Chapter 13 · Wanted Alive

The screens were still flashing red when Marcus grabbed her wrist.

Evira's palm was slick with blood. The cut she'd used to pull the pact back into herself hadn't stopped bleeding. Marcus wasn't looking at the wound. He was staring at the nearest monitor mounted above the corridor junction. Her fake ID photo—Evan Kern, age twenty-two, hunter probation clearance—was plastered next to a new line of text that made her stomach drop.

FEMALE. FORBIDDEN SUMMONER. CAPTURE ALIVE.

She tried to pull free. His grip tightened.

"Don't," he said. His voice was flat. The kind of flat that came right before someone made a call they couldn't take back.

Footsteps echoed from the east stairwell. Heavy boots. More than two people. The alarm wasn't blaring anymore but she could hear the crackling buzz of comms units lighting up all over the building. Someone barked an order three floors up. The guild had never moved this fast for a rogue contract. They wanted her alive, and that meant every hunter in the building was already repositioning.

Marcus let go. He turned and walked four steps to the nearest wall panel, yanked it open, and pulled out a key card.