Chapter 14 · The Harvest

"Get your hands off me!" I screamed.

The words broke into a gasp as something tore through my chest.

Not a knife. Not claws.

Something worse.

I hit my knees hard enough to crack the frozen ground. Pain ripped through my ribs, hot and savage, while the mark beneath my skin burned like a brand.

Beside me, Kane dropped with a roar that shook the trees.

"Kane!"

He caught himself on one hand. His fingers dug into the dirt, his shoulders jerking as if invisible chains were yanking him apart.

Ten feet away, the shadow creature lifted one long arm.

The air pulsed.

Pain crushed my chest again.

Kane's head snapped toward me. His eyes blazed gold.

"Stay back," he snarled.

"I can't!" I pressed a hand to my side. "What is this thing doing to us?"

"Collecting."

His voice came out rough and wrong, more growl than speech.

"Collecting what?"

Kane bared his teeth. "The debt."

Another pulse struck.

My breath vanished. The blood bond screamed through every inch of me, and Kane folded over with a sound that made my stomach turn.

"The bond isn't a gift, Sia," he forced out. "It's a loan.