Chapter 20 · Hollowborn - Chapter 20: The Third Name

Cole caught me before I hit the ground.

The burn mark on my chest—the door shape—was still glowing. I could feel it pulsing with my heartbeat. Each pulse sent a wave of heat through my ribs, like something was trying to push its way out from the inside.

"Don't move." Cole's voice was steady, but his hands were shaking. He lowered me against the wall, keeping himself between me and the six hunters who were still standing in the doorway. "Stay behind me."

I wanted to laugh. My shoulder was torn open, my hand looked like charred meat, and now I had a glowing door branded into my chest. Staying behind him wasn't going to fix any of that.

The young hunter—the one who'd tried to grab me earlier—took a step forward. His blade was still out. "Vice Commander Marcus wants them alive. Both of them."

"Marcus doesn't know what he's dealing with." Cole didn't move. "The anchor chose her. You take her to that altar, you're not completing the ritual. You're opening a door that's been locked for three hundred years."

The hunter hesitated. Good. Maybe he wasn't completely stupid.

But the woman next to him—