Chapter 4

The message stayed unread.

I stared at the grey circle until the doctor returned with water. Then Dorian’s voice slid through the pack-link.

“Close the north road. She took something from this pack. Bring her home alive.”

He did not say my name. He did not say wife.

My phone lit again. It was a photograph of Helena tied to a chair in my old kitchen. Celeste stood behind her with one hand on Helena’s shoulder.

Come home and keep pretending, the message said. Or she dies before sunrise.

The doctor was watching me. “Is someone coming for you?”

I…