Chapter 1

"And you're not creeped out?"

"Used to worse."

She doesn't know what worse means. Rachel thinks my dad died in a car accident three years ago. Thinks I work double shifts because of student loans. She doesn't know about the silver blade strapped to my thigh under these jeans.

She definitely doesn't know the stranger in the corner booth isn't human.

I caught it the second he walked in. Too smooth. Too controlled. Eyes reflected the dim bar lights wrong, just for a second. And the smell—cold stone and old blood.

Vampire.

My heartbeat picks up, but I keep my face blank. Three generations of Mu family hunters, and I'm the last one left. My great-grandfather started it. My grandfather continued. My father died finishing a hunt.

And I'm gonna find out which bloodsucker killed him.

Rachel touches my arm. "You okay? You zoned out."

"Yeah. Just tired." I glance at the clock. "Fifteen minutes till close. You head out, I'll lock up."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

She hesitates, looking between me and the corner booth. Then grabs her jacket. "Text me when you get home, okay?"

"Always do."

I don't. But she doesn't need to know that.

The door swings shut behind her. I flip the sign to Closed and start wiping down tables, working my way toward the corner booth. Pulse loud in my ears. Hands steady. I've done this before.

Get close. Confirm the target. Strike fast.

I stop at his table. Up close, he's younger than I expected—mid-twenties, dark hair pushed back, sharp jawline. Expensive coat. Looks like he stepped out of some corporate boardroom.

His drink's still full. Whiskey, untouched.

"We're closed," I say.

He looks up. Gray eyes. Cold. Old.

"I know," he says. Voice quiet, controlled. "I came to talk to you, Lynn Mu."

My stomach drops. I don't let it show. "You've got the wrong person."

"I don't think so." He tilts his head slightly. "Daughter of James Mu. Granddaughter of Wei Mu. Last living member of a hunter family that's been killing my kind for seventy years."

Shit.

I take a step back, hand already moving toward my thigh. But he's faster. Across the table and in front of me before I can blink. One hand catches my wrist. The other presses against my throat.

Not squeezing. Just holding.

"I'm not here to kill you," he says.

I drive my knee up toward his ribs. He blocks it, barely, and I twist my wrist free. My other hand goes for the blade. Get it halfway out before he slams me back against the wall. Both my wrists pinned above my head.

His face is inches from mine. I can see the veins darkening under his eyes now. Points of his fangs just visible.

"Listen to me," he says. "There's a traitor inside the Blood Council. Someone's been killing human contacts and framing my unit. If I don't find them in the next month, we're looking at a war."

"Not my problem."

"It will be." His grip tightens. "Because whoever's doing this knows about you. They know you're still hunting. And they're gonna use you to destabilize the treaty."

I laugh. Sharp and bitter. "What treaty? You think I care about vampire politics? My father died hunting your kind. My family's been dying for three generations because of you."

"I know."

"Then let me go."

"I can't." Something flickers across his face—frustration, maybe regret. "You're in danger. Whether you believe me or not, someone's coming for you. And if they get to you first—"

I spit in his face.

He jerks back. Just enough. I get my blade all the way out. Silver, blessed, sharp enough to cut through bone. Drive it straight toward his heart.

He twists. The blade sinks in, but not where I aimed—too far left, into his shoulder instead of his chest. He gasps. Blood blooms dark against his white shirt. His hands clamp down on my arms.

His fangs sink into my throat.

Pain explodes through me. White-hot and electric. I try to scream. Nothing comes out. My whole body locks up, every nerve firing at once. I can feel his teeth in my skin. Feel the pull as he draws blood. And then—

Something breaks open inside me.

It's like a dam bursting. Heat floods my veins, rushing outward from where his mouth meets my neck, and I feel it—his heartbeat. Not mine. His. Slow and cold and wrong, but there. Pulsing in time with the pain.

He pulls back. Eyes wide. Blood on his lips.

"No," he says. "No, that's not—"

I drive the blade deeper.

He chokes. Hands spasming on my arms. We both drop. My knees hit the floor hard, his weight dragging me down. The blade's still in his shoulder. My hand still on the hilt. I can feel it—the silver burning through his blood. His pulse stuttering.

And mine stuttering with it.

Black veins crawl across my skin. Spreading from where he bit me. They move fast, threading up my neck, across my collarbone, reaching toward my heart. I try to pull away. Can't move. My muscles won't respond.

His hand wraps around my wrist. Pulls the blade out with a wet, awful sound. Drops it. It clatters across the floor.

"What did you do?" My voice comes out strangled.

"I didn't—" He's breathing hard. One hand pressed to his shoulder, blood seeping between his fingers. Black veins on him too, crawling up from where I stabbed him. "It wasn't supposed to activate. You're human. It shouldn't have—"

"What activated?"

He looks at me. For the first time, I see fear in his eyes.

"Blood bond," he says. "It's a vampire ritual. Old magic. It ties two lives together."

"Untie it."

"I can't." He's still staring at the black veins spreading across my skin. They've reached my chest now. Branching like roots. "Once it activates, it has to complete. Three exchanges. Thirty days."

My heart's pounding so hard I think it might break through my ribs. "Or what?"

He meets my eyes.

"Or both our hearts stop."

I try to stand. Legs won't hold me. The black veins pulse, tightening around my heart. I gasp, clutching at my chest. He reaches for me. I knock his hand away.

