Chapter 21 · The Mark Starts Eating

The cabin smelled like burnt sage and old blood when I dragged Cain back inside. He wasn't passed out anymore but he wasn't exactly awake either. His eyes tracked me but didn't see me.

I kicked the door shut. My shoulder screamed where I'd hit a branch carrying him through the smoke. Didn't matter. Vera was gone. The Guild squad was gone.

And Cain's wrist looked like something was eating him from the inside out.

"Let me see it." I dropped to my knees next to the cot where I'd dumped him. Grabbed his arm before he could pull away.

The bond mark that used to be silver and clean now looked like someone had poured ink under his skin. Black veins spiderwebbed from the crescent moon shape, crawling up toward his elbow. The skin around it was hot. Fever hot.

"Don't." His voice came out rough. He tried to yank his arm back.

I held on. "Don't what? Don't look at the thing that's killing you? Too late."

"It's supposed to." He said it flat. Like he was telling me the weather. "Eclipse bond. You heard Vera. I'm the wrong species. It's rejecting me."

"Rejecting sounds clean.