Page 35 of The Bound Blood
“Stand down,” my father commands.
I growl, crouching lower, shifting fully, my clothing ripping and falling away with the change.Stay back,I send to Lindsay as I nudge her behind me.
She doesn't move—but she hears me. I feel it.
The guards lift suppression cuffs. My lips curl back over my fangs. Electricity builds beneath my skin—wild, unstable, and desperate. They're not just here to escort her.
They're here to stopmefrom stopping them.
My father steps forward, his expression unreadable. “Raiden Tsukino,” he says, using every inch of my name like a reprimand. Even in full beast form, I hear him. “This is your last warning. Submission, or consequences.”
I snap at the nearest guard, claws scraping stone as I surge forward—and my father moves.
He justmoves—in that fluid, terrifying way only he can, and his hand clamps around the base of my neck. Electric reversal bands burn across my spine, forcing my tails to jolt violently out of rhythm.
My body locks up—magic sputtering, my bones trembling as they’re forced back into human shape. Agonizingly slow. Every inch of the reversal feels like I’m being peeled out of my own skin.
He kneels beside me as I collapse to one knee, barely clothed, drenched in sweat.
“Restraint is not weakness,” he says, low. “It’s survival.”
My voice comes out raw, feral. “Survival at the cost ofher?”
“The choice was never yours to make.”
Behind him—Lindsay is surrounded now. Three guards. Councilor Vemir murmuring something over a binding scroll.The runes around her feet are shifting—adjusting, reweaving, forming a transport sigil.
My heart lurches.
They’re taking her.
Not bindinghere—they’re taking her to the Council Hall.
She meets my eyes across the room—guards holding her arms but not hurting her. She isn’t fighting. I want her to fight.
The bond between us pulses, growing stronger between us.
I want to scream her name. I want to beg her not to go. I want to promise I'll tear down every tower and Council hall and veil-lined chamber just to bring her back.
But I can’t move.
I can only watch.
“Raiden,” she whispers, too soft for anyone but me to hear—and maybe my father, whose eyes narrow slightly.
They begin the teleport sigil. The air hums with power.
And I do the only thing Icando. I push everything—every ounce of my magic, my fear, my vow—to her through the tether.
Not words or a useless plea. Just one promise.
I’m coming.
She flinches—just barely—but I know she heard it.
The light flares. She disappears.
The room exhales.
