Chapter 22 · The Fifth Mark

"Don't look at it." Cain slammed into me from behind. My ribs hit a broken column, and the breath punched out of my lungs. His knee drove into my spine while both hands locked around my wrists. "Don't look at the wolf."

"I'm already looking."

A massive white paw filled the crack in the temple wall. Silver rippled through its fur like liquid metal, and three jagged scars cut across the paw from pad to joint.

The scars matched the mark on my left hand.

A woman hung in chains beneath it, her face purple as the paw crushed her throat. She should've been clawing for air.

Instead, she smiled.

"Let me go," I gasped. "She's dying."

"She's bait." Rex moved along the broken wall, blade in hand. "The wolf wants you close."

"She has my mother's voice."

"It has your mother's voice." Aiden crouched on the other side of me, claws out. His eyes stayed on the crack. "Ivy, that thing isn't here to help you."

The woman's lips moved.

I couldn't hear her, but I knew the words.

*Let me in.*

Pain tore through my ribs.