Chapter Six - Chains of Fire

The circle burns underfoot. Cold light threads through the lines and climbs the stonewalls as my wrist throbs in time with each pulse. I can feel it, this fucking bond he's inflicted on me, vibrating through my bones and sickeningly, in my teeth.

Matteo steps into the circle fearlessly, his blade held low and in an easy stance. I know without a doubt that this man is deadly; he doesn't need to posture to prove it. I can see it in how he holds himself.

“End it now, Cassian. Before it spreads.” He hisses furiously, but Cassian doesn't even spare him a glance.

Instead, he stares at me with those beautiful, hateful, calm gray eyes. 

“Now, why on earth would I end something that works so well?”

Matteo’s mouth tightens, and I can practically feel the disgust rolling off him.

"Because you chained him to her, and you put your fucking unnatural chaos inside of her veins.”

His gaze flicks to me, and I don’t move. Moving at all feels risky.

“It's not unnatural chaos at all," Cassian says with the barest hint of a smirk, “I would call it a contract that was sealed in blood. Nothing more than collateral converted to leverage.”

My spine stiffens as I narrow my eyes at him.

“Stop fucking calling me that.” I snarl furiously. I might as well not even exist at this point for all the attention that they're paying me.

Neither of them answers me, but I know that both of them heard.

“This is not some sort of contractual paperwork that you can fine-tune to suit your needs,” Matteo hisses, “You bled a woman into a fucking circle and called it a contract...You know that things are not done that way. We do not follow the old ways anymore because their results are chaotic, unpredictable..."

“I don't know what you're complaining about, she’s upright, isn't she?” Cassian replies. “And he isn’t loose, so clearly my 'chaotic' plan did the job as intended."

Matteo’s jaw ticks.

“You've already watched her go down...”

“Oi! I’m right here!” I snap, my voice far steadier than my legs are, "Talk to me. Not about me.”

Matteo doesn’t turn, and it irritates the hell out of me.

“Undo it, Cassian, shut the binding down now. You know as well as I do that The Order won’t let this stand. If the old warnings are ignored, you won’t like how this ends.”

Cassian tips his head as a lazy smirk plays at the corner of his mouth.

“The Order is already here. You’re standing in my basement with their knife. You didn’t come for her. You came to prove that you have jurisdiction...even where it's not wanted...in my world.”

“Don’t confuse my duty with personal vendetta, Cassian.” Matteo snarls, “I’m here to limit the harm that you're going to cause with this.”

The bond shifts under my skin suddenly, and it feels as though fingers are all over my arms, the sensation of breath on my neck is almost overwhelming as a strange, unnatural heat begins to build inside of me. I can feel my eyes rolling back and losing focus, as if caught on the edge of ecstasy and torment.

I hate it, but I love it as my body leans toward it.

I make it stop the only way that I know how, by biting the inside of my lip until I draw blood, the pain giving me something else to focus on instead of this heat that both stabilises me and yet wants to drive me insane.

Across from me, Rhett is moving, the sound of his chains scraping against the floor as he plants his feet and pulls. The pillar shudders as the collar at his throat brightens at the edges, and his eyes are fixed on me and nothing else.

The cut in my wrist sears as the collar flares again, and a strangled sound breaks out of me before I can lock it down.

Matteo sees my wrist flare and the way I react.

“See? It's a Curse, not a contract!” He argues, but Cassian scoffs.

“No, it's not. I'm just protecting my assets,” Cassian counters coldly.

“I’m not either of those things,” I force out between my gritted teeth, “Whether you like it or not, I am going to leave this room breathing, on my own, and I won't belong to either of you."

No one blinks as they stare at me. Cassian even seems faintly amused at my wishful thinking.

Matteo raises his blade a fraction as if he’s measuring how much damage it could do against my skin,

“It needs burning out before it roots deeper." He said seriously as he finally turned to me, "That thing inside of you is not a bond. You carry something else inside...and this curse? You cannot carry it. Not safely."

The word burning echoes in my head, and my stomach churns. 

“If you bring that knife anywhere near me,” I snarl, “I'll make sure that you’ll be the one bleeding.”

“I’m not here to hurt you,” he says calmly, “I’m here to stop this from eating you alive.”

“Yeah? Well, cutting me is still cutting me, I'm still going to bleed and where I'm from, it's customary to repay the favour.”

"Interesting." Cassian purrs, "What happened to the cleaner backstory?"

"Go fuck yourself, asshole," I spit as he chuckles darkly and finally turns from me to face Matteo.

His laughter dies as soon as his eyes land on him, and his face darkens dangerously.

“If you break her, priest, then you break me, and you also break him.” He says as he tips his chin toward Rhett as the chain drags another few inches,  "And, if I remember rightly, your last encounter with a feral werewolf didn't go too well, did it?"

Perfect. I’ve landed myself in the Twilight reboot from hell. No sparkles. Just runes, blood, and way too much testosterone.

Rhett drags air through his teeth, never looking at them, only at me. The bond inside of me pulls back, as if it’s baiting him closer.

“Besides, this is not corruption. It’s control.” Cassian continues in a bored tone.

“This kind of control burns everything,” Matteo snaps. “People, homes, whole cities. You think you can leash it because you like the rush.”

Cassian doesn’t even blink.

“No, not because of the rush, because I am probably the only person who can handle it.”

Then, without warning, Cassian flicks his wrist, and the dagger that was on the table is suddenly in the air.

Matteo moves to block it, but he’s a fraction too late, and the blade's edge slices across his forearm, sending blood arcing across the circle before he can stop it.

The runes drink it in instantly, and they flare. Violently.

Matteo stares down, horror cracking through his composure for the first time.

“What the fuck did you just do...”