Chapter 3 The Enforcer Knew My Name

The car hit a pothole, and Mira's head knocked against the window.

"Hold on," Kaelen said. He took the corner so hard the tires screamed.

Mira gripped the seat. Behind them, two black cars filled the rear window, headlights blazing through the rain. She had grabbed her coat and nothing else. Eleven years of hiding, and she'd left it all behind in under two minutes.

"You said you lost them," she snapped.

"I said I lost them twice. This is the third time."

"That's not funny."

"I'm not laughing." He swerved around a delivery truck. "Get down."

A crack split the air. The back windshield spiderwebbed. Mira ducked below the dashboard, heart slamming.

"They're shooting at us!"

"They're shooting at the tires. They want you alive." He said it so calmly that her stomach dropped. "Dead, you're useless to them."

The radio on the dashboard crackled. A woman's voice came through, smooth and amused.

"Kaelen. Pull over."

His knuckles went white on the wheel. "Lyra."

"You're a fool, you know that? I always said so." The voice sounded close, like she was sitting in the back seat. "Hand over the girl, and I'll let your pack live. The Emperor wants her blood. He doesn't care about yours."

"Tell the Emperor I'm not impressed."

"He's not asking for your opinion." A pause. "Hello, Mira."

Mira's breath stopped.

"Yes, I know your name. I know about the bookstore, too. Lovely place. Dusty." Lyra laughed softly. "You can't hide from us, little wolf. We've been watching you for three years."

Three years. Mira's fingers dug into the seat. Three years of being watched, and she'd never felt it.

Kaelen reached over and switched off the radio. The silence rang in her ears.

"She's lying," he said. "To rattle you."

"Is she?"

"I don't know."

That was the first honest answer he had given her. It was worse than a lie.

Mira stared at the blood drying on his sleeve. A shot had grazed his shoulder two turns back, and he hadn't said a word about it. "This is what happens," she said quietly. "People get hurt around me. They die. My last life taught me that, and I don't need to learn it twice."

"You think this is your fault?"

"Isn't it?"

"No." He glanced at her. "This is Viktor's fault. This is the Empire's fault. You're just the one they can't stand to leave alive."

She wanted to argue. She didn't have the words.

Another crack. The car lurched. Kaelen cursed and wrenched the wheel left, and they shot down a narrow service road between two warehouses. The Enforcers' headlights swung past the entrance and vanished.

For a full minute, neither of them spoke.

"They'll double back," Kaelen said.

"How far to your pack?"

"Ten minutes. If we're lucky."

"And if we're not?"

He didn't answer. His hand slid off the gearshift and pressed against his ribs. When he pulled it away, his palm was red.

"You're bleeding," Mira said.

"It's fine."

"That's not fine. That's a lot of blood."

"My people are already dying, Mira." He grabbed her wrist before she could pull away. His cracked bond mark burned against her skin, hot as a coal. She gasped and tried to jerk free, but he held on. "Your blood is the only cure we have. I'm not asking you to like me. I'm asking you to choose. Save them, or run. Which is it?"

His mark glowed black and red against her pulse. It didn't just burn. It pulled, like it recognized her.

"Let go," she whispered.

He did. The burning stopped at once.

Mira rubbed her wrist. Her skin was warm where he had touched it, and her heartbeat took a long time to slow.

The road ended at a rusted gate in the middle of a dead forest. Kaelen drove through without slowing, and the gate swung open on its own. Tunnels yawned ahead, lit by a few yellow bulbs.

He parked and stepped out. His legs buckled before he reached the door.

"Kaelen!"

Mira scrambled out and caught his arm. He was heavier than he looked, and his skin was ice cold. His eyes rolled back.

A door banged open somewhere in the dark. Footsteps pounded toward them. A woman burst into the light, her dark braid whipping behind her. She saw Kaelen on the ground. She saw Mira kneeling over him.

Then she saw Mira's eyes.

The woman drew a silver blade from her belt and aimed it at Mira's throat.

"Kaelen," she said, her voice shaking with fury. "What have you brought to our door?"