Chapter 21 · The Third Name

Calian's fingers locked around my wrist before I could pull away from the black mist.

"Don't touch me," I snapped.

His grip tightened. "You put your hand on my chest first."

"Because your wolf is inside my mark, screaming like it wants to tear you apart."

"Then get it out."

The words came through clenched teeth. His body was hot against mine, too hot for the ice biting through the fortress walls. The fresh mark beneath my collarbone burned where the rift had sealed, a white line of pain wrapped in black smoke.

I shoved at his chest.

He didn't move.

"You don't get to order me around after dragging me into this," I said. "You made me your hostage bride. You chained my name to yours. Now your curse is crawling through my blood, and you want me to fix it?"

Calian leaned closer. His breath brushed my cheek, sharp with iron and winter mint.

"I want you alive."

"That isn't the same thing."

"For you, it is."

The mist curled between us. It slipped from the sealed rift like a living thread and disappeared beneath the skin at my throat.

Calian's face went rigid.

"There," he whispered.

"What?"