Chapter 40 · The Contract Lock

"Let go of me, Kane!" I slammed my shoulder into his chest, but black veins from the city core had already hooked beneath his ribs.

He caught my wrist before I reached the hidden door.

"Open it, and it takes you too."

"Then stop holding me back."

His fingers closed tighter. Hot blood ran over my knuckles from the wound in his side. The core had ripped through his coat and skin, leaving a jagged gash under his ribs. Every pulse of light from the chamber made his body jerk.

Kane still stood between me and the door.

"You don't get to die for me," I snapped.

His jaw hardened. "That wasn't the plan."

"Funny. Looks exactly like the plan to me."

Behind him, the sealed chamber shook. Dust rained from the iron ribs overhead. Something beneath Obsidian Reach had woken up hungry.

And it had picked Kane for dinner.

He shoved me back against the stone wall.

Not hard enough to hurt. Just hard enough to trap me.

His forearm braced beside my head. His body pressed close, heat bleeding through our clothes. His breath hit my cheek, rough and hot.

"Listen to me," he said.