Chapter 10 · The Bond's Shield

"Get your hand off me!"

Vera drove her elbow into Rafe's ribs just as another chunk of stone crashed between them.

He caught her wrist before she could reach the falling rubble. His grip burned over the blood on her palm. The black lines beneath their skin pulled tight, hot as live wires.

"Stop fighting me for one damn second."

"Then stop dragging me around like a shield."

"You're standing under a collapsing ceiling. I'm trying to keep you alive."

"How touching." She yanked against his grip. "You should've tried honesty first."

Rafe shoved her behind a crypt pillar. Dust burst from the ceiling and coated his dark hair. The cut along his side had opened again, soaking through his shirt. Silver fire crawled beneath his skin in thin, bright veins.

Vera felt every inch of it.

The sting in her palm. The pressure in his ribs. The hot poison chewing through his blood.

And beneath it all, his fear.

Not fear for himself.

For her.

She jerked her wrist free. "You felt that, didn't you?"

Rafe's jaw locked. "Felt what?"

"Don't lie to me. I can taste your panic."

"That's not panic."

"Right.