Page 33 of Before the Bond Breaks
I looked at Talon, found his hand, and squeezed once. Then, Talon and I stepped up to the portal’s edge. Everyone else fell in behind, with Jenson and Candra behind us and Nicky and Larc taking the rear.
Winter gave me a last, lingering look. “Luck.”
I dipped my chin, voice all command. “See you on the other side.”
Without hesitation, I walked through the portal.
Everything blurred. Cold and light and raw expectation battered my senses, then the world snapped back into place. We landed in the darkness of the train station, concrete slick underfoot, the echo of silence screaming in our ears.
My team flanked me in a tight, practiced arc. Hands gripped weapons. Every nerve went taut. I led them forward, determined to make all our dead count for something.
It was time to finish what Jessica had started.
18
TALON
We steppedout of the portal in the belly of the abandoned train station. The air stank of metal, mildew, and raw magic. Above us, old cables hung slack. Rotted benches lined the walls, some split open to reveal the nests of rats that had long since eaten anything useful.
We passed the first threshold, moving from open ruin to narrow tunnel. The shift in pressure hit hard. The air went dense, sticky as oil. Magic seethed in invisible waves, each one thrumming up through the soles of my boots. The wolf inside me pressed against my skin, ready. Ahead, the tunnel’s mouth gaped wide.
Maze slowed, arm raised, calling a silent halt. Our group stacked behind her, weapons half-drawn, each angle covered. The silence down here came alive. Nothing moved, yet every instinct screamed at the weight of unseen eyes.
Nicky moved ahead, bootsteps measured, gaze fixed dead ahead. She swept her hands along the cracks in the wall, muttering a chant as she scanned for hidden traps. For a long few minutes, nothing happened. A layer of dust coated the rails, but no bloodpooled on the stone. That almost disappointed me. I’d expected a fight.
Three steps later, that changed. The Prime used to tell me to be careful what I wished for.
It started as a splinter of green under Nicky’s boot. Then the ground exploded with a sickly light that lit every vein in the concrete. Blood-forged runes erupted from the ground, changing into something physical and wrapping Nicky’s ankle before becoming a red shackle. The metal hissed as it burned through skin, branding her with layer after layer of binding marks.
Nicky screamed, voice a sharp cut through the air. The smell of scorched flesh hit me, then the flood of her raw pain.
Maze moved instantly, hand raised to call a shield around us. As Larc reached for Nicky to remove the metal cuff from her ankle, a new figure surfaced from the far shadows.
Bryna.
I hadn’t seen her since before we left Vanaheim two centuries ago. I’d thought she had died in Balder’s attack on the Prime’s palace. We lost a few Valkyries and Shifters that day.
Bryna stopped ten feet from us, her posture loose as power curled at her fingertips. She wore all black, and her light brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Yet every movement mirrored what Maze had drilled into us: confidence, calculation. Only now, Bryna’s eyes gleamed with the same sick green as the trap.
A slow, deliberate salute. She tilted her head, eyes locked on Maze. “Hello, Maze.” Every syllable dripped disdain.
I angled myself in front of Maze, giving her a shield without breaking formation. Jenson’s blade caught the light. Candra matched Bryna’s stare, looking for openings.
Bryna strolled forward, never dropping her smile. She circled Nicky, who writhed on the ground, fighting the shackle with every scrap of power she could muster. The runes kept burning, bleeding magic into the air. Nicky bit down on her lip, refusing to scream more, even as pain twisted her features.
Larc was still trying to remove the shackle but wasn’t having any luck. Each passing moment put more angry lines on my brother’s face.
“Didn’t think you’d walk into it this easy,” Bryna said, voice ringing off the walls. “But then, you all always believed you were above the rest of us.”
Maze’s expression sharpened. “You never had the courage to say that to my face before.”
Bryna’s jaw jerked once, a spasm of old anger. “You never gave us a choice. Old rules, old chains. Balder is going to change everything. The chains of your precious soulbond are what’s holding us back. Balder will free us all.”
The wolf in me surged. I wanted to rip the words out of her mouth, but every move risked Nicky’s life. The trap had a heartbeat of its own, pulsing brighter each time she resisted.
Maze flexed her hands, keeping her power contained. She spoke with venom-sharp authority. “Whatever Balder promised you, it’s a lie. He’ll discard you the second you’re no longer useful.”
Bryna didn’t flinch. “That’s what you’re afraid of, isn’t it? Being replaced. Outgrown.” Her boot twisted on the cement.
