Chapter 9 · Not Dying This Time

"Don't you dare let go." Kane's hand locked around my wrist and slammed me back against the wall.

"I'm not — you're crushing me!" I hissed. "Let up, asshole!"

"You let go, we both get erased. You want that?" His face was inches from mine. Blood on his mouth, sweat on his forehead, eyes burning straight into me. "Stay linked."

The whole room was screaming.

Not Vera. The Maw itself.

A flat system voice rolled through the stone, loud enough to shake my teeth. "REBOOT INITIATED. PURGE OF NON-NATIVE ENTITIES IN SIXTY SECONDS."

Vera Knox stumbled back from her console, her perfect broker smile gone. "No, no, no, that's not supposed to happen! It never reboots during a tether!"

"You think?" I snapped. "You linked us to your freaking dungeon and now it's trying to delete us!"

Kane didn't look at her. He looked at me. His palm was hot against my skin. Too hot. That weird thread between us was buzzing like a live wire.

"How long can you hold it?" he asked, low and fast.

"I don't know! I just did it! You told me to grab you!"

"Well hold it," he growled. "Or we die. Again.