Chapter 9 · Blood Hunt

"You don't get to run, Maya. Not when you're the damn key."

Iris slammed my wrist against the table. The blood kit rattled, cold and clinical. Before I could blink, the needle bit deep into my vein.

"Get off me!"

I twisted, but a heavy hand crashed down on my shoulder, pinning me. Kade. He wasn't helping. He was caging me.

"Hold still," he murmured, his breath hot against my ear. "You move, she misses the vein. You want a hematoma?"

"I want you both off me!" I snapped. "You said it was a scan. No blood!"

"I said we needed to know," Iris countered. Her eyes were locked on the vial filling with red. "And now we do."

*Click.*

The vial was full. Iris ripped the needle out and jammed gauze onto the spot. Hard.

"Protocol only takes kin," she said, her voice flat. "Not a copy. Not a forgery. Blood. Your blood."

My pulse hammered in my throat. "So what? I'm screwed? That's your big reveal?"

"So you can't destroy it," Kade said. His fingers were still digging into my shoulder, heat searing through my jacket. "You can't burn a drive and walk away, Maya.