Chapter 29 · Trade Him Before Dawn

Silas's laugh is still crawling under my skin when I turn and run back inside.

The gate stays open behind me. Nobody's closing it. The pack house smells like burnt fur and panic, and somewhere in the east wing Cain's heartbeat is slowing down.

I can hear it. The bond won't let me not hear it.

Ivy's standing in the main hall with two enforcers. She sees me coming and her face goes white, then red.

"You," she says. "You brought them here."

I don't stop. "Where is he."

"Don't you dare—"

I shove past her. One of the enforcers grabs my shoulder and I snap my teeth at his wrist. He jerks back. The other one reaches for a blade.

"Try it," I say.

Ivy's breathing hard. "He's in the north study. The wards collapsed on him. If you go in there you'll—"

I'm already moving.

The north study door is half off its hinges. The frame's cracked down the middle and there's silver dust all over the floor. Wards. Old ones. The kind that don't just keep people out, they erase whatever breaks them.

Cain's on his back under a chunk of the ceiling.