Chapter 2

"I asked you a question, little bird." His voice pressed against my skin. "Who woke me?"

"Let go."

"Try again."

"I said, let go!"

His grip tightened just enough to steal the next breath.

The cavern blurred at the edges. Cold stone dug into my spine. Kane stood close enough to block the torchlight, all heat and sharp edges and those inhuman golden eyes.

"You smell like a dying pack," he said. "Why?"

I clawed at his wrist. His skin felt like warm marble beneath my nails.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I stumbled in here. That's it."

A low laugh rolled through his chest.

"You stumbled into the most forbidden grave in the North?"

"Apparently."

"You triggered a blood lock."

"I didn't trigger anything."

"The sarcophagus opened for you."

"It was an accident."

"Accidents don't wake kings."

His thumb shifted against my throat. Not enough to hurt. Enough to remind me how easily he could.

"You don't look like a king," I said.

His eyes narrowed.

That was stupid. I knew it the second the words left my mouth.

Kane leaned closer. His breath brushed my ear, hot against the cave's freezing air.

"Careful."

"What? Afraid I'll hurt your feelings?"

"No." His mouth curved without humor. "I'm deciding whether to kill you before or after you explain why your blood woke me."

My pulse jumped beneath his hand.

His gaze dropped to my wrist.

The blood-mark there pulsed once.

Kane went still.

"There it is," he murmured. "You really don't know what you did."

"I cut my hand on the stone. That's all."

"That's all?"

"Yes."

"You spilled blood on a sealed royal tomb, opened a lock no living wolf could break, and woke the king every northern pack has spent three centuries pretending never existed."

"When you say it like that, it sounds bad."

His fingers loosened.

I dragged in air and shoved him with both hands.

He didn't move.

Not an inch.

Kane looked down at my hands against his chest, then back at my face.

"Get away from me," I snapped.

"You're giving orders now?"

"I'm giving you a chance to make a smart choice."

His brow lifted.

"And what choice is that?"

"Don't make me your enemy."

"You're already standing in my grave and wearing my mark."

"I didn't ask for your mark."

"The magic didn't ask permission."

He released my throat, but his hand slid to my shoulder instead. His thumb pressed down, steady and bruising enough to keep me in place.

"You woke me," he said. "That makes you responsible for what happens next."

"I didn't wake you on purpose."

"Intent doesn't matter to old magic."

"Then old magic can pay my funeral costs."

For one second, he stared at me.

Then he laughed.

It wasn't warm. It was worse than that. He sounded entertained.

"You have a sharp mouth for someone whose pack just threw her out."

My jaw clenched.

"Don't talk about my pack."

"Why? Did they hurt your feelings?"

"They tried to kill me."

That wiped the amusement from his face.

A howl rose from the mouth of the cave.

Far away.

Then another answered.

Closer.

My stomach dropped.

Justin's hunters.

Kane heard them too. His head turned toward the entrance, but his hand stayed on my shoulder.

"Friends of yours?"

"No."

"Enemies, then."

"They followed me here."

"Why?"

"Because Justin wants me dead."

Kane's golden eyes returned to mine.

"Justin."

The way he said the name made the mark on my wrist flare hot.

"You know him?"

"I know the name. A little pup wearing a stolen crown."

"He calls himself Alpha of the North."

"He calls himself many things, I'm sure."

"He has the packs behind him. He has the hunters. He has the borders locked down."

"And yet you're still alive."

"Barely."

Kane stepped away at last.

The cold rushed into the space between us.

I forced myself upright and rubbed my throat. My fingers came away shaking. I hated that he saw it.

He circled me slowly, watching the mark on my wrist brighten with every step.

"What are you doing?" I demanded.

"Checking the bond."

"There is no bond."

"You can keep saying that. It won't make you less bound."

"I am not bound to you."

Kane stopped behind me.

His voice dropped beside my ear.

"Then run."

I turned my head. "What?"

"Run."

The word barely left him before the mark burned.

Pain ripped up my arm and slammed into my chest.

I folded with a gasp.

Kane caught my elbow before I hit the floor.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing."

"Liar!"

"I told you to run. The bond answered."

"I didn't agree to this!"

"The magic doesn't care."

He pulled me upright. His grip was unbreakable, but he didn't drag me closer than he had to.

That almost made it worse.

"What happens if I leave?" I asked.

"The mark tears through your heart."

My breath stopped.

"You're lying."

"Try again."

"You can't threaten me into obedience."

"I'm not threatening you. I'm explaining the leash."

I swung at him.

Kane caught my wrist in midair.

The mark flared between us, bright and purple.

His eyes dropped to our joined hands.

"You really do bite back."

"Let go."

"You keep saying that."

"Because you keep touching me."

Something shifted in his expression. Not softness. Kane didn't have softness in him.

Interest.

His thumb brushed once over the glowing mark.

Heat shot up my arm.

I jerked against his grip.

"Don't."

He stopped.

For the first time since waking, the king actually listened.

His gaze lifted to mine and stayed there. We were too close. I could feel the heat of his hand through my sleeve, hear the slow beat of his heart beneath the leather and fabric between us.

"You're afraid of the bond," he said.

"I'm afraid of you."

