Chapter 10 · Unlikely Bedfellows

"Don't you fucking move!" Rhys's hand locked around my wrist and wrenched me backward so hard my shoulder screamed.

"Get off me!" I choked out. "You're killing me!"

"I'm not killing you, the link is," he snarled. "You ran too far. Again."

My knees hit the concrete. Hard. The air just stopped. Like someone kinked a hose in my lungs.

It wasn't him choking me. It was the chain. The invisible leash that asshole key put between us.

Ten feet. That's all we got. Ten feet and then your body starts shutting down.

I tried to suck in air and got nothing. My vision went spotty.

"Mara! Breathe!" Rhys dropped to his knees with me, his other hand grabbing my jaw. "Look at me. Look at me, dammit."

"Can't—" I clawed at my throat. "Can't— breathe—"

"Yeah you can. You're panicking." His face was right there, too close, his breath hot on my mouth. "In. Now."

He forced my head up. His palm was burning hot against my cheek. That weird resonance thing flared under my skin where he touched me.

"You think I want to touch you?" I gasped.