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"Tell me where you got the crystal, or I start breaking fingers."
Draven's boot pinned my wrist to the floor. His other hand held a short blade against my throat, close enough for the cold edge to bite.
I stared up at him. "You already tried that."
"I remember. You screamed for almost three seconds."
"I was laughing."
His gray eyes narrowed. Up close, he looked worse than he had in the alley. A black stain crawled beneath the skin of his left hand, thin lines climbing toward his sleeve. The rot had spread since he dragged me in here.
Good.
Not good enough.
"Name your buyer," he said.
"Buy me dinner first."
The blade pressed harder. A sharp sting cut across my neck.
"You smuggle illegal spark crystals through Combine checkpoints," he said. "You burned two patrolmen, broke a city gate, and ran half a mile with a hunter on your heels. Now you tell me you don't know who paid you?"
"I know exactly who paid me."
"Then talk."
"No."
His fingers closed around my wrist. Heat pushed through his glove, steady and solid. The tether between us—a narrow strip of dark metal locked around both our wrists—pulled tight when I shifted.
I hated that thing.
I hated that it had appeared between us after my fire touched his throat. I hated the way it hummed against my pulse, like it had decided his body belonged near mine.
Most of all, I hated that the rot under his skin had stopped spreading when we touched.
Draven leaned closer. His breath brushed my cheek.
"You don't get to say no."
"Funny. You said the same thing before dragging me through three alleys."
"And you're still alive."
"Your standards are adorable."
His mouth tightened. Not a smile. Almost one.
I caught the tiny shift and filed it away. He could be provoked. Good. Men who lost control made mistakes.
The room was a storage chamber beneath an old checkpoint station. One door. One barred window. Two weapons on Draven. One knife hidden in my boot. No backup that I could hear.
He thought the chains made him the one in control.
The tether disagreed.
I rolled my shoulder and let the metal pull between us. Draven's boot shifted half an inch.
His gaze dropped to the band around our wrists. "Don't test it."
"Why? Afraid it'll pinch?"
"Afraid you'll find out what happens when you pull too hard."
"You mean when it drags you after me?"
His eyes snapped back to mine.
There it was.
The tether didn't just hold me. It held him too.
I twisted my wrist again, slower this time. The metal warmed. A pulse ran through the band and into my arm. Draven sucked in a breath.
"Interesting," I said.
"Stop."
"Make me."
He caught my forearm and hauled me upright. My back hit the wall hard enough to shake dust from the ceiling. The blade vanished, but his hand stayed at my throat.
His body blocked the only path to the door. His chest was inches from mine. I could feel the heat coming off him through our clothes. His thumb rested against my pulse, measuring every beat.
"You think this is a game?" he asked.
"No. Games have rules."
"The rule is simple. You stay close. I keep the Combine from executing you."
"You don't keep the Combine from anything. You wear their mark."
"I wear their rank."
"Same leash. Better buckle."
His jaw flexed.
I lifted my free hand and tapped the metal insignia at his collar. Hunter. Combine. The people who killed Current-blooded spark users on sight.
"You should've turned me in," I said. "That would've been cleaner. You get your promotion. I get a public death. Everybody wins."
"You think I care about a promotion?"
"You dragged me here instead of killing me. That means you care about something."
His thumb pressed harder against my pulse.
"Careful, Wren."
"There. You know my name. I never gave it to you."
For the first time, his grip slipped.
I drove my knee into his thigh.
He moved fast. Too fast. His hand caught my knee before it landed, and he twisted my leg sideways. My shoulder scraped the wall. The tether snapped tight between us, yanking his wrist forward.
He cursed under his breath.
"You could've broken it," I said.
"I could still break it."
"Your wrist or mine?"
His stare sharpened.
"You talk too much."
"You ask boring questions."
He shoved my knee down and trapped both my wrists above my head. The metal band dug into my skin. His face was close enough that I could see the faint scar cutting through his left eyebrow.
"Where are the other crystals?"
"Gone."
"Who are they for?"
"People."
"Names."
"You first."
The rot pulsed beneath his skin.
This time, I saw it move. A black line slid over the back of his hand and disappeared under his cuff.
His breathing changed.
Not much. A shallow drag. A pause he tried to hide.
I smiled. "That looks painful."
"Don't."
"You said that already."
"Wren."
"What is it?"
He pushed closer, trying to use his size to shut me up. It worked on most people. I wasn't most people.
"Answer me," he said.
"Answer me first."
His eyes dropped to my mouth for one quick second.
The heat in the room shifted. Not from my magic. From him.
He noticed me noticing. His expression went flat again.
