Read Online Marked: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Thrice Cursed Mage Book 2) by J. A. Cipriano - Free Book Online Page A

thing I remembered was trying to Mike Tyson a helicopter and getting my dumbass blown up. How had I wound up here? Had Pierce’s men managed to capture me afterward? What about Ricky? Where was she? Was she okay? I had to find out.
    As the door began to swing inward toward me, I somehow got my naked legs under me and flung myself at the door, intending to hit it with my shoulder and knock it closed, but my feet slipped on the blood-slick linoleum. I wound up pitching forward, flailing my arms like an idiot.
    I careened forward as the door swung fully open and crashed into a brunette wearing pink scrubs and carrying a black medical bag with the weird snake symbol on it. Our collision drove her backward into the hallway, and we collapsed into a heap atop the frayed green carpet. Ricky sat bolt upright on the frumpy queen bed to the right and stared at me like I was absolutely insane.
    “What the hell are you doing, Mac?” Sera cried, shock filling her “girl next door” features, which was totally reasonable given that I was lying naked and bleeding on top of her.
    “Trying to keep you from stealing my organs!” I hollered. While the words hadn’t sounded insane in my head, they sure did once they were out in the open. I tried to crawl off of her but only succeeded in putting weight on my torn up right arm. The world went spotty and shrapnel filled. I fell back on top of her, my forehead smacking against her chest.
    “Mac, I put you in the ice so you wouldn’t overheat,” Ricky called, leaping from the bed and coming toward us. “You used so much power, your body was about to combust. Your skin started flaking away like ash.” She grabbed hold of my left arm and forcibly pulled me off Sera who was still on her butt in the hallway of the cheap motel room. She hadn’t so much as moved since I’d tackled her.
    “What are you talking about?” I cried, whirling toward Ricky and jerking my arm out of her grip. It hadn’t been my brightest play because it caused me to lose my balance, and I wound up flopping into her. Ricky grunted, catching me and keeping me from braining myself on the tiny television stand.
    “You need to calm down, Mac. No one is going to steal your stupid organs.” Ricky made a disgusted face at me. “I own buildings, plural, as in more than one. I don’t need to sell your kidneys for cash.” Ricky began dragging me back toward the bathroom with so little effort it made me wonder just how strong she was. “Unless you think I was going to eat them?” She gave me a withering look. “Have you ever eaten liver? It’s disgusting. Whenever it gets served, I just pick at the onions.”
    “Well, maybe you just wanted my skin cool to the touch before you had your way with me,” I said in a display of complete and total ridiculousness.
    “Trust me, Mac. If you ever get lucky enough to find out what that’s like, you’ll be conscious,” she said, a slight flush coloring her cheeks as she spoke. Was she imagining such a scenario?
    “Ricky called me to take a look at you on account of your arm,” Sera said, injecting her voice into the conversation like a calm wind buffeting against the fury of Ricky’s annoyance. She was back on her feet, medical bag clasped in one hand. “But if you don’t want me to examine you, I can show myself out.” Her eyes roamed over my body as she spoke, and I realized I was stark naked in front of her for the second time in as many days. The last time had ended with her pulling a gun on me. This time wasn’t looking like it was going to end much better.
    “No, it’s okay. I’m all done freaking out,” I replied, noting the blush settling on her cheeks as she looked away from me. “But you are officially the least fun female to be naked around.”
    Ricky smacked me upside the back of the head and flung me back into the tub way more violently than was necessary. The ice beneath me began to melt as I sank into the depths of the tub. Almost immediately I felt