“Just fucking with you, bro.” Zane laughed, and the rest of us joined in.
Zeke slid the blades into the harness. They crossed upward behind me like wings of fire and frost—Zeke and Zane both wore an expression of pride and possession.
“I hate to break up this moment, but we need to get back to the topic at hand.” Oren paused at the tunnel opening, his shadow-threaded voice softer than the others. “Tell me exactly what happened before he ran.”
I sighed and met his gaze, and the truth burst out in a single breath. “He kissed me—and the bond surged. I felt something pull at me. Like a mark trying to form. Then he saw it—just a flash—and he freaked out.”
Zane muttered, “It probably spooked him. The man clearly didn’t run because of you. There isn’t a more beautiful woman in any world. But marking a member of a Faction isn’t something normal. The Nexus is usually the only one with a mark.”
I pulled him in for a kiss. “I don’t think it was fear. I think he was terrified of what the bond meant.”
Jet nodded slowly. “The claim.”
Oren’s voice dropped to a low, dark murmur. “He’s done running from this.”
I pushed myself to my feet, the men immediately circling me without thinking—protective, ready, furious on my behalf but sovery careful with me. I loved them each with a ferocity that came from deep in my bones. And I felt their love for me.
All but one.
What I felt from him wasn’t love but obsession.
The cracked crown pulsed once more. Faint. But insistent.
A tug.
A direction.
“He’s not far,” I breathed. “The bond is… pulling.”
Zane grinned with wicked delight. “Good. Then we hunt.”
And with that, we ran.
We found him in the ribbed aquifer tunnels—stone arching overhead like the skeleton of some ancient beast. Torren stood at the end of the corridor, chest rising fast, hands curled like he didn’t trust what they might do.
The moment his gaze cut to me, something vicious and haunted flashed through it. “Don’t,” he rasped. “Stay where you are.”
Zane snorted. “You kissed our girl and ran like a scared little shit. You don’t get to give orders.”
Torren’s jaw flexed. But it wasn’t fear this time. It was fury. Cold, sharp, beautifully dangerous fury.
“That kiss was a mistake. Both of them," he said sharply. “Your mark appearing was a mistake.” His voice dropped to a razor’s edge. “I don’t belong in your bond.”
The cracked crown pulsed in response—an unmistakable throb beneath my skin.
Torren winced as if the bond itself tore into his ribs. His eyes suddenly snapped to mine.
He wasn’t looking at me like the shy, damaged man who fled last night. He looked at me like a predator who’d accidentally grown attached to the one creature he meant to kill.
“Reverie…” His voice dipped low. “You weren’t supposed to mean anything.”
Something in me stilled.
Jet stepped forward, fire in his eyes. “You don’t speak to her like that. I’ll cut your dick off, motherfucker.”
Nathan laughed cruelly. “He’s done it before, so I’d take him at his word.”
Torren’s mouth curled into a twisted smirk. It wasn’t gentle or vulnerable, but rather cold and cruel.
