Chapter 4

His face hovered inches from mine. His breath brushed my cheek.

I looked at the blood sliding over his knuckles.

"You already tried that," I said. "Didn't work."

His eyes dropped to my mouth.

That pause scared me more than his grip.

"You cut me."

"You were trying to kill me."

"I changed my mind."

"How generous."

His fingers tightened. Pain shot up my arm.

"Don't mistake restraint for mercy, Ivy."

"Don't mistake that collar around your throat for control."

The black mark beneath his skin pulsed between us. His jaw clenched every time it did.

The bond we'd made by accident pulled at my ribs, hot and sharp. I hated the way it answered him. Hated that my body noticed every inch of him before my mind could scream no.

Cain leaned closer.

"You're trembling."

"Your grip's cutting off my hand."

"Liar."

"Arrogant bastard."

His mouth curved, but there wasn't any humor in it.

"Say it again."

"Bastard."

"Again."

"You heard me."

"I want to hear you say it while you're looking at me."

I lifted my chin. "Bastard."

The smile vanished.

For one second, I thought he'd crush my wrist.

Instead, he lowered our joined hands until my knuckles brushed his chest. Heat pushed through his torn shirt. His heartbeat slammed against my palm, heavy and fast.

My pulse answered.

Cain felt it.

His gaze snapped back to mine. "There."

"There what?"

"That little jump."

"You mean when I realized you're still standing between me and the door?"

"No. I mean when you wanted me closer."

I drove my knee toward him.

Cain caught my leg before it landed and shoved it aside. His body locked mine against the wall. He wasn't crushing me, but there wasn't enough space left to pretend I had the advantage.

"Keep doing that," he murmured, "and one day I might stop being patient."

"You've never been patient. You just enjoy making threats."

"Threats are for people who need permission."

The words slid low through my chest.

He was close enough for me to feel his heat through our clothes. Close enough to smell iron, smoke, and his blood.

My mouth watered.

Not from hunger.

The bond wanted something from him.

Cain saw my face change.

His grip loosened by a fraction. "What is it?"

"Nothing."

"You smell it."

"Smell what?"

"My blood."

I forced my eyes away from the cut across his knuckles. "I smell a dirty shirt and a worse attitude."

"You can lie to humans. Not to me."

"Then stop asking questions."

He dragged the back of his hand across the wound. The motion smeared the blood instead of wiping it away. His eyes never left mine.

"You're hungry."

"I ate yesterday."

"Not for food."

"Keep talking, and I'll show you what I'm hungry for."

"You'd need to get free first."

I twisted hard, using the wall for leverage. His hold shifted.

That was all I needed.

I slammed my shoulder into his chest and ripped my wrist free.

The knife flashed between us.

Cain moved faster.

He caught my elbow, spun me around, and drove my forearm onto the stone. The blade hit the floor with a sharp clatter.

"You're making this difficult," he said.

"That's the idea."

"You can't beat me."

"I don't have to beat you. I only have to stay alive long enough for someone else to try."

His face hardened.

"The hunters?"

"Your friends?"

"I don't have friends."

"That explains the personality."

His hand slid from my elbow to my shoulder. He turned me toward him again. His thumb pressed over the spot where my pulse jumped.

"The men outside aren't here to save you."

"I know. They're here for the same reason my family sent me into the Wilds."

"To use you."

"To get rid of me."

"Those aren't the same thing."

"They are when you're me."

His eyes narrowed.

The bond tugged again.

A sharp pull ripped through my chest. My knees nearly buckled.

Cain caught my waist.

His palm spread over my side. Heat soaked through my shirt. My fingers grabbed his forearm before I could stop them.

He looked down at my hand.

"Let go."

"You're holding me."

"I'm keeping my balance."

"Of course."

"Don't sound pleased."

"I'm not pleased."

His thumb moved once against my ribs. Slow. Deliberate.

"I'm deciding what to do with you."

"Try asking nicely."

"You'd say no."

"Exactly."

Cain bent his head. His mouth stopped beside my ear.

"You think that word protects you."

Hot breath brushed my skin. Every muscle in my back tightened.

"It's worked so far."

"No. It's made you feel brave. There's a difference."

"And what makes you feel brave? That seal under your skin? The claws you keep pretending you can still use?"

The change in him was instant.

His hand left my waist.

His fist struck the stone beside my head. Black rock cracked under his knuckles.

I flinched.

I didn't look away.

"Say that again," he said.

"Your claws. They're gone, aren't they?"

"You know nothing about what I am."

"I know you were trapped in a hole for a hundred years. I know a human seal weakened you. I know every time the bond pulls, you look ready to tear yourself apart."

"Careful."

"What? You going to bite me?"

His eyes flashed gold.

The words died in my throat.

Cain stepped in. His chest touched mine. His hand closed around the back of my neck—not squeezing, just holding me exactly where he wanted me. His thumb rested beneath my jaw.

"You keep daring me to become the thing you fear," he said. "You don't understand what happens if I stop holding it back."

"Then stop holding it back."

The growl that answered vibrated through my bones.

I should've been terrified.

I was terrified.

But beneath it, something hot and reckless opened its eyes.

Cain heard it in my heartbeat. His nostrils flared. His gaze dropped again, and this time he didn't bother hiding it.

"You want me afraid," I whispered.

"I want you honest."

"You can't tell the difference."

"I can smell the difference."

"You keep talking about my scent like I'm an animal."

"You're the one who keeps circling me."

"I'm looking for a way out."

"There is no way out."

He turned his head toward the narrow passage behind him.

A blue-white seal burned across the exit. Something scraped against the rock beyond it.

Metal.

Boots.

