Chapter 34 · Blood Moon, Bite Me

The claw punches through again and this time it stays, bone-white and dripping something that hisses when it hits stone.

Ivy's on the altar, hands pressed to symbols I can't read, and her mouth is moving but I can't hear her over the sound of the door cracking. Not breaking. Cracking, like ice on a lake right before you go through.

Cain's got his hand on my shoulder and he's pulling me back. "Lila. We need to go."

"Go where." I shake him off. "That thing's coming through whether we're here or not."

"Then we regroup. Get the northern packs to—"

"The northern packs?" I spin on him and I know my eyes are doing that thing, the green that bleeds into red when the wolf's too close. "The ones that want me in a cage? Those northern packs?"

He doesn't answer. Because he can't. Because the truth is he still sees me as a tool and tools don't get to argue.

The claw flexes. Stone dust rains down.