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“Hello—”

“Selene.” The voice that sobs out my name isn’t Kane’s. It’s?—

“Sybil?” I straighten up in the bed. “Are you okay? What are you doing with Kane’s phone?”

A curl of Memnon’s magic floats in from the kitchen, where he’s been cooking something since he left my side.

“It’s a long story,” she says hoarsely. “And yes, I’m fine—more than fine, finally. I’m—I’m—Sawyer bit me.”

“What?” I scramble out of the bed, my notebook entirely forgotten. I don’t know where I’m going or what I intend to do, but I’m ready to jump to her aid the moment she gives the word.

At my tone, more of Memnon’s power floats over to me, the indigo magic wrapping protectively around my torso.

I hear the sorcerer’s strides as he heads to the room, clearly ready to check on me.

Do I congratulate her? Do I gauge her mood? Is this a happy occasion, or?—

She begins to cry.

“I will kill him,” I say as Memnon enters the room.

“Whose life are we ending?” the sorcerer says. He crosses the room and grabs his dagger and sheath from the bedside table, clearly ready to charge into battle with me.

“No, you won’t,” Sybil says. “Sawyersavedmy life—and he might’ve saved yours as well,” my friend says.

I go still at her words, a chill skittering up my back.

“Listen to me, Selene. There’s a crime family, the Fortunas.” Sybil gasps. “Fuck, I really can speak on it.”

Goosebumps break out across my skin hearing the Fortuna name cross her lips.

She starts crying again, and she’s trying to talk through her sobs. “I can’t…the bite…broke it…”

My hand is trembling, and I feel like I’m squeezing the life out of my phone. “Sybil, please, breathe. I promise, I’m listening.”

“Sawyer bit me, and it broke a bond that had been forced on me.”

My lungs aren’t working. I can’t seem to breathe.

“Where are you right now?” I ask.

“I’m in the Everwoods. I needed a little privacy to talk—I haven’t been able to tell Sawyer about this.” She hesitates. “This call can’t be long. Now that I’m bonded, Sawyer…he’s not really letting me out of his sight…” Her voice changes, and she sounds less traumatized and more exhilarated. Like she might enjoy that possessiveness. “I barely managed to convince him to let me use Kane’s phone instead of his—that’s how intense the bond is. But I didn’t think you would answer a stranger’s number.”

She’s right. I probably would’ve ignored the call and never heard any of this. I shift my weight from foot to foot.

Congratulations, I mean to tell her. It seems like that word should fit somewhere into this conversation. After all, Sybil bonded herself to someone she cares about, and in the process, she freed herself from a terrible fate.

“Please get out of those woods and go back to Sawyer and the rest of the pack,” I beg her instead. My gut is churning.

Memnon glances at me as he arms himself. I can tell he’s holding back a lot of questions. His magic has almost entirely encapsulated my body, like it can shield me from the horrors my best friend is telling me.

“Okay.” She takes a deep breath. “Okay. But, Selene, S-Sophia—the fucking monster who bonded me—she has been looking for you and Memnon since we last spoke.” She begins sobbing again. “I had to break my phone to avoid her calls, but now I’m worried that she’s—she’s?—”

I think I might be ill. “You think she’s after you too,” I say.

I can feel my own tears slipping down my cheek.

“Yes,” she whispers. “She knows you’re my best friend.”