Chapter 4 · Smothered Gasps and Broken Iron

"Don't make a sound." Ronin clamped one hand over my mouth and drove me backward into the ice wall.

His other hand held the stolen serum capsule against my ribs.

Outside the cave, boots crushed through the snow.

I bit his palm.

Hard.

His fingers tightened over my lips. His body pinned mine, all heat and hard muscle beneath a torn black coat. Blood ran from the cut at his wrist and slipped between my teeth.

"Bite me again," he breathed against my ear, "and I'll give them a reason to come inside."

I tasted iron. "Move."

"No."

"You're bleeding on me."

"You're shaking."

"I'm freezing, you bastard."

His eyes dropped to my mouth. The gold fire under my skin answered before I could stop it.

The mark beneath my collarbone burned.

Not a normal burn. It pulsed with his heartbeat, bright and vicious, as if someone had hooked a live wire through both our chests.

Ronin felt it too. His jaw locked.

"Keep your voice down," he said.

"Take your hand off me."

"Then stop trying to scream."

"I wasn't screaming. I was telling you to go to hell."

"You can tell me after the sweep team leaves."

A heavy thud struck the wooden door at the mouth of the cave.

I flinched.

Ronin shoved me lower, one knee sliding between mine as he dragged us into the deepest pocket of shadow. The move put my back against his chest. His breath burned the side of my neck.

I hated how quickly my body recognized him.

I hated the way my pulse jumped when his arm locked around my waist.

Most of all, I hated that his blood still coated my tongue.

"What's in your hand?" he whispered.

"You already know."

"The capsule."

"Congratulations, Commander. Your eyes still work."

His thumb pressed under my jaw. "Where did you get it?"

"From your medical officer."

"Kyle?"

"Do you know another man who carries illegal serum in a silver case?"

Ronin's stare sharpened. "You stole from Kyle Damon?"

"I borrowed it."

"You broke into a locked medical vault."

"Borrowed."

"You killed two guards."

"They tried to kill me first."

The boots outside stopped.

A man's voice carried through the wood. "Commander Varga! We have a scent trail. The rebel is inside."

Ronin's hand covered my mouth again.

I twisted against him. His chest pressed into my back, trapping my shoulders. The capsule dug into my ribs. My shredded uniform scraped against his coat, and the rough fabric caught on the fresh cut along my side.

Pain flashed white.

A sound pushed up my throat.

Ronin moved before it escaped. He pulled his wrist from my mouth and shoved the bleeding wound between my teeth.

I froze.

His blood flooded my tongue.

Hot. Sharp. Alive.

The mark flared so hard my fingers clawed into his sleeve.

"Swallow," he ordered.

I glared up at him. His wrist rested against my teeth, his skin warm against my lips. His eyes stayed on mine, cold enough to cut and too close to lie.

"Are you insane?" I mumbled around his arm.

"Probably. Swallow."

"Get your arm out of my mouth."

"You want the hunters to hear you?"

"I want to break your nose."

"After you swallow."

Another boot struck the door.

The wood shook.

Ronin's wrist pushed deeper between my teeth, not enough to hurt, just enough to silence me. I felt his pulse against my tongue. It matched the burning rhythm beneath my collarbone.

My knees weakened.

He caught me around the waist.

"Damn you," I whispered.

"That's the spirit."

I swallowed.

The gold fire shot from my mouth to my throat, then down through my chest. My lungs seized. His whole body jerked behind me, and his fingers dug into my hip.

The hunters outside started shouting.

"Spread out!"

"Check the ridge!"

"Kyle said the girl is injured. She can't have gone far."

I pulled Ronin's wrist from my mouth. "They know I'm hurt."

"Kyle knows you're hurt."

"He knows about the capsule too."

"Then give it to me."

I curled my fingers around the silver tube. "No."

His gaze dropped to my fist. "Vira."

He never used my name unless he wanted something badly.

The sound of it landed harder than the command.

"You don't get to say my name like that," I whispered.

"Like what?"

"Like you own it."

"I don't own you."

"You put your teeth against my throat last night."

His expression went still.

The memory came back in a hot, ugly rush. His masked face. His hands locking around my wrists in the fight pit. His fangs pressing into my collarbone until gold fire raced through our shared pulse.

Then the bite that never finished.

The mark that still burned under my skin.

"You claimed me," I said.

"I stopped before the bond sealed."

"My skin disagrees."

"Your skin is unstable."

"That is a pretty way to call me broken."