"You don't have the leverage."
"I have your arm."
"You have nothing."
I glanced at the rot. "Then why are you shaking?"
His hold tightened.
The tether flared between our wrists.
A hot line shot up my arm. I gasped, and Draven jerked back like he'd been struck. The black rot stopped at his elbow.
We both stared at it.
"Do that again," I said.
"No."
"You felt it."
"I said no."
"Your little disease stopped when the band lit up."
"It's not a disease."
"Then name it."
"You don't get that answer."
"You need me."
His silence hit harder than the wall.
I pulled my wrists against his grip. "Say it."
"I need you alive."
"Not what I asked."
"You need me more. The Combine is outside this room. If they find you, they won't ask questions. They'll cut the spark out of your blood and hang what's left."
"And if I stay with you?"
"You breathe."
"For how long?"
The rot crawled another inch while he watched me.
His expression stayed controlled, but his fingers had gone cold around my wrists.
"Until I find a way to break the bond," he said.
"You don't know how."
"Not yet."
"And if I run?"
"I die."
The words came out rough. Bare. No threat wrapped around them.
I stared at him.
He released one of my wrists and reached for a small metal device at his belt. It looked like a lock with a thin needle inside.
I jerked away. "What's that?"
"A limiter."
"Absolutely not."
"It keeps the tether from tearing through your nerves."
"You mean it keeps me from pulling."
"That too."
"Put it on yourself."
"Mine is already keyed to my rank."
"Then key mine to the nearest trash bin."
He caught my chin and turned my face toward the device. His palm was warm. His thumb brushed the corner of my jaw, not quite gentle, not quite rough.
My breath snagged.
His gaze flicked to my mouth again.
I hated that my body noticed before my brain could tell it to stop.
"Touch me again without permission," I whispered, "and I'll burn your glove off."
"You already burned through reinforced steel."
"Then imagine what I can do to a glove."
"I don't have to imagine."
He brought the limiter toward the tether.
I slammed my forehead into his nose.
Draven staggered back with a sharp curse. Blood flashed beneath one nostril.
I ripped my knife from my boot and cut at the metal band.
The blade hit the tether.
A shock ripped through me.
I yelled. The knife flew from my hand. Draven hit one knee, clutching his wrist. Black veins burst up his neck.
"What did you do?" he demanded.
"Nothing."
"You cut the bond."
"I tried."
"Try again and you take my heart with it."
That stopped me.
He bent over, one hand braced against the floor. His shoulders shook. The rot spread past his collar, dark and fast.
I should have run.
The door was still behind him. His weapon had fallen near the wall. The window bars were old. Maybe I could break one with a spark.
Then his fingers went slack.
Draven's head dropped.
"Damn it."
I grabbed his hand before it hit the floor.
His skin was burning hot. The rot froze under my palm.
He dragged in a breath like I'd hauled him out of deep water.
His eyes lifted to mine.
"You came back," he said.
"Don't make it sound romantic."
"You were leaving."
"I changed my mind."
"Why?"
"Because if you die, this stupid leash might take me with you."
His fingers closed around mine.
The contact sent a low pulse through my arm. His grip was weak, but the tether seemed pleased. It warmed against both our wrists.
"Liar," he said.
"You want honesty now?"
"I want you to stop pretending you don't care whether I live."
I tried to pull free.
He held on.
His thumb moved once over my knuckles. The motion was small, almost absent. It still made my chest tighten.
"Let go," I said.
"No."
"Draven."
"You keep trying to run."
"Because you keep putting things on me."
"Then give me a reason not to."
I looked at his hand in mine. The rot had stopped spreading, but it hadn't vanished. It waited beneath his skin like a second pulse.
"Take off the tether," I said.
"Can't."
"Then unlock the door."
"Can't."
"Then stop ordering me around."
"Not happening."
I shoved his shoulder.
He caught my waist before I could step back. His arm locked around me, keeping us close. My back pressed to his chest. His breath touched the side of my neck.
"Don't," he said.
"You don't get to say that while grabbing me."
"If you pull again, the bond will tear."
"You keep saying that like I care."
"You do."
His voice dropped beside my ear.
The room seemed to shrink around us. I felt every breath he took. Every shift of his fingers against my coat. The tether sat between our wrists, warm and alive.
I could have burned him.
He knew it.
He still didn't let go.
"You're afraid," I said.
"Of you?"
"Of dying."
"Everyone is afraid of dying."
"Not Combine hunters. You people parade around like death signed a contract with you."
"You know very little about hunters."
"I know you kill people like me."
His hold tightened around my waist.
"People like you burn cities."
"People like me keep children fed."
