Chapter Five - The Key

The cut in my wrist burns hotter as something under my skin yanks tight, like a leash I didn’t agree to wear.

Cassian stiffens beside me, and for the first time, his perfect control slips half an inch as his shoulder begins jerking, his jaw flexing like he has just swallowed a blade. Across the room, the wolf wrenches against the chain, turning his pain into rage instead of collapsing.

And me? Well, whatever is happening to them happens to me, too.

Every snap of their bones echoes down my own, every raw flare of Cassian’s pain rippling beneath my skin. It was almost as if my body just volunteered as a free fucking conduit.

The wolf surges hard enough that the pillar groans, and although the chain holds, the collar is practically screaming in protest. One cuff tears loose with a shriek of silver, and suddenly he’s half-free, mobile enough to kill anyone stupid enough to get close enough, and determined enough to make this the wrong kind of history lesson.

He lunges forward.

Claws rake down Cassian’s shoulder as the wolf roars in a mix of triumph and frustration that he can't reach more of him. Four perfect lines of red are slashed through his shirt, and Cassian takes the hit like he was made of stone. His reflexes were on point, and he was already moving as the wolf had lunged, but he just wasn't quick enough. He staggered slightly at the impact but recovered quickly. Only a small hiss escaped his lips as he breathed through the pain, but his face didn’t change at all.

It's infuriating, and even worse, it's fucking hot.

Then the fire crawls across my own shoulder. I hiss and arch against it, the lust quickly turning into hatred towards him for tying me into whatever the fuck this was.

“Ok, so it might have backfired just a little,” he says mildly, like we’re talking about car engines.

“No shit,” I snap.

He doesn’t take his eyes off the wolf.

“Contain him,” he barks to his men, and they twitch like they’ve been waiting to pounce, but Cassian lifts a hand without looking, and they freeze.

“The chains and collar need to be secured," he says. “But don't break the circle or the sigil. If it breaks, your skin will peel from your body before your soul does.”

He steps closer, and I roll my eyes internally at him. Apparently, Cassian had never met a danger that he didn’t want to mouth-kiss.

“Down,” Cassian says, his voice low, sharp, and commanding all in the same breath.

The cut on my wrist sears like it’s been branded fresh, and across the room, the collar around the wolf’s throat lights up at the same time.

He snarls, a sound that is ugly, furious, and defiant, and yanks against the chain hard enough to rattle the bolts in the floor. The silver hisses where it bites him, and my skin sears with the same burn, like someone had wired me into his pain.

I clench my jaw until it aches, teeth grinding against one another as I fight the sound that wants to crawl up my throat.

“Don’t break him,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper before I can swallow it back.

Cassian’s eyes flick to me, and the cold look he pins me with sends shivers running straight down my spine.

“Why? Are you planning to keep him?”

“Why does it matter? Are you planning to keep me?” I shoot back because if I don’t spit something sharp, I’ll end up asking for things I shouldn’t.

“Yes.”

One word. That’s all it takes for me to realise that he's going to act like I’m already his property from now on.

My pulse stumbles against the constant onslaught of pain. I drag air through my teeth and dare either of them to notice me shake as the bowl gulps my blood greedily, the grooves carrying it neatly like a drain.

It figures that Cassian’s basement would come with plumbing for blood.

The wolf holds my gaze as the collar bites into him, and my throat flares with pain as though a blade had been pressed flat against it. He doesn’t even need to speak because the emotion behind his stare says it all.

Mine,

I feel like he's stamped that on my skin without even asking first.

“Say it,” Cassian orders the wolf, but his eyes stay on me like he’s waiting to see if my name in someone else’s mouth will brand it even deeper. I was sick of him always using me as the test.

The wolf snarls, his mouth twisting, and what comes out of him is something that is half howl twisted around half a word with my name torn through the sound. My teeth grind together as I refuse to lean toward him like some idiot moth begging for the flames' comfort.