"I didn't call you broken."

"You called me rebel trash in front of the entire west yard."

"You were being sentenced."

"You signed the sentence."

His mouth tightened. "I prevented the execution."

"By sending me to Frostwatch."

"You were alive."

"That was your idea of mercy?"

"You want honest?"

"For once."

He leaned closer. The side of his mouth brushed my temple, barely there, but the contact sent another pulse through the mark.

"I wanted you where I could watch you," he said.

My breath caught.

Outside, a metal hook scraped across the door.

Ronin's hand slid from my waist to the back of my neck. His thumb rested just below my ear. He held me steady while the scrape turned into a harsh test of the lock.

"Watch me do what?" I asked.

"Survive."

"That sounds almost sweet."

"Don't make it ugly."

"You started ugly."

"You walked into my fight pit and challenged me."

"You were wearing a mask. I thought you were a guard."

"You called me a coward."

"You were hiding your face."

"You put a knife to my throat."

"You put me on the floor."

His eyes dropped to my mouth again. "You liked getting back up."

"I liked making you bleed."

"You did."

"I can do it again."

"Not while I'm keeping you alive."

He took the capsule from my fist.

I lunged for it.

Ronin caught both my wrists and shoved them above my head. The motion slammed my shoulders into the ice. Cold bit through my clothes. Heat rolled off him, close enough to make the air between us feel too thin.

"Let go," I hissed.

"No."

"That word is getting boring."

"You keep making it necessary."

"Give me the capsule."

"Kyle wants it."

"Kyle wants my blood."

"I know."

That stopped me.

His grip stayed tight, but his eyes changed.

Not softer. Ronin didn't do soft.

Sharper.

More dangerous.

"What did you say?" I asked.

"I know what Kyle has been doing."

"To me?"

"To every inmate carrying old Storm blood."

My stomach turned. "How long have you known?"

"Long enough."

"And you let him keep cutting people open?"

"I needed proof."

"People aren't proof."

"No. They're witnesses."

"That's your defense?"

"It's the truth."

"You sound just like the men who burned my pack."

His fingers went still around my wrists.

The hunters outside moved closer. A shadow passed across the thin strip of light beneath the door.

"The traitor is inside," someone called. "Commander, step away from the door."

Ronin's gaze stayed on me.

"If they find you with that capsule," he whispered, "Kyle will say you stole it to poison the academy."

"They already think I'm a traitor."

"They'll execute you this time."

"And what will you do? Stop them again?"

"If you obey me."

I laughed under my breath. "There it is. The collar."

"Call it what you want."

"You want me to hand over the only thing that might tell me why Kyle keeps drawing my blood."

"I want you to live long enough to find out."

"You could have told me that before you shoved your wrist into my mouth."

"You were making too much noise."

"You could have covered my mouth like a normal person."

"You don't respond to normal methods."

"I respond beautifully to knives."

"I remember."

The corner of his mouth moved. Not a smile. Something meaner.

My gaze caught on the thin line of blood running from his wrist. The cut was deeper than I thought. His sleeve was soaked through.

"You're losing blood," I said.

"I noticed."

"You need to wrap that."

"You offering?"

"I'm offering to watch you bleed out quietly."

"That isn't an offer."

"It's the best one you'll get."

The hook outside slammed into the lock.

Ronin released one of my wrists and drew the narrow blade from his belt.

"Stay here," he said.

"You think I'm going to wait politely?"

"I think you know the hunters will shoot first."

"You aren't the only one who can threaten me."

"No. I'm the only one in this cave who can stop them."

He moved toward the door.

I grabbed the back of his coat. "If you give them the capsule, I'll tell Kyle you have it."

Ronin looked over his shoulder. "You think I took it for him?"

"I think you take whatever you want."

"Then watch closely."

He lifted the capsule and pressed it into the torn lining of his coat.

A small metal click sounded.

The coat locked around it.

I stared. "What did you do?"

"Now it can't be removed without my blood."

"You made yourself the only key?"

"I made sure Kyle can't take it from you."

"You mean he can't take it from you."

"Same problem."

"No. It's not."

He came back toward me, one slow step at a time.

"You want to argue about ownership while men outside are waiting to drag you out?"

"I can multitask."

"You have two choices."

"I hate your choices."

"Live under my protection or die under Kyle's knife."

"That isn't protection. That's captivity."

"You're already an inmate."

"Not yours."

The words hit him.

His face stayed controlled, but his thumb flexed against the hilt of his blade.

