Marked By Pain (The Marked #2)(4)

Looking between the two stalls that have no gap at the bottom and tiny doors, and seeing one has the door wide open and the other is shut. There's one sink, and the room has a window at the end of the stalls. The window is small, but I think I could get out of it.

“Hurry up,” the woman snaps, as she shuts the door to the toilets behind us, but I catch a glimpse of the two men standing guard outside before it closes. I go to the shut door, pulling it open and I see East sitting on the closed toilet seat, and his eyes widen in relief when he sees me. I put my finger to my lips, and he nods in understanding.

“Can you turn the tap on? I can’t pee when someone is listening,” I shout. The woman grumble something about spoilt princesses before I hear the sound of running water. I step forward at the same time East gets off the seat and reaches for me. We meet with our lips crashing together, his hands sliding into my hair and I hold in a little moan that threatens to escape when he pulls away.

“Kenz, I’m sorry, I’m an idiot. I knew something was up with Mr Daniels. That’s why I reacted the way I did when I saw him with you,” he whispers and my eyes widen in shock.

“What did you know? How?” I ask.

“I overheard a conversation, just the end bit and he said, ‘It’s all sorted, sister.” I knew his sister is part of the rebels, and something must have been wrong for him to be talking with her,” he tells me and I whack his chest.

“You should have told me, you let me live with him—” I start saying, and East puts a finger on my lips to stop me. I bite my lip, hoping I didn’t speak too loudly.

“I only heard that two days before you were kidnapped. I was going to tell you, I just wanted the twins and Enzo’s advice on how, because I knew how close to him you were,” he tells me. “All of that doesn’t matter now though, we need to get out of here,” he tells me.

“How? There is a marked woman outside this door, and two men standing guard just outside the restroom,” I ask and he grins. I watch in shock as he pulls a gun out of his jeans.

“We can’t shoot her,” I mutter, in a shocked whisper, a little horrified he would do something like that. It’s so not East-like, at all. Human weapons are beneath our kind, only rebels normally use guns, as the council forbids it.

“It’s a dart gun,” he explains, seeing my concern. He kisses me once more quickly, as he slides around me.

“Where are the twins and Enzo?” I ask East quietly, but he doesn’t get a chance to reply as the door is banged on harshly twice.

“Hurry up, you can’t be taking that long to have a pee,” the woman shouts. East unlocks the door quickly, using his air mark to slam it open and we hear a grunt. We step out the stall to see the water marked woman on the ground. East shuts the door behind us and her eyes widen as he steps closer and lifts the gun, shooting her in the leg. She passes out quickly and we step over her.

“Use your air mark to lift yourself, Kenz,” East tells me and I nod, watching as he floats up in the air and pushes the window open. He slides his body out, only his shoulders struggling to get through, and I call my air mark the moment he disappears. I float upwards, grabbing hold of the window and letting go of my mark in my mind as I pull myself through. As I start to slide forward, half my body hanging out the window, I realise I didn’t think this through. I fail at stopping myself as I fall face first through the other side of the window and large hands catch me.

“You go backwards through a window, Kenz,” East laughs quietly, putting me down. I look up into his hazel eyes that are full of humour and something else I can’t really think about right now.

“I’m not good at escaping, I need a lesson in that,” I whisper back as I step away.

“Maybe my brother could give you lesson. Not in escaping, but listening to what you’re told,” I hear a familiar voice say behind me and I turn to see Mr Daniels walking over with the brown-haired rebel that tried to kidnap me. I look between them, seeing the resemblance, and realising instantly that she must be Mr Daniels’ sister. Why didn’t I figure it out before?

She smirks at me, before lifting her hand and sending a wave of air into both of us. East goes flying with me, catching me around the waist, and making sure I land on top of him as we crash to the ground.

“Shift and run,” East whispers and I do as he says without thinking about it, calling my mark and rolling off him. My change is quick, painless, as my body shifts and I land on four paws. East jumps into the air, shifting into a massive hawk with long grey feathers and a sharp looking beak. My wolf doesn’t let me look long, my mind blurring as she suddenly growls loud, turning and looking at Mr Daniels and his sister as they run over to us.

“Verity, don’t hurt them,” Mr Daniels says, though she doesn’t respond as she keeps her eyes locked with mine. She shifts suddenly, morphing into the large snake I’ve seen before. I run at her, growling as I ignore the shouts from Mr Daniels as she lifts her large head and dives at me. I jump to the side, thinking I’ve avoided her, until I feel a sharp pain in my hind leg. I turn to see the snake biting me, green venom dripping from her teeth and my wolf collapses to the ground with a loud howl.

“You will kill her! Stop, Verity!” Mr Daniels shouts, his voice desperate, and a blast of air sends the snake flying away from me, her teeth ripping my skin as she goes, and making my wolf whine out in pain. The pain blurs everything, the night sky, the sound of a hawk screeching above me. It becomes more and more fuzzy, until I can’t focus on any of it anymore.