Chapter 20 · Under the Altar

The altar room smells like rust and old smoke and something I can't name but my wolf knows. She's clawing up my ribs before I'm three steps past the threshold.

Cain's hand locks around my wrist. "Don't."

"I'm not doing anything." My voice comes out wrong. Too low. The walls are carved stone and the ceiling's lost somewhere in the dark and there's a circle on the floor in something that might've been paint a hundred years ago but it's not paint now. It's brown. It's old blood.

"Lila." He pulls me back a step. His fingers are warm. Mine are shaking. "We're leaving."

"You said the vault key's down here."

"I said Ivy claimed it was. That's not the same thing."

The wolf doesn't care about the difference. She wants out. She wants to run or rip or burn and I don't know which and that's the problem. My nails dig into my palms. It doesn't help. The moon's not even full tonight. It shouldn't be this bad.

"Cain." I'm still looking at the circle. There's a groove cut around the edge. A channel. For blood to run. "What is this place?"

He doesn't answer right away.