Chapter 24 · The First Bite Back

"Get out of my head, Cain. Now."

His hand snapped around my wrist before I could pull free.

Heat punched through his palm and raced up my arm. The bond twisted. His memory slammed into mine.

Iron chains.

A stone floor slick with blood.

Men in black masks standing over a boy on his knees.

Not Cain as I knew him. Younger. Smaller. Furious enough to keep breathing.

"Stop looking," he snarled.

"Then stop hiding things."

"I'm not hiding anything."

"You just showed me a command carved into your prison wall. Destroy you or kill the girl who wakes you. That sounds like hiding to me."

His fingers tightened.

Pain cracked through the bond. My knees folded.

Cain caught me before I hit the floor. His other arm locked around my waist and hauled me against his chest. His breath brushed my temple, fast and rough.

Not calm.

Not in control.

That scared me more than the chains.

"Let go," I said.

"Your mind is sliding."

"Maybe because you keep dragging me through a hundred years of torture."

"I tried to shut you out."

"You tried to bury it. There's a difference."

The black stone under us shook.