Chapter 24 · Eclipse in a Cage

The cage smells like old blood and wolfsbane.

I'm on my knees in the back of the Guild transport, hands zip-tied behind me, and the mark is eating me alive. It's not a metaphor. I can feel it chewing through my ribs, pulling toward wherever Cain is, and every second the moon gets darker it pulls harder.

Derek's outside. I can hear him talking to someone, his voice smooth and grateful, like he just got his lost dog back.

The transport is a retrofitted van, reinforced steel walls and a divider cage that locks from the outside. There's a narrow window, bulletproof glass, smeared with something I don't want to think about. My shoulder's slammed against it because the van took a corner too hard. Everything hurts. The wolfsbane burns in my throat from where they shoved the syringe in.

But the mark hurts worse.

I press my forehead to the cold floor and try to breathe. The wolf is screaming inside me, clawing at the edges of my skull. She wants out. She wants Cain.