Chapter 22 · Chain Detonation

Blood was still warm on Mika’s face when the shouting started.

"Take us with you!" The nearest freed Bonded lunged for Cade’s sleeve. Scorch marks climbed one arm, and his eyes still swam from the black Anchor pulse. "Please! She’s got a key. Get us out!"

"Back up." Cade shoved him away and caught Mika’s wrist. He hadn’t even gotten fully upright. One knee stayed on the floor, the pod key clenched white in his fist. "Mika. Look at me. Not him. Me."

Her father’s body lay three steps away.

No head. No movement. No chance of being mistaken for anything but dead.

Mika kept staring anyway.

"Touching." The Arbiter’s voice cut through the alarms, calm enough to make her skin crawl. "A real family reunion. Too bad the pod holds two."

He tapped the device on his wrist, then glanced at the three freed Bonded crowding behind Mika.

"So which one of you gets left behind with the corpse?"

"You did that." Her voice came out raw. "You made him look at me, and then you—"

"I ended a malfunction." The Arbiter’s mouth barely moved. "The second I bonded him, he stopped being your father.