Chapter 27 · Hold me still!

He reached for the crack.

Ayla lunged after him and drove her marked palm into the crystal first.

Pain ripped through her arm. Her soul-mark burned under her skin, then lifted in a thin silver thread. It pulled free from her palm like glowing wire.

Kade caught her around the waist.

"Stop!"

"Hold me still!"

"Ayla, stop!"

"You wanted a choice. Here it is!"

The silver thread stretched from her hand to the core. The black shard on the floor sprang up and buried itself in the line.

The voice changed.

"Debt accepted."

Ayla's knees gave out.

Kade held her against him. "No. No, you don't get to take her. Take me."

"Second anchor resisting."

"Take me!"

Ayla grabbed his sleeve. "Don't give it anything."

"It already has you."

"Then help me pull it back."

"How?"

"Use the pact."

"You said it was a leash."

"Then bite the leash."

He stared at her, then pressed his palm over hers.

Their hands locked against the core.

The silver thread jerked. Kade cried out.