Chapter 5

A huge paw pinned my shoulder.

Claws dug into my jacket.

"Found the little runaway," the hybrid growled.

He crouched over me, half wolf and half man, with gray fur stretched across a hulking frame. His human face twisted into a grin.

"Justin said you'd be shaking," he said. "He forgot to mention you'd be this pathetic."

"Move."

The word barely made it past my throat.

He pressed harder. Pain flashed through my shoulder.

"Or what?" He leaned closer. His breath reeked of raw meat and old blood. "You'll glare at me?"

I shoved at his wrist.

Nothing happened.

Kane's power had burned through me. The strength that had carried me through Justin's beating was gone, leaving my arms heavy and useless.

The hybrid laughed.

"That's it? The pack's famous little glitch?" His claws scratched through my jacket. "You should've been erased years ago."

"You talk too much."

His grin sharpened. "Still got teeth."

"Not yours."

He raised his free hand.

The air changed.

Cold slammed into the grove. Not winter cold. This was heavier. Denser. It pressed against my ribs until every breath hurt.

The hybrid froze.

His claws lifted from my jacket.

"Who's there?" he barked.

A voice drifted between the trees.

"She's mine."

The hybrid's face went pale beneath the gray fur.

Kane stepped out from the shadows.

He didn't rush. He didn't need to. He walked toward us like the fight had already ended, black coat hanging loose around him, dark eyes fixed on the creature pinning me down.

"Mine?" the hybrid snapped, though he scrambled off me. "She's a pack traitor! She belongs to the Alpha!"

I rolled onto my side and sucked in a painful breath.

Kane stopped a few feet away.

"The Alpha?" he asked. "You mean the whimpering pup crawling through the mud?"

The hybrid's lip curled. "Watch your mouth."

"Why?" Kane tilted his head. "Did he teach you to bite for him?"

"I'll rip your throat out!"

The hybrid lunged.

Kane didn't move until the last second.

Then his hand snapped up.

A black blur crashed into the hybrid midair. Bone cracked. The hybrid screamed and hit the ground, clutching his twisted arm.

Kane looked down at him.

"Loud," he said. "I hate loud."

The hybrid tried to crawl away.

Kane flicked two fingers.

The creature flew backward and vanished into a thorn thicket. Branches snapped. A muffled curse followed.

Kane turned to me.

I pushed myself up on one elbow. "Stay back."

"You can barely sit up."

"I said stay back."

He kept walking.

I reached for the knife at my belt, but Kane caught my wrist before I could pull it free. His hand was hot. Too hot against my cold skin.

"Let go."

"You want to stab me?"

"I want you away from me."

"That's not what your pulse says."

His thumb rested against my wrist.

The beat beneath it jumped.

I hated that he noticed.

Kane stepped closer, forcing me to tip my head back to keep eye contact. His shadow covered me. I could feel the heat rolling off him, and the faint scent of smoke and sharp metal clung to his clothes.

"You're shaking, Sia," he murmured.

"I'm injured."

"Fear?"

"Anger."

"Liar."

I yanked against his grip. "You don't get to call me that. You don't get to touch me whenever you feel like it."

For half a second, his expression went still.

Then his fingers slid from my wrist to my jaw.

He turned my face toward him.

"You felt it," he said.

"Felt what?"

"The power."

My mouth went dry.

Kane's thumb brushed near my lower lip. The touch was light, but it locked every muscle in my body.

"When Justin hit the ground," he continued, "you weren't scared anymore. You liked watching him crawl."

"He deserved worse."

"There it is."

His gaze dropped to my mouth, then lifted again.

The pause lasted one breath too long.

I shoved his chest.

He didn't move.

"I'm not your toy," I said.

"No."

His hand shifted to the back of my neck. He pulled me to my feet with one smooth motion, keeping me close when my knees nearly buckled.

My hands landed on his forearms. Solid muscle. Steady heat. No room to step away without touching him more.

"Then what am I?" I demanded.

His eyes darkened.

"A debt."

"I never asked you for anything."

"You begged with your blood."

"I didn't beg."

"You were dying."

"And you took advantage."

"I gave you a way to fight back."

His voice dropped, rough enough to vibrate through the narrow space between us.

"The power wasn't a gift, little moon. It was a loan."

I stared at him. "Then collect it and get out of my way."

A slow smile touched his mouth.

"You still don't understand."

He pulled me closer.

My shoulder hit his chest. His breath brushed my temple. The warmth of him cut through the cold, and my traitorous body leaned toward it before I could stop myself.

Kane noticed that, too.

"The debt is growing," he whispered.

"What do you want?"

"Your loyalty."

"You'll never have it."

"Your hunger, then."

"Go to hell."