More than one person.

My stomach dropped.

"How many?" I asked.

"Six."

"You said three."

"There were three when I counted."

"And now?"

"Now they've brought a priest."

The scrape became a hard knock against the sealed door.

A man's voice carried through the stone. "Ivy! Step away from the beast!"

Cain's hand tightened at my neck.

"Don't answer," he said.

"They know I'm here."

"They know you're alive. That isn't the same thing."

The voice came again, sharper. "Ivy Vale! By order of the Vale household, you're being retrieved. Resist, and we'll burn the mark out of your body."

I stared at the seal.

Cain watched me. "Your family sent them."

"They always send someone when they want a dirty job done."

"And what do they want now?"

"My body, apparently."

His eyes went cold.

The bond jerked hard.

Heat tore across my chest and leaped into him. Cain staggered half a step.

The seal outside brightened.

"What was that?" I asked.

"The bond."

"You're getting weaker."

"Don't sound so excited."

"I'm trying not to sound terrified."

He looked down at my hand.

Blood from his knuckles had smeared across my palm when I'd grabbed him. The red line glowed faintly against my skin.

Cain's attention locked onto it.

His pupils narrowed.

"Clean it off," he said.

"Why?"

"Now."

"You're the one who put it there."

"Ivy."

The way he said my name made the back of my neck prickle. Not loud. Not angry.

Worse.

It sounded like an order he expected the world to obey.

I wiped my palm against my shirt.

The blood stayed.

Cain's jaw flexed.

"That won't work."

"Then stop staring at it."

"You don't understand."

"You've said that a lot. Try explaining something for once."

He took my wrist again, but this time his touch was careful. His thumb traced the glowing smear without quite touching my skin.

"Your blood is reacting to mine."

"We've been over this. We're bound."

"This is different."

"How?"

"The seal is afraid of it."

I glanced at the door.

The blue-white lines had started to flicker.

Outside, a hunter shouted, "Father, prepare the iron!"

A second voice answered, "She's bonded. If we break the mark, the beast may die with her."

Cain's fingers went still.

I heard it too.

May die with her.

The passage seemed to shrink around us.

"They think the bond can be broken," I said.

"They think a lot of things."

"They said you might die."

"Would that upset you?"

"You're standing in front of me. You tell me."

His gaze lifted slowly.

"You're worried."

"I'm worried about what happens to me if you die."

"Only that?"

"Don't make this about your ego."

"Everything's about my ego. I'm very impressive."

A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.

Small. Barely there.

Cain stared at me like I'd done something more dangerous than stab him.

"What?" I asked.

"You laughed."

"Don't get used to it."

"I might make you do it again."

"Try."

His thumb moved over my wrist. His skin was rough and warm. The touch was almost gentle, which made it worse.

Cain didn't do gentle.

Not with me. Not with anyone.

Iron struck the seal.

The entire passage shook.

Cain shoved me behind him.

"Stay back."

"I'm not hiding behind you."

"You are if you want to keep breathing."

"You can't fight six men and a priest while the bond is draining you."

"Then stand behind me and be quiet."

"I'd rather be shot."

"You won't be shot."

"That confidence is adorable."

He glanced over his shoulder. "Want to test it?"

"I want a weapon."

"You dropped the knife."

"Then give it back."

"No."

"Cain."

"Ask better."

I held out my hand. "Please give me the knife so I can help you kill the people trying to drag me home."

"That was almost polite."

"I can make it less polite."

He bent, picked up the knife, and tossed it behind him.

I caught the handle.

"Stay close," he said.

"I thought you wanted me behind you."

"Close enough that I can reach you."

"That sounds like a threat."

"It's a promise."

The seal split.

A thin line of white fire cut across the doorway. Cain lifted one hand. Black claws pushed beneath his fingertips, short and jagged. They shook as they formed.

The first hunter stepped through.

He wore a gray coat marked with silver chains. An iron strip covered his mouth and nose. His eyes found me first.

"Ivy," he said. "Come here."

"Pass."

His gaze snapped to Cain. "The beast has corrupted you."

"He has terrible manners, but I was difficult before I met him."

Cain's growl rolled through the passage.

The hunter raised a metal charm. "Kneel, creature."

Cain moved.

The hunter barely lifted his arm before Cain struck the charm away. Metal slammed into stone. Cain seized the man's coat and drove him into the doorway.

Two more hunters rushed in.

I stepped aside as a chain whipped through the space where my head had been. The links struck Cain's shoulder. White fire crawled across his skin.

He snarled and dropped to one knee.

"Cain!"

The second hunter raised the chain again.

I threw my knife.

It buried itself in his sleeve, pinning his arm to the wall.

"That was my knife!" Cain snapped.

"You're welcome!"

The first hunter tore a short iron rod from his belt and jammed it against Cain's ribs.

Cain's body jerked.

The bond ripped through me.

His pain burst inside my chest. My breath caught. My knees hit the stone.

"Get away from him!" the hunter shouted.

Cain gripped the man's wrist, but his claws shook. The iron rod burned against him, filling the passage with the stink of scorched metal.

I forced myself upright.

The priest stepped through the broken seal.

He carried a longer rod wrapped in silver wire.

His eyes dropped to the glowing blood on my palm.

Then he smiled behind the iron strip.

"So that's the key," he said.

Cain's head snapped toward him. "Don't touch her."

"You still think you can give orders?"

The priest raised the rod.

The bond yanked me forward, straight toward Cain and the waiting iron.

I grabbed the nearest chain and pulled with everything I had.

The trapped hunter shouted. Cain's claws punched through the man's coat.

The priest lifted the rod over Cain's heart.

I lunged and—