Chapter 25 · The Door Under Duskridge

The burn on my palm won't stop.

I'm still dragging Cain through the trees when the mark flares again, white-hot, and I have to bite down on a scream because we're not far enough from the border yet. Moon Hounds don't quit. They track blood and the guy next to me is leaking plenty.

"Stop," Cain rasps. His weight sags against my shoulder. "You're going the wrong way."

I'm not. The map branded into my skin is pulling me northeast, straight toward Duskridge. Straight toward his packhouse.

"Shut up and walk."

"Lila." He grabs my wrist. His fingers are slick. "If you take me back there bleeding like this, Ivy's going to ask questions."

Ivy. His fiancée. The girl who framed me three years ago and smiled while Cain threw me past the border.

I yank my hand free. "Then bleed quieter."

He actually laughs. It's a bad sound, wet and sharp. The gashes across his ribs aren't closing. Moon Hound claws carry something that stops shifter healing.