Chapter 12 · She's The Trigger

"Cut her loose. Now."

Kael’s voice was a jagged edge, barely audible over the scream of the clinic’s malfunctioning ventilators. He had Sloane pinned against the rusted metal table, his fingers digging into her shoulders. He wasn't gentle. He couldn't afford to be.

Sloane gasped, her chest heaving against his. Her skin was too hot—burning up from the inside. The soul-link was pulsing, a rhythmic, violent throb that made Kael’s own heart stutter in sync with hers.

"I can't," she choked out, her eyes wide and glassy. "Kael, if you break the link now... I'll blow. The whole block. Everyone in the Slums. Gone."

Kael stiffened. He looked at the door, where the sounds of Victor’s retrieval squad were getting closer—the heavy thud of combat boots, the electronic chirp of scanners. He looked back at her. Her pupils were blown, flickering with a faint, neon-blue light that didn't belong to a human.

"You're lying," he hissed, his face inches from hers. He could smell the ozone and burnt circuitry clinging to her. "You're a corporate brat. You're just a payload.