Chapter 18 · Borrowed Teeth

I don't run.

Cain's still watching me like he expects me to bolt. Blood's soaking through his shirt from where the arrow went in, dark and spreading fast. Eleven hours until midnight. Eleven hours for every hunter in this school to find him and collect five hundred credits.

And I'm supposed to just leave.

"Go." His voice comes out rough. "I'll buy you time."

I take a step closer instead. "How?"

His jaw tightens. The motion pulls at something in his shoulder and I watch his face go carefully blank. He's good at that. Locking everything down until you can't read him at all.

"Ivy."

"They changed the rules." I keep my voice level. "I can't leave until you're dead. So either I run and wait for someone else to kill you, or—"

"Or you stay and we both die."

"Or I stay and use you."

That gets his attention. His eyes narrow, and for half a second I see something flicker there. Something sharp. Then it's gone and he's back to bleeding and pretending he's still in control.

"Use me how."

I glance past him toward the treeline. No movement yet, but that won't last.