The Mark of Fate: Book 3 of The Marked series by Ford, Rinna (romantic love story reading .TXT) 📕

“It’s all your fault!” she said again, this time screaming it as she fought against the hold of the two casters. I watched as she got close to breaking free. Shifters were physically stronger than casters, even if they were weakened. I moved forward as if to help but Marco shook his head stiffly, telling me to stay back.

Lyra put her hand on Selina’s forehead and began muttering a spell over and over again. From the way the fight began to slowly leave the she wolf until her eyes closed, it appeared to be a sleeping spell.

“I’m sorry,” I told them and broke eye contact.

I looked back to Camille, who stood stock-still in the exact spot I left her until she realized I was looking at her. When she noticed that, she hurried forward and began pulling me away.

“I was just trying to help,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”

Both Lyra and Marco looked at me with understanding and a little bit of pity as they watched me go. They knew my intentions were good, just as I knew the she wolf was only reacting to the trauma she went through.

As I hurried through the door and into the hallway, my eyes caught Alec. He had made it back to his bed and was leaning over it. I expected to see him looking at me the same way Marco and Lyra were, but instead his expression was one of wonder.

His excited eyes were the last thing I saw before being dragged out of the room and into the long hall.

“Holy fuck! Out of everything that I thought would happen, I didn’t expect that invalid to go apeshit on you! That was intense!”

Camille was going on and on as we walked away from the infirmary and toward the foyer of the mansion. I honestly didn’t expect it either, but I probably should have. I mean, I could see why she’d think that it was my fault that they were tortured like they were. Even so, I didn’t like hearing Camille talk about it like she was.

“Please, shut up,” I sighed, but she was too wound up to hear me. It didn’t help that she was speaking louder and louder with every breath she took.

I put my hand on her arm as she was waving them wildly, making her finally pause and give me a disapproving look.

“That’s enough, Camille,” I told her when I knew I had her full attention and then let her go and walked away. “Just drop it, please.” How did she not know hearing that coming from the wolf shifter made me feel like complete shit? I mean, I told her I was already feeling that way in so many words.

“What do you mean? I was just saying how strange it was. You don’t think it was fucking wierd?” She spun me around so I was facing her again, completely oblivious to my feelings, not that I really expected her to be kind about them. It wasn’t her style. She just called the she wolf an invalid, for crying out loud.

“I don’t want to talk about it right now. Can you please just stop? For once in your life, can you just… not?”

I could see anger flare across her face as she started gearing up again, this time for a fight. Not what I needed.

“What do you mean, ‘for once in my life'? Am I too much to handle for you, Emelia?”

“Don’t do that,” I warned.

“Because I have to say, you’re a real fucking treat with all your drama! I mean, come on! Get over it already! So what? You were abandoned and orphaned when you were a kid. Big fucking deal!”

“Shut your mouth…”

I could feel my vampire and dragon rise to the surface, ready to spring forward and put her in her place. They were both riding me hard, pushing at my restraint. It was damn near impossible to hold both of those parts of me back, especially since they were working together.

“No, you fucking stop! Stop being so pathetic and own up to your shit! It is all your fault, just like that bitch said! If it weren’t for you and that fucking prophecy, none of this would have happened! Those supes wouldn’t have been tortured like they were and we wouldn’t be here planning a war so you could take over the whole goddamn world!”

In less than a second, I had my hand wrapped around her throat, causing the words that were spewing out of her mouth to suddenly cease. Looking at her through my blood red eyes, I could see her anger morph into fear as I pulled her closer to me. Her eyes cut to my razor sharp teeth that were punctuated by two sharp vampire fangs when my mouth opened to speak.

“I told you to stop, and I meant it.”

She began gasping for air so I eased up a bit, letting air flow into her lungs but not enough to allow her to speak. I didn’t want to hear anything else she had to say. Not at that moment and probably not for a very long time.

“I know you are angry and you have every right to be, but your words don’t hurt me as much as piss me off. When you are ready to tell me what you’re really upset about, then by all means, talk to me. You have solutions to these huge fucking problems? Let me know. But until then, do us both a favor and keep your snide remarks to yourself. Do you understand?”

Her head bobbed up and down quickly and both of her hands covered mine on her throat until I released her and took a step back. She inhaled deeply and coughed several times before she was able to stand up straight and glare at me.

“You’re a fucking psychopath!” She screamed and began backing away, never taking her eyes off of me. “You don’t deserve my friendship! You don’t deserve anything that you have!”

“Last