Filed To Story: Chasing the Rejected Luna's Heart (Clara & Liam) Book PDF Free
I’d hoped to be able to talk to Marcus about it, since Cole was Sam’s brother and I didn’t want to give her any reason to stress out about him. Something told me Cole wouldn’t take kindly to that anyway. If anyone would be able to commiserate about his mercurial moods, surely it was Marcus.”You okay?” Tiffany asked, taking a swig of water since we had just agreed to break. She was a jaguar shifter with a killer body and muscle tone that gave me serious gym envy. She had soft, pretty features and thick, curly brown hair. Her eyes were flecked with almost neon green, and I had learned that green or gold flecks were usually a sign of a shifter belonging to one of the greater cat species. Despite being clearly my superior in the ring, Tiffany had been willing to take me on as a sparring partner now that I was branching out from solo sessions with Marcus.”Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, taking a sip of water myself. “Just a long week.””I hear you,” she sighed, stretching out her biceps. “I’m working thirty cases simultaneously, since another guy quit last week.”
I grimaced in sympathy. As hectic as the bar could get, I would take my job over being a social worker any day. Even the humans had it rough, let alone the caseworkers who were assigned to other shifters. It was uncommon for one to wind up in state care, but when they did, getting placed in a human family who had no idea what they were dealing with spelled disaster for everyone. Mostly the kids.”You’re a saint. I would’ve quit ages ago.””Trust me, I think about it on the daily,” she said with a sigh, propping a hand on her hip. “But my kids trust me, and that’s hard to come by, you know?””Yeah,” I said quietly. It was bad enough to be ostracized from my own pack as an adult. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be a child without a pack or family to call home, living among people who had no hope of ever understanding you.
I glanced around the gym, taking another sweep in hopes I would catch a glimpse of Marcus.
It wasn’t like him not to show up for a training session. Getting my ass kicked by Tiffany was admittedly just as instructive in a different way, but still, I couldn’t help but worry about him. “Have you heard anything from Marcus?”
She shook her head. “No, haven’t seen him all night. I asked at the desk and they hadn’t either. I needed to give him a message from my brother.””I hope he’s okay,” I said, trying not to sound as worried as I was. I had known Marcus for only a short time, but I’d already gotten attached. He was a great guy, and even if it wasn’t for the crush I had admittedly formed, I would’ve been worried.”I’m sure he is. Human or not, he’s a big boy. He can take care of himself,” Tiffany said with a wink, leaning down to tie her sneaker. “I gotta get out of here. Another early shift in the morning. I’ll see you Monday?””Definitely,” I said, giving her a wave. “Try to take it easy if you can.””Sure. I’ve got time for a vacation, oh, six months or so after I’m dead.”
I snorted and went back to stretching out my aching limbs. If I didn’t, work was going to be hell in the morning. I really had gone all out trying to keep up, which was just a reminder that Marcus was still definitely using kid gloves on me, no matter what he said.
I hit the showers not long after Tiffany left, and despite her reassurances and the fact that she was almost certainly right, I couldn’t stop worrying. I knew where Marcus lived, since he had stopped by his place a few times before giving me a ride home, and told myself I was just going to swing by.
That wasn’t too stalkery or anything, right?
His apartment was a short walk from the gym, and the fresh air was nice. To my relief, I made it to the complex without any sign of Alexander. It would really suck if my stalker put a damper on my own stalking. Had to keep that shit separate, otherwise it was just awkward.
Marcus’s car was in the parking lot out front, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was home. The guy was absolutely ripped, so he probably jogged to the grocery store and shit. I told myself I was just going to knock once and leave immediately if he didn’t answer. And if he did answer, well, I would have to figure out a sufficient excuse to avoid looking like a creep, which probably was exactly what I was being right now.
I walked up the stairs to the second floor and went to the door I had seen Marcus go in from the lot below. Total bunny broiler shit, I know, but there weren’t many people in my life I could count on, and Marcus was one of them. Even if I was only half wolf, I still had the full-fledged protective drive. I had also promised myself I would start trusting my instincts, and my instincts were telling me something was wrong. I just hoped they were wrong.
There was no one around, so I knocked on the door and held my breath. I thought there was part of me hoping he didn’t answer, but when I had waited a minute or so and there was still no response, I knew otherwise. I knocked again and still nothing. I was about to turn around and leave when I heard someone coming up the steps and froze.”Lavinia?”
The sight of Marcus had me in hide-under-a-rock mode for a second–until I caught the scent of blood in the air, metallic and plentiful. There was way more blood than a simple scrape or cut could’ve resulted in.”You’re hurt,” I said, going over to him.”What are you doing here?” he asked, sounding more confused than angry or freaked out. Both would have been valid responses to seeing some girl you’d just started training show up at your apartment unannounced.
I ignored the question and moved aside his leather jacket to reveal the blood soaking through the white shirt beneath. My eyes grew wide. “Holy shit, you need a doctor. Scratch that, an ambulance.””I’m fine,” he said, closing his jacket and looking over his shoulder like he was worried someone might overhear. “I don’t need a doctor.””The blood drenching your shirt says otherwise,” I countered. My fears of embarrassment had taken a backseat. I didn’t care if I was overbearing if it meant he wasn’t going to bleed out on the steps of his damn apartment.
He seemed to want to argue, then thought better of it. “Just come inside and I’ll explain,” he said, walking over to the door. He was already getting his keys out, and before I could protest, he pushed the door open.
I hesitated but decided to follow him in. Despite the blood loss, he didn’t seem like he was affected cognitively, and he didn’t seem like he was in shock, either.
I walked into the surprisingly large apartment and looked around. It was sparse, like he had just moved in and hadn’t bothered to decorate or do much other than get furniture, but it was hard to tell if that was because he was just a guy. He walked through the door behind me and turned the lights on. “Just need to grab something real quick.”
I watched in dismay as he went to the bathroom down the hall and returned a moment later with a first-aid kit. He set it down on the coffee table in front of the sofa and took a seat before rummaging through the kit’s contents.
It became immediately obvious this was no standard first-aid kit you could purchase from the drugstore. It was loaded with serious equipment, from field stitching to an assortment of small bottles with labels printed in text too tiny to read, and even a scalpel and a pair of tweezers that looked like they were meant for more than plucking out splinters.
Marcus shrugged out of his jacket and when he pulled his shirt off over his head, my eyes widened. Not for the usual reasons, either. There were scars covering his muscular torso, but I’d seen those plenty of times while we were training. There was a set of three brand new gashes stretched across his left pectoral and running all the way down over his ribs. The wounds were deep, like an absolutely massive animal had tried to claw him open like a can of tuna.
My heart was racing almost as fast as my thoughts. There was no way a shifter could have done that. Not unless it was a dragon shifter or something equally improbable.”What the fuck did that?” I blurted out.