Chapter 4 · The Vault Takes Two

"Give me your wrist."

Lucan caught me before I could tuck the death order into my coat.

His fingers locked around my arm. Warm. Too warm against the black lines crawling beneath my skin.

"Take your hand off me."

"Not until you tell me why the Black Seal is moving."

"Maybe it hates you."

His thumb pressed over the newest mark. Pain snapped up my arm, sharp enough to make my knees dip.

Lucan pulled me against him before I hit the stone floor. My shoulder struck his chest. Hard muscle. Clean soap. A thin bite of metal from the blade hidden under his coat.

"You stole something from my evidence room," he said near my ear.

I looked down at the glass vial between my fingers.

The original blood sample shimmered red inside it.

"You noticed."

His grip tightened. "Put it back."

"Open the Black Seal vault."

For half a second, his face went still.

There it was. Not fear. Not surprise.

A calculation.

I knew that look.