Chapter 11 · Bound to the Executioner: Leveling Up With My Enemy - Chapter 11: The Blood Pit

"Get your hands off her, you bastard!"

Soren didn't just speak; he roared. He shoved me violently behind him, his armored shoulder slamming into my chest. The force nearly knocked the wind out of me, but it was the only thing keeping me from being ripped out of the wreckage by the three men circling us.

Above us, the shattered roof of the train car groaned, dripping rust and oil like black blood. And right in front of us stood Kaelen—Soren’s oldest rival and a man who looked like he’d been carved out of a mountain and fed on spite. He was leaning on a massive, jagged war-axe, a cruel grin splitting his scarred face.

"Look at you, Hale," Kaelen sneered, his voice like grinding gravel. "The Great Inquisitor, reduced to playing bodyguard for a little scrap of a medic. Tell me, does she know you're only keeping her alive because you'll drop dead if she stops breathing?"

I tried to steady my breath, my lungs still burning from the crash. My mana was a dry well, and the soul-bond was humming a frantic, warning vibration against my ribs. I could feel Soren’s heart hammering through the link—