Five years. Seven escapes. The seventh time, he was three meters from the boundary fence when three pairs of hands caught him. That night, the three Bloodkin brothers didn't punish him separately—they took him together in the basement. When the silk tie was finally pulled from his mouth, the first word he forced out wasn't "let go" or "I hate you." It was Stay. He didn't know yet that five years ago in a blizzard, as he fled the Blood Council's lab, the twelve hunters sent to retrieve him were already being hunted—eleven of them now dead by the brothers' hands. From no escape to no more running, all it took was one sentence: "I'll be back for dinner."