"Say that again," he said.

"I'm not yours."

He stepped close enough that my chest brushed his.

"You don't know what you're saying."

"I know exactly what I'm saying."

"Do you?"

"You want me scared."

"I want you alive."

"You want me trapped where no one else can touch me."

"Yes."

The answer came too fast.

My mouth went dry.

Ronin's hand rose and caught my chin. His palm was hot against my skin. The rough pad of his thumb dragged across the corner of my mouth, wiping away his blood.

He looked at the smear on his thumb.

Then he put it between his lips.

My stomach dropped.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Checking the bond."

"Use a medical instrument."

"The bond doesn't answer to instruments."

"Then tell it to stop answering."

"I tried."

"Try harder."

His eyes lifted to mine. "You think I haven't?"

For one second, his control cracked.

I saw the exhaustion beneath it. The hunger. The anger he kept chained behind his teeth.

Then the mark burned again.

I gasped.

Ronin's hand tightened around my jaw.

Outside, the hunters shouted, "Break the door!"

He pushed me down behind a stack of broken crates. I landed on my knees. He dropped with me, one hand braced beside my head.

"Don't move," he said.

"Stop ordering me around."

"Then stop giving me reasons."

"You keep saying that like I enjoy this."

"You keep coming back."

"Because you keep putting your hands on me."

"You came into the pit."

"You followed me into the snow."

"You stole from Kyle."

"You hid me here."

"You kissed my blood off your mouth."

The words snapped through the cave.

Silence hit harder than the hunters.

My lips parted. "I did not."

"You swallowed it."

"You forced it into my mouth."

"You could have spit it out."

"I was trying not to get us killed."

"That wasn't the only reason."

I shoved his chest.

He caught my hand before it landed. His fingers closed around mine, warm and brutal. Our joined hands fell between us.

"Don't," I warned.

"Don't what?"

"Look at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you already know how this ends."

"I know how it starts."

"With you rejecting me in front of the academy?"

His grip tightened.

The memory hurt worse than the cold. The execution platform. His voice cutting through the crowd. No bond. No claim. No place for a rebel traitor beside him.

"You said I wasn't your mate," I whispered.

"I said you weren't mine to claim."

"That isn't what everyone heard."

"Everyone wanted a show."

"You gave them one."

"I saved your life."

"You broke me first."

The words left my mouth before I could stop them.

Ronin stared at me.

I expected anger. A command. Maybe that flat, cruel look he used when he wanted to remind me who held the keys.

He gave me none of it.

He lowered his head until his forehead touched mine.

His breath moved over my lips.

"I know," he said.

That hurt worse.

I turned my face away. "Don't act sorry now."

"I'm not sorry for rejecting the bond."

"Of course not."

"I'm sorry I made you think I didn't feel it."

My head snapped back. "You felt it?"

"Every second."

The next boot hit the door.

The wood split near the hinge.

Ronin pulled me upright and dragged me against his chest. He wrapped his coat around both of us, covering my torn shirt and the silver glow leaking from the mark.

"Listen to me," he said.

"You have about three seconds before I stab you."

"If the door breaks, you stay behind me."

"No."

"Vira."

"I'm not hiding behind you while you play executioner."

"You don't have a choice."

"I always have a choice."

"Not tonight."

His hand slid to my lower back and held me there. The contact was firm, almost possessive. His coat smelled like smoke, blood, and cold steel.

"You want to live?" he asked.

"Obviously."

"Then take my blood again."

I stared at him. "What?"

"The bond is fighting the serum. It will keep your scent from spreading."

"You want to put your wrist in my mouth again?"

"Yes."

"That is the worst plan I've ever heard."

"You have a better one?"

"We could fight."

"You can barely stand."

"I can still bite."

"I know."

His voice dropped on the last word.

The mark burned so fiercely I grabbed his coat.

He brought his wrist to my mouth.

I stopped him with my hand.

"If I do this," I said, "you don't get to call it a claim."

"I won't."

"You don't get to drag me back to Frostwatch in chains."

"I won't."

"You don't get to hand me to Kyle."

"I won't."

"And you don't get to reject me again when this is over."

His eyes went dark.

"That isn't a promise I can make."

I shoved him away.

He caught my shoulders. "Vira—"

"No. If you want my cooperation, you pay for it."

"The hunters are at the door."

"Then pay quickly."

"What do you want?"

"The truth."

"About what?"

"Why you stopped the bite."

His breath went rough.