His fingers tightened at my neck—not enough to hurt, but enough to remind me who was holding me upright.

"And right now," he said, "I want a taste of the power you stole from me."

"Don't—"

His teeth sank into the side of my neck.

Pain flashed hot and sharp.

I cried out and gripped his arms. For one terrifying second, the forest vanished beneath a rush of dark energy.

It poured through me.

The weakness drained away. My lungs opened. My legs stopped shaking.

Kane pulled back.

A thin line of red marked his mouth.

His eyes stayed on mine.

"There," he said. "Now you remember where your strength comes from."

I shoved him away.

This time, he let me.

I stumbled back, fingers pressed to my neck. Heat pulsed beneath them. Not just pain. A mark. A warning.

"You call that help?" I snapped.

"You can stand."

"You attacked me."

"You can stand."

"You're insane."

"Probably."

He glanced toward the thorn thicket. The hybrid had gone silent.

Kane looked back at me. "You want revenge."

"I want justice."

"No. You want Justin on his knees. You want the Alpha begging. You want every person who watched you suffer to learn what it feels like to be powerless."

My fingers curled around the edge of my jacket.

"And if I do?"

"Then be my weapon."

The words landed harder than the bite.

"Excuse me?"

"Bring me the rest of them. Hounds. Soldiers. Loyalists." He stepped toward me again. "Bring me everyone still wearing that pack's mark."

"You want me to hunt my own people?"

"They hunted you first."

"You want me to hand them over so you can kill them."

"I want what they owe me."

"And what do I get?"

Kane stopped close enough that his heat brushed my skin again.

"Power."

"That's not enough."

"The chance to erase your past."

My breath caught.

He saw it.

"I'll burn that pack down to its roots," he said. "You can watch."

"And the price?"

"You already know."

I touched the mark on my neck.

His gaze followed the motion.

"Every breath you take is on my credit," he said. "Every drop of power in your veins belongs to me until the debt is paid."

"Then I refuse."

"No, you don't."

"You don't get to decide that."

"Without me, you're a half-starved girl in the woods with an angry pack searching for your scent."

"I survived before you."

"Barely."

"I survived."

For the first time, the amusement left his face.

"Then prove it."

He turned and walked toward the dark line of trees.

I stared after him. "That's it? You threaten me, bite me, make me a prisoner in some blood contract, and then walk away?"

Kane glanced over his shoulder.

"Run along, Sia. Hide. Recover."

"I hate you."

"Good. Hate lasts longer than fear."

He took another step.

"Kane."

He stopped.

I wanted to ask what he really was. Why he'd chosen me. Why the power inside me answered him like it recognized his voice.

Instead, I said, "If I bring them to you, you let me deal with Justin."

His mouth curved.

"If you can keep him alive long enough."

Then he disappeared between the trees.

I stood there, breathing hard, one hand pressed to my neck.

The mark pulsed beneath my fingers.

"Damn you," I whispered.

A sharp bay cut through the forest.

I froze.

Another answered from the ridge.

Then another.

The hounds had found my trail.

Brush crashed somewhere beyond the trees. Heavy paws pounded over frozen ground.

"Find her!" a man shouted. "Don't kill her! The Alpha wants her back in chains!"

I looked toward the place Kane had vanished.

Nothing.

No footsteps. No voice. No help.

"Of course," I muttered. "He leaves me with the fun part."

The hounds closed in.

I ran.

My shoulder screamed, but the new current in my veins pushed my legs faster. Branches tore at my jacket. The pack's voices followed, growing louder.

"She's heading east!"

"Cut her off!"

"Keep her alive!"

I ducked behind a moss-covered boulder and pressed my back against the cold stone. My hand flew to my mouth.

The hounds thundered past the other side.

One stopped.

It sniffed the air.

I held my breath.

The mark on my neck pulsed again.

The hound lifted its head and growled.

"There!" someone yelled.

I spun toward the cedar trees.

Too late.

A hand clamped over my mouth from behind.

An arm locked around my waist and hauled me backward. My spine hit rough bark. Heat pressed against my back, familiar and impossible to mistake.

Kane's breath brushed my ear.

"Shh."

I drove my elbow back.

He caught it.

"Let me go," I hissed against his palm.

"They'll hear you."

"Good."

His grip tightened just enough to stop me fighting. His chest stayed close to my back, every breath slow against my shoulder.

Beyond the tree, the hounds spread through the grove.

Kane lowered his mouth near my ear.

"Let's see how many of them are brave enough to die today."

A branch snapped inches away.

A shadow moved between the trees.

Kane's hand slid from my mouth to my jaw, turning my face toward his.

His eyes burned in the dark.

"When I remove my hand," he whispered, "you'll choose whether to run or—