Chapter 23 · Toxic Surrender

"Don't bite me unless you're ready to finish what you started."

Ronin's hand clamped over my mouth before I could shout back.

The blast gate behind us shuddered. Green mist curled through the seams, thin as smoke and twice as mean. It slid over the floor, climbed my boots, and burned wherever it touched skin.

Ronin shoved me against the ice-coated wall. His chest hit mine. His mask was gone, his jaw tight, his eyes too bright in the sick green light.

"Breathe through your nose," he ordered.

I knocked his wrist away. "You first."

He caught both my hands and pinned them over my head. The metal wall bit into my shoulders. His body blocked most of the mist, but not enough. My lungs squeezed hard.

Across the chamber, his sister lay on the floor with the only respirator strapped over her face. Her fingers twitched once. The tube hissed.

"The panel," I rasped. "You said you could open it."

"I said I could try."

"Wow. Comforting."

Ronin glanced at the hydraulic control box beside the sealed door. Its red warning light blinked through the fog.

"The lock needs a pressure release," he said. "The panel's shorted.