Chapter 23 · Forbidden Resonance

"Stop fighting it, Kai. Just let me in," Eve hissed, her voice trembling. She had him pinned against the cold alloy wall of the safehouse, her palm pressed flat against his chest. Her breathing was jagged, smelling of ozone and expensive synthetic jasmine.

I didn't move. I couldn't. The Blood Protocol was screaming in my veins, a jagged frequency that felt like swallowing broken glass. "Let me in? You’ve been treating me like a walking battery for three days. Now you want a tour of my head?"

"You don't understand," she whispered, stepping closer. The distance between us vanished. I could feel the heat radiating off her skin, a feverish warmth that shouldn't have been there. Her eyes, usually like frozen sapphires, were wide and desperate. "My system is crashing again. The sync is the only way to stabilize the core. If we don't lock in now, I'm going to burn out."

I scoffed, though it sounded more like a choke. "And if I let you in, you'll see everything. Every gutter I crawled out of. Every piece of filth I've had to eat just to survive. You’re an heiress, Eve.