Chapter 23 · The Power Under His Skin

"Take your hand off my chest." Julian caught my wrist before I could drive my fingers through the seal burned into his skin.

The bond snapped tight between us.

Pain punched through my ribs. My knees hit the metal floor, and Julian dropped with me, still holding on. His palm was hot around my wrist. Too hot. Power crawled beneath his skin in thin gold lines, bright enough to shine through the torn sleeve of his uniform.

"Let go," I said.

"You first."

"I'm trying to pull the power out of you, idiot."

"You call that trying?"

He twisted my wrist until my fingers opened. The movement was controlled, practiced, and infuriatingly gentle. He could have dislocated my hand. He didn't.

That was the problem with Julian. He never looked like the monster I knew he could be.

The black command mark on his palm pulsed once.

My vision blurred.

"Julian," I gasped. "The order is active."

His jaw locked. "I know."

"Then break it."

"I'm working on it."

"No, you're standing there while it kills me."

The mark flared.

A red line spread beneath my collarbone, burning across my chest.