The door groaned under another hit.

"Because if I finished it," he said, "the bond would make you mine in every way that matters."

"That sounds like the point of a mating bond."

"Not when the woman has been marked for death by my own command."

I couldn't speak.

Ronin's fingers tightened on my shoulders.

"I rejected you because everyone watching that platform would have seen what you are to me," he said. "And they would have used you to control me."

"So you humiliated me to protect yourself."

"I humiliated you to keep them from knowing where to cut."

"You still cut me."

"I know."

"You keep saying that."

"Because I do."

The wood cracked.

A sliver dropped to the floor.

Ronin pulled his blade free.

"Now choose," he said. "My blood, or Kyle's hands."

I looked at the door.

Then at him.

His wrist was still bleeding. His coat hung open over his broad chest. The silver capsule was hidden inside it, close to his heart.

If I took his blood, the bond would strengthen.

If I refused, Kyle would find me.

Neither choice gave me freedom.

I grabbed Ronin's wrist and pulled it to my mouth.

His eyes flashed.

"That's it," he whispered.

I bit down.

His blood hit my tongue.

The bond tore open.

Heat ripped through my chest and down my arms. Ronin slammed one hand against the wall beside my head while the other locked around my waist.

I swallowed once.

The mark flared gold beneath my collarbone.

I swallowed again.

His breath broke.

"Vira," he warned.

I kept my mouth on his wrist.

The hunters outside went silent.

For one terrible second, the whole cave held its breath.

Then Ronin pressed his forehead to mine.

"Enough," he said.

I pulled away. "You said I had to swallow."

"You did."

"Then why are you shaking?"

"I'm not."

"Your hand is on my throat."

"To keep you quiet."

"You could just ask."

"You don't listen when I ask."

"Try me."

His thumb rested against my pulse.

"Be quiet," he said.

I held his stare. "No."

His eyes dropped to my lips.

The distance between us vanished by one inch.

My body leaned forward before my pride could drag it back. His mouth hovered over mine. Heat gathered between our faces. I could feel the rough edge of his breath, the tremor in his fingers, the way his chest rose against mine.

Then he turned his head and kissed the corner of my mouth instead.

Not soft.

Not gentle.

A quick, claiming press of his lips against the blood he had left there.

I shoved him hard.

"You said you wouldn't claim me."

"I kissed you."

"That wasn't an apology."

"No."

"You are unbelievable."

"And you're alive."

"For now."

"That's all I can promise."

The hunters began moving again.

A voice called from outside, closer now. "Commander Varga, report!"

Ronin released me and turned toward the door.

I grabbed his coat. "What are you going to do?"

"Make them believe you escaped through the back fissure."

"There is no back fissure."

"There is now."

He pointed at the far wall. A narrow crack split the ice behind the crates, hidden by shadow. I hadn't seen it before.

"You made that?" I asked.

"With the blade."

"You were planning to move me."

"I was planning for Kyle."

"Same thing."

"No. Kyle wants your blood. I want you out of his reach."

"You keep saying want like it makes you trustworthy."

"It doesn't."

He crouched and pulled a strip of black cloth from his belt. He wrapped it around his wrist, knotting it with his teeth.

I watched the muscles in his forearm tighten.

"Give me the capsule," he said.

"No."

"Vira."

"If you die, it dies with you."

"If you keep holding it, the serum will burn through your hand."

I looked down.

The silver tube had heated against my palm. A red mark spread across my skin.

"Damn it."

"Give it to me."

"You could have mentioned that earlier."

"You were busy threatening me."

"I multitask."

He held out his hand.

I placed the capsule in it.

His fingers closed around mine instead of taking it.

The contact sent another jolt through the mark.

His gaze locked with mine.

"You trust me now?" he asked.

"Don't flatter yourself."

"Then why hand it over?"

"Because I don't trust Kyle more."

"Good answer."

"Don't sound pleased."

"I'm not."

He tucked the capsule into the locked lining of his coat.

Then a rifle butt smashed through the upper half of the door.

Snow and splinters burst into the cave.

I ducked.

Ronin moved in front of me and drove his blade through the door slab.

A man outside screamed.

"Back!" someone shouted.

Ronin twisted the blade.

The scream cut off.

I stared at the weapon buried in the wood.

"You stabbed him through the door."

"He was reaching for the latch."

"You could have warned me."

"You would have argued."

"I am arguing now."

"I noticed."

He yanked the blade free. Blood dripped from the tip onto the snow beneath the door.

