BOUND IN BLOOD

The assassin’s blade gleamed in the moonlight as he took a slow, deliberate step forward.

Cassian didn’t move.

Didn’t blink.

He just stood there, a wall of unrelenting force, his body coiled like a predator about to strike.

I could feel his rage through the bond now, simmering beneath his calm, his absolute fury that they had dared to come for me.

The assassin smirked. “You’re outnumbered, Cassian.”

Cassian tilted his head slightly, his fingers tightening around the hilt of his dagger. “You should have brought more.”

The assassin’s grin widened. “Oh, we did.”

From the shadows, more figures emerged.

Not just six—there were at least a dozen now, their movements silent, calculated, spreading out to encircle us.

I clenched my fists around my blade, forcing my breathing to slow.

This wasn’t a fight we could win.

Not like this.

Cassian shifted slightly, just enough so that his arm brushed mine. A silent command.

Stay behind me.

The bond carried the thought between us effortlessly, his voice inside my head, steady and commanding.

But I wasn’t going to let him face this alone.

I tightened my grip on my weapon. I’m not running.

Cassian exhaled sharply, his frustration flashing through the bond like a spark of fire.

Then.

The first assassin lunged.

Cassian moved instantly, his dagger slashing across the man’s throat in one smooth motion.

Blood splattered, and before the body had even hit the ground, Cassian was spinning, twisting his blade into the gut of another attacker.

A scream tore through the air.

Then the entire forest erupted into chaos.

The assassins swarmed, their blades glinting as they came at us from all sides.

I dodged the first attack, twisting at the last second as a sword sliced past my ribs, missing by inches.

I countered, driving my dagger into the assassin’s side, yanking it free just as another one came at me.

Cassian was a blur of motion, his blade an extension of his body, cutting through the enemies with brutal efficiency.

But there were too many.

And they weren’t fighting to kill.

They were fighting to capture.

I barely dodged another attack before I felt a shift in the air.

Cassian’s panic.

I turned just in time to see three assassins closing in on him at once.

One grabbed his arm, another swung low toward his legs, and the third—

The third drove a blade straight toward his heart.

My body moved before my mind could process it.

I lunged, shoving my body against Cassian’s just as the blade plunged forward—

And pain exploded in my side.

A sharp, white-hot burn, the metallic taste of blood rising in my throat as the impact knocked me to the ground.

“Sienna!”

Cassian’s roar shook the trees.

The world spun.

I barely had time to register the pain before Cassian was on them, his rage unleashed.

The first assassin’s head hit the ground before his body.

The second’s spine snapped with a sickening crack.

The third—

Cassian grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the ground, his red eyes burning with fury.

He didn’t speak.

Didn’t give him a chance to beg.

He just squeezed.

And the assassin’s neck caved in beneath his grip.

The body hit the ground with a lifeless thud.

And then.

Silence.

The remaining assassins hesitated, their confidence wavering as they took in the massacre around them.

Cassian stood over them, his chest heaving, his hands dripping with blood.

Not his.

Mine.

I pressed my hand against my side, feeling the warmth of my own blood seeping through my fingers.

Cassian’s eyes snapped to me, and something in him broke.

His dagger clattered to the ground as he was suddenly kneeling at my side, his hands framing my face, his touch frantic.

“Sienna.” His voice was wrecked, raw with something I didn’t recognize.

I tried to speak, but the pain was searing, twisting inside me like a living thing.

Cassian’s hands pressed against my wound, trying to stop the bleeding, but I could see the terror in his eyes.

The rage was gone now.

All that was left was fear.

“I’m fine,” I tried to say, but it came out as a choked whisper.

Cassian cursed under his breath, his jaw tight, his breathing sharp and uneven.

Through the haze of pain, I felt him through the bond.

His desperation. His guilt.

And something deeper, something he had been fighting since the moment we met.

Something breaking inside him.

Cassian’s fingers brushed against my cheek, his touch so gentle it hurt.

“I’m going to fix this,” he murmured, more to himself than to me. “I’m going to fix this.”

His red eyes flickered, his power stirring beneath his skin, dangerous and uncontained.

The remaining assassins realized their mistake too late.

Cassian rose slowly, his face empty, his rage turning into something colder, deadlier.

The shadows around us shifted, the air thick with power.

And then Cassian unleashed hell.