Chapter 11 · Blood-Stained Marks

"Don't touch that door." Rhys caught Mara by the back of her coat and yanked her away a heartbeat before her fingers hit the handle.

The metal door snapped open by itself.

A red line flashed across the threshold. The safehouse floor split with a sharp crack, and a blast punched through the room hard enough to throw both of them into the opposite wall.

Mara hit first. Her shoulder slammed into concrete. Rhys landed between her and the doorway, one knee buried against her thigh, one hand braced beside her head.

Dust dropped from the ceiling.

"Get off me," she snapped.

"Working on it."

"You dragged me into a trap and now you're sitting on me?"

"You're welcome."

Another pulse tore through the hallway. The windows burst inward. Shards skittered across the floor, glowing red along their edges.

Rhys grabbed Mara's wrist and hauled her behind an overturned steel table. His grip was hot. Too hot. The contract mark around her wrist flared in answer, burning like a wire pulled tight beneath her skin.

She bit back a cry.

Rhys noticed anyway. Of course he did.

"How far?" he asked.

"How far what?"

"Can you feel the blast pattern?"