Page 68 of Bound

My stomach dips. Lucian’s hand brushes mine. And I remember not to do anything stupid.

Gregory’s voice comes over for the first time, but I don’t think he means to speak out loud as he says, “Holy shit. We’re really doing this, guys.”

Despite himself, Lucian shakes his head with a curve at his lips. “He’ll learn.”

The new gate wakes. I wait for my cinematic groan, a rumble of thunder, the gates to part like the Red Sea. We get only a soft electronic click.

Then another.

Then the black iron shifts one inch.

Only one.

Blaze mutters, “Well, that’s unsettling as shit.”

“Is it supposed to do that?” I whisper.

Lucian stills. “I have no idea. We’ve never opened it before.”

Gregory’s voice cuts in. “Twelve-second delay initiated.”

Rafe says, “Counting.”

The gate holds half-unlocked. One second. Two. Three. My skin prickles.

Four. Five.

The cameras above us adjust in the wrong direction.

Six.

A lock inside the left pillar clicks, though no one touched it.

Seven.

Gregory says, “There. Secondary credential call.”

Eight.

Rafe: “Tracing.”

Nine.

Lucian’s hand tightens around mine till it hurts. I gasp, “Lucian.”

“God,” he says, relaxing his fingers. “Sorry.”

Ten.

The gate shudders as if something beneath it is trying to decide whether to obey the living or stay with the dead.

Eleven.

Gregory whispers, “It’s not one gate.”

Twelve.

The system corrects. The gate locks again. No one breathes.