“Don’t,” I whisper, uselessly. I don’t even know which bastard I mean.

Suddenly, the door shudders.

It wasn’t a knock, it was an impact, like something slammed it from the other side. My stomach drops, and even Cassian’s men flinch.

Cassian doesn’t even bother to turn.

“No one moves.”

Then, the door blows open with no warning and no time to breathe. 

A man in black strides through, harnessed and armed, and looking like he had just walked out of a movie.

He held his blade in his hand like it was built for him, and he carried it with the ease of someone who used it regularly. A silver crescent scar runs across his wrist, and moonbeads are inked down his spine where his collar gapes.

His eyes run over the whole messy scene before him, from my bleeding wrist to the collar, to the wolf, and finally to Cassian. His mouth curls up into a sneer as he holds Cassian's gaze.

“End this binding now.”

“Ah, Matteo.” Cassian acknowledges his arrival calmly and without surprise, like he expected the priest to walk through that door eventually. "How lovely of you to drop by."

The priest sneers, looking at the circle with thinly disguised horror and disgust.

“You arrogant, faithless bastard,” he snarls, his voice low enough to shake the bowls. “You’ve dragged up a curse the Order swore to keep down.”

“Good evening to you, too,” I mutter, because apparently my survival instinct clocked out early.

Cassian doesn’t move, and I watch as his blood runs from his shoulder down into his cuff.

"End this." Matteo snarls again as he takes a step towards him.

“Can’t,” I cut in before Cassian could lie his way out of this, “He can’t end it without tearing us apart. And I’m not suicidal enough to test it.”

Matteo steps closer, blade lifted as his lips begin moving around words that I don’t know. They sound sharp and roll oddly, the kind of language that belongs in dark fairytales, not my reality. 

Cassian raises a hand.

“Take it easy." He says calmly, "Move into this the wrong way and you’ll tear flesh from bone before the circle even breaks.”

“You think you’ve bound a wolf,” Matteo growls, his eyes locked on Cassian, "But all you’ve done is tied a curse into flesh. Stop it.”

Pain slams through me at the same moment. My wrist sears, the wolf thrashes, and the chain rattles hard enough for the bolts to scream against the pillar.

I choke back my scream of agony, biting down on the sound, and Cassian jerks like he shared the same sensations. Matteo just stares at the tether between us like he’s about to rip it apart with his teeth.

“Congratulations,” he tells Cassian, voice dripping venom. “You didn’t leash a beast. You tied him to her. And to yourself.”

“I think it's pretty efficient,” Cassian says with a smirk.

“It's fucking damnable," Matteo hisses, and I see the amusement in Cassian's eyes for the smallest moment, but then his practiced mask shutters down and hides the emotion quickly.

The wolf lowers his head, breathing heavily, and he looks at me so intently that his gaze feels like it sets me on fire. I can’t even stop looking back, and this fucked up bond that Cassian created burns steadily and bright alongside my own pulse, a rhythm that is not entirely mine.

“Keys open more than one lock,” Cassian says quietly, like he’s thinking aloud and already three moves ahead.

“Then break the damn key,” Matteo snaps.

I bare my teeth before I can stop it.

“Try it fuckface.” I snarl, and Matteo halts, his eyes never leaving Cassian.

“Just so we're clear, she’s not the reason I’m here.”

“Then why are you here?” Cassian asks as calmly as if they’re discussing contracts.

“Because of you, Cassian. I’m here to shut this down before it tears the three of you apart.” Matteo replies as he lifts the blade, its edge catching the candlelight.

Cassian doesn’t move as Matteo steps into the circle, blade raised. The lines on the floor flare hot, my wrist sears deeper, and the wolf’s chains rattle hard enough to shake the pillar.

Cassian still doesn’t move.

The pain claws up my arm until it’s in my teeth. Whatever this is, it isn’t breaking...it’s locking tighter, and it wants all three of us.