The hunters answered with a volley of shots.

The cave wall exploded beside my head.

Ronin grabbed me and threw us both behind the crates.

His body covered mine.

The impact knocked the air from my lungs. His thigh pressed between my legs. One hand shielded the back of my skull while the other braced against the floor.

Dust filled my mouth.

"Are you hit?" he demanded.

"Get off me."

"That wasn't my question."

"No."

"Say it properly."

"I'm not hit. Move."

He lifted his head. "Good."

"If you say good one more time, I'll break your teeth."

"You keep making that promise."

"I keep meaning it."

He rose and pulled me up with him.

The door had a jagged hole through the middle. Shadows moved beyond it.

"Commander!" Kyle's voice called through the snow. "Step away from the prisoner."

Ronin's hand closed around my waist.

"You hear that?" I whispered.

"Yes."

"He knows you're here."

"He suspected."

"He called me prisoner."

"You are one."

"And you're what? My jailer?"

"Tonight?"

His gaze moved over my torn uniform. The shirt had ripped from collar to waist during the fight. The mark glowed through the exposed skin, bright enough to betray us through the broken door.

Ronin swore.

"What?" I asked.

"The mark."

"Hide it."

"I'm trying."

He ripped off his coat.

I stumbled back. "What are you doing?"

"Stand still."

"Don't touch me."

"The hunters can see the glow."

"Then kill the lights."

"The mark is the light."

He stepped into me and pulled the coat around my shoulders. The heavy fabric swallowed my body. His hands moved fast, drawing the front closed over my shredded uniform.

"Ronin."

"Hold still."

"Your men are outside."

"They're not my men."

"Kyle is leading them."

"Kyle leads no one. He uses them."

"And you?"

His fingers stopped at the buttons.

"I use whoever I have to."

"Including me."

"Especially you."

I shoved at his chest. "There. That's the truth."

He caught my wrists and forced them down.

"You want truth? Fine. If Kyle comes through that door, he won't take you alive. He needs your blood, but he needs your body breathing while he gets it."

"You sound very sure."

"I saw the records."

"You saw them and did nothing."

"I moved you to Frostwatch."

"You put me in the same building as him."

"I put you where I could block his access."

"You failed."

"Not yet."

His thumb fastened the first button of his coat beneath my throat.

The second button followed.

His knuckles brushed my skin each time. The contact was small, almost careful, and it made my pulse trip harder than the gunfire.

"Don't look at me like that," I said.

"Like what?"

"Like you care whether I live."

"I do care."

"You don't get to say that after rejecting me."

"I just did."

"Say it again and I'll—"

"Vira." His voice dropped. "Listen."

Kyle shouted from outside. "Commander, if you are protecting the rebel, you will be charged with obstruction and treason. Step away from her."

Ronin buttoned the coat higher.

I whispered, "What happens if you don't?"

"They arrest me."

"And me?"

"They take you to Kyle."

"So you do have a choice."

"No. I have a decision."

"What's the difference?"

"A choice is what you make when the cost is yours alone."

His fingers closed around the last button.

"What is this costing you?" I asked.

He met my eyes.

"Everything I built."

The door slammed inward.

Ronin spun, dragging me behind him.

Kyle stood in the opening with a rifle in one hand and a silver medical case in the other. Snow clung to his dark coat. Two armed hunters crowded behind him.

His gaze dropped to Ronin's bleeding wrist, then to my bare legs beneath the commander’s coat, then to the buttons Ronin had just fastened over my shredded uniform.

A slow smile pulled at Kyle's mouth.

"Well," he said. "This is not the rescue I was promised."

Ronin's blade lifted.

Kyle raised the rifle.

I gripped the back of Ronin's coat.

Kyle's eyes fixed on the golden mark glowing against my throat.

"You let her drink from you," he said.

Ronin moved in front of me. "Take one more step and lose the hand holding that rifle."

Kyle laughed. "You think the academy will believe you protected her out of mercy?"

"I don't care what they believe."

"You should. Your command is finished."

"Leave."

"Not without the capsule."

My fingers tightened in Ronin's coat.

Kyle noticed.

His smile sharpened. "She has it, doesn't she?"

Ronin's shoulders went rigid.

Kyle tilted his head. "Or did you already put it somewhere safer?"

His gaze dropped to the locked buttons of Ronin's coat, then returned to my face.

"Commander," Kyle said, stepping over the broken door, "why are you dressed in her clothes?"