Chapter 20 · Forbidden Resonance

"Get out of my head, Nyx. Now!"

I slammed my back against the damp concrete wall of the alley, my chest heaving. My vision was swimming in jagged neon streaks—violet, gold, crimson—all of them bleeding together. The fight was over, the corporate goons were piles of scrap and meat ten feet away, but the war inside my skull was just hitting its peak.

*"Make me,"* her voice purred, not in my ears, but vibrating through my spinal fluid. *"You love it. The way the power hums. The way we fit. Don't lie to me, Kael. I can feel your heart hammering against your ribs like a trapped bird."*

"I can't... I can't tell where I end and you begin," I gasped. I gripped my forearm, digging my nails into the skin. My skin felt too tight, like I was wearing a suit made of someone else's nerves. The resonance was screaming, a high-frequency pitch that made my teeth ache.

*"That's the point,"* Nyx whispered. Suddenly, the mental barrier between us didn't just thin—it vanished.

It wasn't a conversation anymore. It was a collision. I felt her consciousness surge forward, a wave of cold electricity and ancient hunger.