Chapter 17 · The Beast Knows My Name

Ronan's on his knees when the first crack splits down his spine.

I feel it through the bond before I see it. A white-hot line of pain that isn't mine but might as well be. He's got both hands flat on the tunnel floor, head down, breathing like he just ran ten miles. The veins in his forearms are black. Not dark. Black.

"How long?" I ask Inez.

She's still holding the empty syringe. Her hand's shaking. "Five minutes. Maybe less."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one I've got."

Ronan makes a sound that's halfway between a laugh and a growl. "She means I'm done either way."

I crouch next to him. The air around him smells wrong. Like burned sugar and something sharper. Something that makes my teeth ache. "You're not done."

"Mara." His voice cracks on my name. "You need to run."

"Not happening."

"I'm serious. When this thing breaks through—"

"Then we stop it before it does."

Inez steps back. She's looking at Ronan like he's a bomb on a timer. Which, okay, maybe he is. But I'm not leaving him to go off alone.

"The seal's already fractured," she says.