CAIN.
The second my fingers closed around her arm, it hit me, not shock in shock, neither was it a surprise.
It was recognition.
A slow, spreading heat unfurled beneath my skin, controlled, contained, but no less powerful than the wildfire Caleb carried. His burned fast and reckless. Mine burned deeper, steadier. The kind that settled low in the gut and waited patiently for permission to rise.
She froze when I turned her to face me.
The movement wasn’t violent. It didn’t need to be. I rotated her slowly until her back hovered inches from the door, until her body was aligned with mine and there was nowhere for her eyes to escape except into mine.
Up close, the mark on her cheek stood out more clearly, a faint flush beneath her skin, the thin smear of red at the corner of her mouth ha
