involved with each other before we storm a madman’s castle is tantamount to suicide. We have no idea what will happen once we start gutting bad guys, but the absolute last thing I want is for either of us to do something stupid because our judgment is clouded by this.” She gestured at the two of us. “But, after this is all over, if we’re both still alive, I’d be happy to revisit this.” She licked her lips, slowly dragging her tongue across them in an arc that made some very inappropriate thoughts dance through my brain.
    It was kind of lame of her if you think about it since she’d just shut me down. I knew, just knew, she was right, that we shouldn’t be doing this right now, but watching her lips made me react in a way that would have been immediately apparent if I wasn’t wearing a trench coat.
    As our bus rolled to a stop, and the doors opened at the bus stop before ours, I opened my mouth to say something devilishly clever, only before I could, Ricky shimmied down into the tiny space between the floor and the seat in front of us and pulled me down on top of her.
    “Maybe she didn’t see us—” she said before all the lights in the bus went out like the inside of a bar after last call, enveloping us in complete, bag over your head in a basement with the lights out, darkness. Only a second ago it had been broad daylight. This wasn’t good. Not by a long shot.
    Darkness crept over my flesh like slimy bugs as I reached out, trying to grab onto the seat in front of me to get my bearings, only instead of grabbing the seat, I found myself reaching through empty air. How was that possible?
    My heart sped up in my chest, crashing against my ribs while fear tightened in my gut like a boa constrictor. I was on my feet in an instant, at least I thought I was on my feet because I suddenly realized I couldn’t feel the ground. Why couldn’t I feel the ground?
    Something grabbed me around the throat, constricting my airflow like a noose made of shrapnel and hatred. I was jerked forward off my feet and dragged forward with my legs trailing painfully over what felt like hot coals. I did have a body still, and its name was pain.
    My back smashed against something hard with a metallic clang that made me bite my tongue. The iron tang of blood filled my mouth as I stood there dazed. I tried to move, to pull myself free, but before I could move more than a few inches, lashes of pure agony wrapped around my arms and legs. A scream ripped from my throat, but as it left my lips, it was swallowed by the darkness.
    “Hello, lover,” rasped a low, hungry voice in my ear. The hair on