Chapter 14: Blood for Blood

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*Chapter 14: Blood For Blood*

“Home” wasn’t safe anymore.

Kieran knew it. I knew it. 

The second we stepped into his quarters and locked the door, he started pacing.

“They’ll come tonight,” he said. “Voss won’t wait.”

My stomach twisted. “Then we leave.”

“No.” He stopped. “I’m not running from my own pack. Not again.”

Again. 

Because of Mae.

I didn’t say anything.

An hour later, the lights went out.

Not a power outage. 

A cut. 

Darkness swallowed the room.

Kieran was moving before I could breathe. “Stay behind me.”

There was a sound at the window. Glass.

Then the door.

Three of them. 

I could smell them. Warriors. Tasha’s father’s men.

“Where is she?” one growled.

Kieran stepped in front of me. Completely. “Touch her and you die.”

“Alpha’s compromised,” another said. “Council orders. The girl goes with us.”

“The council has no authority over my mate.”

Mate.

He said it again.

The first warrior lunged.

What happened next was fast and brutal.

Kieran moved like lightning. He didn’t hold back. Bones cracked. 

But there were three of them. And he was still weak from yesterday.

One got past him.

I screamed.

The warrior grabbed my arm and yanked. Pain shot through me. 

He dragged me toward the window.

“Kieran!”

His head snapped to me. And his eyes went gold.

Not feral this time. 

Furious.

“LET. HER. GO.”

The bond snapped between us. 

Pain and rage flooded me - but it wasn’t mine. It was his.

The warrior holding me froze. Because Kieran was already there.

He didn’t punch him. He didn’t claw him.

He bit him.

Right in the throat.

Blood sprayed. Hot and metallic.

The other two stopped. Stared.

Kieran dropped the body and turned to them. Covered in blood. Breathing hard. 

The black mark on my neck was glowing so bright it lit the room.

“Anyone else?” he asked. Quiet. Deadly.

They ran.

Silence.

Then Kieran turned to me. His hands were shaking. Covered in blood. 

“My blood. Not yours,” he said immediately, like he could read my mind. “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head. Couldn’t talk.

He cupped my face. His thumbs wiped tears I didn’t know I was crying.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you saw that.”

“You saved me,” I whispered.

“I killed for you.”

The words hung between us.

I reached up and touched his face. Blood on my fingers. “And I’d do the same for you.”

Something broke in his expression.

He pulled me into his arms. Tight. Desperate. 

His face buried in my hair, right over the mark.

“I won’t let them take you,” he said against my skin. “Not Voss. Not Mae. Not anyone. Do you hear me?”

I nodded against his chest.

We stayed like that for a long time. Until his breathing evened out.

Until the blood on his hands dried.

Finally he pulled back. “We have to go.”

“Where?”

“Away. Just for a while. Until I can deal with Voss.” He grabbed a bag. “Pack 3 days of clothes. We leave at dawn.”

I nodded.

As I turned to pack, I caught my reflection in the dark window.

The black mark was still glowing.

But now, wrapped around it... were thin lines of silver.

Like the bond was changing.

Like it was fighting back.

And in the distance, I could’ve sworn I heard Mae laugh.

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*END OF CHAPTER 14*