"Good. Fear keeps people alive."

"So does having choices."

"You want choices?"

"I want my life back."

"That life ended when your pack abandoned you."

The words landed harder than they should have.

I yanked my hand free.

"You don't know anything about me."

"I know you smell like a dying pack. I know their mark is on you. I know their hunters are closing in."

He took one step closer.

"And I know you came here because you had nowhere else to go."

"I came here because I needed help."

"From a dead king?"

"From anyone who could stop Justin."

"Then bargain."

I stared at him.

"What?"

"You want my protection. I want a reason not to walk back into this coffin. Give me one."

The howls came again.

Much closer now.

Torchlight flickered across the cave mouth.

I swallowed and forced my voice steady.

"I know the current borders. I know which packs still hate Justin. I know how his hunters move."

"That's not enough."

"I can get you through the Forbidden Woods."

Kane's mouth curved.

"Can you?"

"Yes."

It was a lie.

A desperate one. A necessary one.

His eyes sharpened like he heard the lie before I finished speaking.

"You can't."

"I can."

"You don't even believe yourself."

"Believe me or kill me. Pick one."

Kane moved so fast I hit the stone again.

One hand closed around both my wrists and pinned them above my head. His other arm blocked the only path around him.

The torchlight vanished behind his shoulder.

"You think death is your worst option?" he asked.

"Right now? Yes."

"Then you haven't understood the bond."

His face hovered close to mine. Heat rolled off him. His breath touched my cheek, and every muscle in my body locked—not from surrender, but because I refused to show him how badly the contact rattled me.

His eyes dropped to my mouth for half a second.

Then they snapped back to mine.

"The mark makes you mine to protect," he said. "It doesn't make you my servant."

"That's supposed to comfort me?"

"No."

"Good, because it doesn't."

"But if anyone comes for you, they answer to me first."

"I don't belong to you."

"Not yet."

The words hung between us.

My breath caught.

Kane seemed to notice. His grip tightened around my wrists, then eased before it could hurt.

"You want proof?" he asked.

"I want you out of my way."

"That's not what your pulse says."

"My pulse says you're standing too close."

"Then tell me to move."

"Move."

He didn't.

A horn sounded outside the cave.

Another answered from the trees.

Justin's hunters had surrounded the entrance.

Kane finally released me and turned toward the torchlight.

I lowered my arms, rubbing one wrist with the other.

"How many?" he asked.

"Enough to kill me."

"That wasn't my question."

"Twenty. Maybe more."

"And Justin?"

"He'll be behind them. He always lets other people bleed first."

Kane gave a quiet, humorless laugh.

"Then he hasn't changed."

"You knew him before?"

"I knew his bloodline."

"What does that mean?"

He glanced back at me.

"It means your ex-fiancé is about to learn why his ancestors buried me instead of killing me."

The first hunter stepped into the cave.

He carried a silver spear in one hand and a torch in the other.

His eyes found me immediately.

"There she is!"

I flinched before I could stop myself.

Kane noticed.

Of course he noticed.

The hunter lifted the spear.

"Step away from the girl, monster."

Kane walked toward him.

"Girl?"

The hunter's face tightened. "The exile belongs to Alpha Justin."

"She belongs to no one."

Kane's voice filled the cavern.

The mark on my wrist flashed again.

Every hunter froze.

Their gazes dropped to the purple light, then rose to Kane's face.

One of them whispered, "The king."

Kane stopped at the edge of the torchlight.

"You remember me."

The hunter stumbled back.

"You're dead."

"And you're standing in my grave."

The spear shook in the hunter's hand.

"Justin said the tomb was empty."

"Justin lies."

Kane reached behind him without looking.

His hand found my shoulder.

The contact sent heat through the bond, sharp enough to make me gasp.

The hunters heard it.

Their fear turned into confusion.

"What did you do to her?" the lead hunter demanded.

Kane's fingers tightened once.

"Ask your false Alpha what he did."

"She has to come with us."

"No."

"That's not your choice."

Kane smiled.

It showed just enough sharpness to make the hunter step back again.

"It is now."

A deeper howl rolled through the trees.

Not from the hunters.

Something larger answered from beyond them.

The torches dipped as the men turned toward the sound.

Kane leaned close to my ear.

"Stay behind me."

"Don't order me around."

"Then stand beside me and pretend it was your idea."

I looked at him.

For one dangerous second, his hand remained on my shoulder. His heat pressed through the fabric between us, steady and impossible to ignore.

"If you betray me," I whispered, "I'll find a way to destroy you."

His eyes held mine.

"If you lie to me again, I'll know before you finish the sentence."

"Kane—"

"And if Justin takes one more step toward you, I won't stop him."

My stomach tightened.

"You won't stop him?"

Kane's gaze shifted to the dark beyond the torchline.

"I'll stop everyone."

The lead hunter raised his spear.

"Last warning! Hand her over!"

Kane moved in front of me.

The cave seemed to shrink around his shadow.

He lifted one hand, and every torch flame bent toward him.

"All right," he said.

The hunters braced themselves.

Kane's golden eyes burned brighter.

"Who's first?"

The lead hunter lunged—and Kane's hand snapped toward the spear—