Chapter 24 · Pay the Chrome Price

"Get away from me! Kade, just—stay back!"

Rook’s voice cracked, her back slammed against the rusted surgical table. She wasn't looking at my face; she was looking at the black, jagged chrome spines ripping through my shoulders, shivering like living needles. I could feel them.

Every inch of my skin felt like it was being peeled off by a blowtorch, and the only thing that stopped the screaming in my head was the smell of her. Her blood. That sweet, metallic scent that made the chip in my skull howl like a starving dog.

"I can't... I can't stop it," I gasped, my voice sounding like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together. I tried to reach for her, but my hand didn't look like a hand anymore. The fingers had lengthened, the nails replaced by obsidian talons that scraped the floor with a high-pitched screech.

"Don't touch me," she whispered, though she didn't move. Her eyes were wide, wet with tears and grime, trapped between terror and something that looked like pity. "You're not... you're not even you right now."

"I'm still here!" I roared, the sound vibrating in my chest, deeper than human.