Chapter 14 · Blood-Bound Terms

"Take your hand off me, Cain."

His fingers closed around my wrist before I could reach the wounded hunter.

The bond flared.

Heat shot from Cain’s palm to my shoulder. My knees buckled. He caught me against his chest and dragged me away from the broken altar.

My back hit him. His breath brushed my neck.

"You don’t touch him again," he said.

"He knows what my family did." I shoved at his arm. "Move."

"No."

The Vale hunter coughed behind us. Blood slid from the corner of his mouth, but he still managed a crooked smile.

"There it is," he rasped. "The leash tightens."

Cain’s hold changed.

Not looser. Worse.

His arm locked across my ribs while his eyes stayed on the hunter.

"Say that again."

"Your little sacrifice has a command in her blood." The hunter wiped his mouth with a shaking hand. "You know the command. She doesn’t."

"Shut up."

"What command?" I demanded.

Cain looked down at me.

His eyes had gone bright gold.

"You heard him," I said. "What command?"

The ruin groaned around us. Dust spilled from the cracked ceiling.