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“How?”

“Videos, photos. I’m assuming they’ve been watching us for a while.”

“Who are they? What do they want?”

But I know what they want.

“He tried to bite me,” I say, remembering, and then I look down at my wrist and gasp.

The man didn’ttryto bite me. He accomplished it…sort of. It’s more like an angry red scratch.

Noah takes my arm, rotating my wrist to see the shallow wound better.

“His fang must have caught me when he was turning away,” I say. “Is it deep enough to spread the virus?”

“It’s not bleeding,” Noah murmurs, prodding the skin around the scratch. “But…that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”

“What are you saying?”

He drops my arm and meets my eyes. “We’ll need to get you in for a blood test.”

23

“Another blood draw?”I shudder at the idea of the needle.

“The odds are low,” Noah says, “but…it’s possible you were reinfected.”

“And the blood test will show if I was?”

“It will let us know whether you’re still in the first stage, progressed to the second stage, or…”

“The final stage?” I whisper, remembering that both Noah and Cassian have mentioned that some people go full vamp after the second bite. “Isn’t that rare? It usually takes three bites, right?”

“It’s very rare,” he assures me. “I don’t know exact numbers, but it’s got to be less than a 1% chance.”

I drop my arm, growing angry now that the adrenaline is wearing off. “So, obviously, they were after me. Who is it this time, andwhy?”

“That was Ethan’s assassin—the one he sent after me in New Castle. I recognized his fighting style.”

Noah sounds angry. I look up, realizing there’s a trail of blood running from his temple. “You’re hurt.”

He stops me from touching him. “Careful.”

Blood. Right.

Not that it matters as much right now. If I’ve just been infected, it will take a few weeks before I can be infected again.

“It doesn’t look too bad, but it will probably bruise,” I say, frowning at the gash.

“It’ll be gone by tomorrow,” Noah reminds me. “Okay, I'm going to call the sheriff.”

“I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear from us again,” I say with a sigh.

Noah chuckles, sounding weary, and reaches for his phone…only to remember he doesn’t have it.

“Just give me a second, and you can use mine,” I tell him. “I’m going to remove myself from the circle.”

But when I pull up the location app, I freeze. The screen shows three dots—Noah, Cassian, and me. I realize something at the same time as Noah. He grabs the phone out of my hand, zooming out to find his avatar. It’s currently racing away from the house, heading west.