Chapter 30 · You’re bad at commands

He didn’t.

"You’re bad at commands," he whispered.

"You’re bad at following them."

"That’s why we’re still alive."

The hall erupted with gunfire.

Bullets tore through the upper half of the door. I dragged Kael down with me. His body hit mine, hard and hot, his breath catching against my neck as we crashed behind the surgical table.

"You planned this," I hissed.

"I planned to survive it."

"There’s a difference."

"Not tonight."

A grenade rolled through the broken doorway.

Kael saw it first.

He grabbed the injector with one hand and wrapped the other around my waist, pulling me flat against him as he kicked the grenade beneath the steel table.

"Inject me," he said.

"Now?"

"Now."

"You’ll black out."

"Then keep me breathing."

"You don’t get to order me to do that."

His grip tightened around my waist. "You already decided."

The grenade detonated.

The table jumped. Glass shattered. A hot wave slammed into my back. Kael took the worst of it, twisting over me as fragments rattled across the floor.

For half a second, his mouth brushed my temple.

Not a kiss.