Chapter 40 · The Heart Coordinate

"Evelyn, move!" Kade slammed into her before the red marker could burn through her chest.

The fuel line exploded behind them. Heat punched across Evelyn’s back as Kade wrapped one arm around her waist and drove them both behind the control pillar. His mask scraped against her cheek. The hard edge of it bit into her skin.

"Get off me!" she snapped.

"Not until that lock drops."

"It’s inside me!"

"I know."

A red line pulsed beneath Evelyn’s ribs. Every beat sent a hot spike through her body. Kade took the pain a second later. His grip tightened, and she felt his breath catch against her hair.

The life bond pulled them together like a wire under tension. One body moved, the other followed. One heart jumped, the other matched it.

Behind the pillar, the gate chamber shook. Metal screamed from the upper doors.

Mira fired twice toward the breach. "You two planning to cuddle until the Crown walks in?"

"Shoot the console!" Evelyn yelled.

"The console is keeping the station from folding!"

"Then shoot the part that isn’t!"

"That would be the floor, genius!"

Kade dragged Evelyn lower as a Crown bolt cut through the pillar.