Chapter 14 · Behind the Iron Door

"Don't move."

Vane's voice scraped against my neck. His arm was a steel bar across my ribs, and his whole body burned through my shirt like a stove somebody forgot to shut off.

On the other side of the iron door, Garrick's boots stopped dead.

"Alpha." Polite. Way too polite. "We found her poison kit in the kitchen. You need to see it."

My stomach dropped.

I didn't own a poison kit. I owned one herb pouch, my mother's stitching, and Garrick's men had ripped it off my belt at the border.

Vane's chest rumbled against my back. Not a word. A growl, low and wet, the kind that means the man is mostly gone.

"He's lying," I whispered.

"I know." His breath scorched my ear. "Shut up and let me think."

"You're not thinking. You're shaking."

He was. Fine tremors ran from his arm straight into my ribs. His hand was clamped around the chain between my wrists, and I could see black veins crawling up under his skin.