Chapter 21 · The Fourth Heartbeat

"Little Wren."

I stop breathing. Nobody's called me that in fifteen years. Nobody alive.

Cain's hand locks around my wrist. "Ivy. Don't move."

But I'm already moving. The fourth heartbeat pounds under my ribs like it's mine, like it's been waiting this whole time for me to remember it was there. The stone wall in front of me isn't solid anymore. There's a seam running down the middle, hair-thin, glowing the same sick green as the curse marks on my arms.

Rex steps up beside me, teeth bared. "Who the hell knows that name?"

"My mother." The words come out flat. "She used to call me that before she died."

Aiden's voice cuts in from behind, tight and low. "Your mother's been dead sixteen years, Ivy."

"I know."

The seam widens. Not much. Just enough that I can see something moving on the other side. Something pale.

Something that breathes.

Cain yanks me back a step. His wolf is so close to the surface his eyes are more gold than hazel now, and his grip on my wrist is just shy of breaking bone. "We leave. Now."

"No.