Chapter 27 · The Memory Lock

"Get your hand off the console, Kade." Evelyn slapped his wrist away just as the Crown seal burned across the stolen screen.

The symbol flashed red.

LOCKDOWN: MERCER, KADE. CLEARANCE REQUIRED.

Kade caught her wrist before she could reach for the kill switch. His fingers closed hard enough to stop her, not hard enough to bruise. Not yet.

"You triggered it," he said.

"I was trying to stop you from opening it."

"You opened it."

"And you were standing there like a man waiting to be executed. Move."

He shoved her back against the narrow maintenance wall. The metal struck her shoulders. His body blocked the only way out, heat coming off him through his torn black coat. Their bond snapped tight between them, syncing the frantic beat in her chest with the violent pulse under his jaw.

One heart. Two bodies. One very bad time to discover either of them could panic.

"Tell me what you saw," Kade said.

His voice had gone low. Dangerous. Crown-trained, even with half his memories ripped out.

Evelyn kept her chin up. "A file with your name on it. You want to guess?"

"Don't play with me.