Chapter 13 · Behind the Red Door

The door wasn't supposed to open from the inside.

I could smell iron and old stone and something else, something that made my wolf claw at my ribs like she wanted out right now. Ivy was still on her knees, blood pooling dark under her hands, and Silas stood behind her with that smile that said he'd planned every second of this.

Cain grabbed my wrist. "Don't."

I yanked free. "Don't what? Stand here while your fiancée bleeds out for whatever the hell he's doing?"

"She knew what she was doing." His voice was low, too controlled. Alpha voice. The kind that made every wolf in the room freeze. Except I wasn't every wolf.

The door was carved red. Not painted. The stone itself was red, veined with black that pulsed when Ivy's blood hit the floor. It looked like it was breathing.

"Lila." Silas didn't raise his voice. He didn't have to. "You feel it, don't you? The pull."

I did. My palm burned where Cain's mark sat under the skin, the one he'd shoved into me two days ago when the bond snapped into place.