"Don't touch me."

"Lynn—"

"Don't say my name." I drag myself backward, putting distance between us. My whole body feels like it's on fire and freezing at the same time. "Who are you?"

He's quiet for a moment. Hand still pressed to his bleeding shoulder. Then he says, "Adrian Kor. Commander of the Blood Council's third unit."

Commander. My stomach twists. High-ranking. That means he's killed people. That means—

"My father," I say. My voice shakes. "Did you kill him?"

"No." His eyes don't leave mine. "But I know who did."

The black veins pulse again. Tighter. I double over, gasping. He moves toward me. Stops when I glare at him.

"Thirty days," he says again. Voice flat, but I can hear the edge underneath. "We have thirty days to complete the ritual. Three exchanges of blood, given willingly. If we don't—"

"We die."

"Yes."

I look down at the black veins crawling across my skin. Wrapping around my heart. Then I look at him—this vampire, this commander, this thing I was supposed to kill.

And I think about my father. About the hunt he died finishing. About the fact that this man says he knows who killed him.

I push myself to my feet. Shaking. "Thirty days."

"Yes."

I pick up my blade. Still slick with his blood. "Then you're gonna tell me everything you know about my father's death."

"I will." He's watching me carefully now. "But first we need to get somewhere safe. The bond activated—someone will have felt it. They'll be coming."

"Who?"

"Everyone." He's already moving toward the door, one hand still pressed to his bleeding shoulder. "The Council. The traitor. Every vampire in the city who wants to see me dead."

I don't move. "And I'm supposed to trust you?"

"No." He looks back at me. Blood still on his lips. Black veins crawling up his neck. "But you don't have a choice. Not anymore."

The black veins around my heart pulse again. Tighter. I can feel his heartbeat in my chest. Slow. Cold. Wrong.

He's right. I don't have a choice.

I grab my jacket off the hook and follow him toward the door. My hand's still on my blade. He notices.

"You can keep that," he says. "But if you stab me again before the bond completes, we both die."

"Good to know."

He opens the door. Cold night air rushes in. I can smell rain coming.

"One more thing," I say.

He turns.

"When this is over," I say, "when the bond's complete and we're not tied together anymore—I'm coming for you."

Something flickers across his face. Not fear. Something else. Something almost like respect.

"I'd expect nothing less," he says.

He steps out into the night. I follow.

Behind us, the bar door swings shut. Inside, my phone buzzes on the counter. Rachel, asking if I'm home yet.

I don't look back.

The black veins pulse in time with his heartbeat. Thirty days. Three exchanges. And then I'll find out who killed my father.

And I'll make them pay.

But first, I have to survive the night.

Adrian's already halfway down the alley. Moving fast despite the wound in his shoulder. I run to catch up.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"Somewhere the Council can't track us."

"And where's that?"

He looks at me. Gray eyes catching the streetlight.

"My place," he says.

I stop walking. "You've gotta be kidding."

"It's warded. Shielded. The only place in the city where the bond won't broadcast our location to every vampire with a pulse."

"Your place."

"Yes."

"You want me to go home with you."

"I want you to stay alive," he says. "At least until we figure out who's trying to kill us both."

The black veins pulse. My heart stutters. His does too—I can feel it.

Damn it.

"Fine," I say. "But I'm keeping the blade."

"Fine."

We start walking again. The rain starts a minute later. Cold and sharp, soaking through my jacket. Adrian doesn't seem to notice. Doesn't even flinch.

I watch him out of the corner of my eye. The way he moves. The way his hand stays pressed to his shoulder, blood still seeping between his fingers. The black veins crawling up his neck.

Thirty days.

I'm tied to a vampire for thirty days.

And somewhere out there, someone knows it.

Someone's coming.

"Adrian," I say.

He glances back.

"How many vampires are in this city?"

"Two hundred and forty-three," he says. "Registered."

"And unregistered?"

He's quiet for a moment. Then, "Double that."

My stomach drops. "And they'll all know about the bond?"

"The strong ones will. The old ones." He turns down another alley, moving faster now. "The ones who remember what a blood bond feels like when it activates."

"Great."

"It gets worse."

"Of course it does."

"Blood bonds haven't been legal for two hundred years," he says. "The Council banned them after the last war. If they find out—"

"They'll kill us both."

"Yes."

I laugh. Can't help it. It comes out sharp and bitter. "So we've got thirty days to complete an illegal ritual, find a traitor inside your Council, and figure out who killed my father. All while every vampire in the city hunts us down."

"That's about right."

"Fantastic."

He stops in front of a building. Old warehouse, brick and iron, windows dark. Looks abandoned. He presses his hand against the door. I hear a lock click. Then another. Then five more.

The door swings open.

"Welcome to my place," he says.

I step inside.

The door slams shut behind me. Every lock clicks back into place. And I realize—

I just walked into a vampire's lair.

With no backup. No exit plan. No way out.

The black veins pulse around my heart.

Adrian's watching me. Blood still on his lips. Gray eyes unreadable.

"You're safe here," he says.

I tighten my grip on my blade.

"We'll see."

He turns and walks deeper into the warehouse. I follow, every instinct screaming at me to run.

But the black veins tighten.

And I know.

I can't run.

Not anymore.

For the next thirty days, my life is tied to his.

And somewhere out there, someone's coming to kill us both.