"By smuggling crystals."
"By doing what your precious Combine won't."
He went still.
I felt the change before I saw it. His breathing stopped against my skin.
"Children?" he asked.
"Forget I said it."
"How many?"
"Not your concern."
"How many, Wren?"
I twisted inside his hold and faced him. His arm stayed around me. One of my hands landed against his chest.
His heartbeat slammed beneath my palm.
Mine answered through the tether.
His eyes dropped to where I touched him, then rose again.
"You want the names?" I asked. "Fine. Give me your weapon."
"No."
"Give me the door key."
"No."
"Then stop asking questions you can't afford to answer."
He caught my hand and pressed it flat against his chest.
"You feel that?"
"Your heartbeat? Hard to miss."
"It slows when you move away."
"That sounds like a you problem."
"It becomes your problem when it stops."
His words landed between us.
For one second, neither of us moved.
Then I smiled.
"You're right. It is my problem."
I shoved a spark into the tether.
Draven's eyes widened.
The force snapped through the metal and threw him across the room. He hit the wall shoulder-first, slid down, and landed hard.
The tether stretched after him.
I ran for the door.
Three steps.
Four.
The band around my wrist went white-hot.
Behind me, Draven made a strangled sound.
I stopped.
The rot had raced up his arm to his throat.
"Wren," he rasped.
I turned.
He was on one knee, one hand clawed against the floor. His lips had gone pale. Dark lines spread beneath his jaw.
"Let go," I said.
"Can't."
"You said that already."
"Run anyway."
The words came out as a whisper.
He forced himself upright, but his legs folded. His shoulder struck the wall again.
I looked at the door.
Freedom sat three steps away.
Then I looked at him.
"You're an idiot," I said.
"Heard that before."
"You should've let me burn you in the alley."
"You stopped."
"I made a tactical error."
"Keep telling yourself that."
I crossed the room and grabbed his hand.
The rot froze instantly.
Draven sucked in a breath. His fingers locked around mine, hard enough to hurt.
"You came back," he said again.
"If you say that one more time, I will let you die out of spite."
"You won't."
"Try me."
He pulled me down with him until we were both against the wall. His shoulder pressed to mine. Our joined wrists rested between us.
The tether beat under my skin.
"You can't leave me," he said.
"I can."
"Not without killing me."
"Then fix it."
"I will."
"You better."
"Stay close until I do."
"That's not a request."
"No."
I glared at him. "You really enjoy giving orders."
"You really enjoy pretending they don't work."
He lifted the limiter again.
This time, my fingers closed around his wrist before he could bring it near the tether.
"Put that on me and I'll bite you."
His gaze held mine. "You already hit me."
"I can do worse."
"I know."
The words were quiet. Too quiet.
His thumb rested against the inside of my wrist. The touch was careful now, like he understood exactly how much damage I could do and had chosen not to pull away.
I swallowed.
"What does the limiter do?"
"It locks the tether to one range."
"How close?"
"Ten feet."
"Absolutely not."
"Twenty, then."
"Still no."
"Wren, the next time you pull, the bond may tear both hearts out."
"You don't know that."
"I felt it."
"You felt pain. There's a difference."
"Do you want to test it?"
He leaned in until his forehead almost touched mine. His voice dropped lower.
"Go ahead. Pull. See who breaks first."
My fire stirred beneath my skin.
His eyes tracked the glow under my fingers.
"You want me to stop you," he murmured.
"I want you to move."
"Same thing, right now."
I pushed my palm against his chest.
He caught my hand and held it there.
His heartbeat was steady now. Mine wasn't.
"You're enjoying this," I said.
"You keep touching me."
"To keep you alive."
"Still counts."
I shoved him away.
He didn't let go.
The tether flashed.
Not white this time.
Red.
A symbol burned across the metal—three sharp bars circling a black spark. Combine mark. Official. Impossible.
Draven looked down.
His face changed.
"No," he said.
"You know that mark?"
"It shouldn't be here."
The first bell rang somewhere above us.
Then another answered from the east wall.
Then a third.
Deep metal shook the building. Dust dropped from the ceiling. Outside, boots slammed across stone as hunters started shouting.
Draven grabbed my wrist and pulled me against him.
"What did you do?" I demanded.
"Nothing."
"Your mark is on my leash."
"It's not a leash anymore."
More bells joined the first. The whole city was ringing now.
His grip tightened around my hand.
The red symbol spread across the tether, crawling toward our sleeves.
"Draven," I said, "why are the hunter bells calling my name?"
He stared at the mark, then at me.
"Because they can see the bond, and if they can see it, they know you are—"