Chapter 23 · Say My Real Name

The sanctuary's collapsing.

Not the walls. Not yet. But I can feel it in the air—the wards are screaming, tearing apart because Kade brought wolves into a place that hasn't seen their kind in two hundred years. The stone under my feet is vibrating. My vampire side is awake and it's not happy.

I'm crouched behind the altar when I hear his voice.

"Lyra."

Not a question. A command. He knows I'm here.

I don't move. My hands are shaking. There's blood under my nails—my own blood, from carving the warning into the wall. I thought if I could just buy him time, get him to turn back before he saw me here, before he saw what I really am—

"Get up."

Kade's standing ten feet away. His curse mark is glowing through his shirt, black veins crawling up his neck. He looks like death. He looks furious.

Behind him, Silas and two other wolves fan out, scanning the shadows. They haven't spotted me yet, but Kade's staring right at my hiding spot.

I stand. Slowly.

The look on his face when he sees me—I can't read it. Anger, yeah. Betrayal, maybe.