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“Colton, come with us,” Angela’s irritating voice whined.

“Shut the fuck up, Angela,” he snapped.

I wanted to smile. I tried to. But I was still suspended in a state of unconsciousness where I could hear everything but do nothing. Maybe I was dead.

I heard Angela’s gasp, but it was quickly drowned out by more growling from Colton. It barely sounded human.

“Colton.” It was Sharon’s voice, but it … wasn’t. It was deeper, more powerful. Like there were layers of it.

It was the command from an alpha. Even I could hear that.

“I can’t,” Colton groaned, and again I could hear the fight in his voice. I could also hear the defeat. Now that he wasn’t cursed, he was bound to the command of his alpha.

“I will take care of her,” Dante vowed, sounding more serious than I had ever heard him before.

If there had been a time for me to wake up, it would’ve been then, when two men were fighting over taking care of me—since I couldn’t take care of myself.

Struggling to find consciousness was like grasping smoke. I couldn’t even move a finger, let alone make use of my limbs. Everything felt like dead weight, my body numb yet warm at the same time.

“You need to go.” Dante spoke more firmly this time. “Unless you want to hurt her.”

“I would rather chop off my own hand than hurt Hadley,” Colton hissed back. Despite my current situation, I wanted to laugh at how fucking ridiculous he sounded.

Dante chuckled. “If we’re done with the macho man protective bullshit, let’s do something that really works. Like get out of here before we find out whether the curse is what made you eat people’s hearts or you’ve got a taste for it.” I hadn’t thought Dante’s voice could sound more strained, yet I’d been wrong.

He was worried. Clearly trying to mask it, but he was concerned. Maybe about Colton changing, maybe about me, maybe about whether the Mets were going to win their next game. Who knew what Dante truly worried about?

Actually, I knew. Me. Dante worried about me.

“Colton, now.” The owner of this voice was familiar. It had Sharon’s tenor, but even in this deep state of unconsciousness—or whatever I was in—I could feel the weight. Like a hefty film or membrane was coating her usual voice, making it even more powerful than moments ago.

There was a long silence after she spoke, a loaded hush, leaving me with just the sound of several people breathing and my own galloping heartbeat.

“She dies, I rip your heart out.” Colton’s voice shattered the stillness, presumably directed at Dante.

Dante chuckled.

“Yeah, I don’t doubt it, wolf boy. Though you’re not doing much for the case of you being a good dog now.”

I heard a rumbling, animalistic growl, but then nothing but footsteps against fallen leaves.

Then there was nothing but silence again. Nothing but the faint hum of what I thought were cicadas. But after a handful of seconds, I realized that vibration was coming from me.

From whatever power inside of me had the ability to smoke a demon prince.

I felt a brush of callused skin across my forehead. “You’re gonna be okay, Hadley,” Dante murmured.

I didn’t know if it was a statement or a prayer.

“I’m never going to leave you.” An oath.

It should’ve felt like a threat.

Yet it made me … relax.

Into the nothingness.

When I woke next, I did it properly.