[Declan]
I didn't notice when Dylan stepped away from our new mate, whose name we didn't know.
But how could I?
When Avira, sick and fragile, without her wolf powers or her Luna powers had stepped away from the room through a different exit into the dead and silent night.
I couldn't stop thinking about her or her safety, and I couldn't tell or even notice that the whole room had grown quiet, and was waiting for me to mark my mate.
Until I felt Dylan's nudge by my side, bringing me back to reality.
Like a robot, I stepped forward, and without sparing her a glance, I marked her.
Not in the same spot I had marked Avira. That spot belonged to her alone. Instead I took her palm, not slowly or quickly, just…like a robot, and turning it over, I dug my teeth into the flesh at the back of her palm.
She yelped in pain but her cries were easily and quickly swallowed by the cries of the people which were mad with excitement.
