Chapter 11 · Ghost in the Code

"Don't you dare pass out on me." Kael's hand clamped around my wrist before my knees hit the floor.

"I'm not—" My teeth clicked. Hard. "I'm fine. Let go."

"You're shaking like a live wire. You're not fine."

His other hand was already at my throat. Not choking. Checking. Two fingers pressed to my pulse and his eyes locked on mine, cold and pissed off.

The tremor started in my hands ten minutes ago. Now it was everywhere. My calves, my shoulders, my jaw. My gene-mods were misfiring, buzzing under my skin like bad code trying to rewrite itself.

"Get off," I snapped, and tried to shove him. My palm slid right off his chest. No strength. Pathetic.

He didn't move. He just crowded me back against the wall of his private lab. The door had locked behind us. Of course it had.

"You triggered it, didn't you?" I said. My voice shook. I hated that. "That signal from last night—"

"I didn't trigger anything," he said. "Your body did."

"Bullshit."

"Watch your mouth." His thumb pressed a little harder against my pulse. "Breathe. In. Out. Now."

"I don't take orders when I'm—