"Jenna," he muttered, alarm edging his words. "Ah, fuck ..."
A new fear spiked through her, sharp and cold. "What is it?"
It took him a second to answer.
When he did, his voice was low with disbelief. "It's a glyph. Holy hell, Jenna ... you have a dermaglyph forming on the back of your neck."
--------
An hour later, Jenna was seated on an examination table in the infirmary, having submitted to a fresh round of blood tests and tissue samples at Gideon's request. She had been shocked to see the small dermaglyph that covered the incision location of the Ancient's implant, though perhaps no more shocked than the rest of the compound's residents.
Everyone had come to look at the silver dollar-size skin marking hidden underneath the fall of her hair. Though no one had voiced their speculation out loud, Jenna could tell that each of them was concerned for her, if uncertain what this new development might mean to her in the long term.
Now they had all gone from the room except Brock, who stood at her side, grim faced and quiet in his black shirt and dark jeans. Jenna didn't have much to say, either, glancing up anxiously as the Order's resident genius drew one final vial of blood from her arm.
"You're still feeling good, you say?" Gideon prompted, looking at her over the tops of his rimless sky blue shades. "You haven't noticed any other markings on your body? No physical or systemic changes since we last spoke?"
Jenna shook her head. "Nothing."
Gideon slid a glance at Brock before looking back at her. "What about other body functions? Have you noticed any changes in your digestive system? Any changes in your appetite, or lack of interest in food?"
She shrugged. "Nope. I eat like a horse, and always have."
That seemed to relieve him somewhat. "So, no strange cravings when it comes to hunger or thirst?"
A flash of heat washed through her when she lifted her gaze to Brock.
The bite marks she'd left on him were gone now, but she vividly recalled the need that had lived inside her when she'd set her teeth into his flesh during their lovemaking. She had craved him with a thirst she could hardly fathom, let alone explain.
And now she wondered ...
"I, um, if you're talking about blood," she murmured, embarrassed by the way her face flamed when Brock's dark eyes stayed rooted on her. "I have had certain ... cravings."
Gideon's blond brows rose in surprise an instant before his attention drifted to Brock. "You mean, the two of you--"
"I bit him," Jenna blurted. "Last night, and a few nights ago, too. I couldn't help it."
"Well, fuck me," Gideon said, not even trying to hide his amusement over realizing she and Brock were intimately involved. "And what about you, my man? Have you drunk from her, too?"
"A few hours ago," Brock replied, giving a grim nod but looking anything but repentant when his gaze latched back on to hers. "It was incredible, but I know where you're heading with this, Gideon, and I can tell you that her blood is pure Homo sapiens red cells."
"No bloodscent?"
Brock shook his head. "Just coppery hemoglobin. She's human."
"Except in addition to the DNA replications we found in her last sample results and the other things she's mentioned, Jenna now also has a glyph. " The warrior ran his fingers through the short, disheveled spikes of his golden hair. "There's something else, too."
When he looked at Jenna, there was an anxiety in his expression that she'd never seen before. He appeared unsure of what he intended to say, and for a man who seemed to have answers for every problem imaginable, his uncertainty right now was downright alarming.
"Tell me, Gideon."
Brock came closer and took her hand in his. "Shit, Gideon. What else have you found?"
The other warrior was frowning, mouth pursed in thought. "There is some kind of energy reading that seems to be associated with the implant ...
an emission of some sort."
"What the hell does that mean?" Brock asked, his fingers tightening around hers.