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"Get your hands off me!"
I shrieked, scrambling backward until my spine slammed into the cold drywall. Wren didn't move. She just stood there, her golden aura flickering like a dying lightbulb, her eyes wide with a kind of panic that didn't match her 'Golden Girl' brand.
Then the sirens hit. Not just one. Every single emergency alarm in the city started screaming at once, a deafening, synchronized wail that rattled the windows of our high-rise cage.
"What the hell is happening?" I gasped, clutching my chest. My lungs felt like they were filling with wet concrete. The link—that invisible leash tying me to Wren—tightened. I could feel her heart hammering against her ribs, not as my own, but as a rhythmic thumping in the back of my skull.
"I don't know," Wren snapped, though her voice trembled. "The Agency doesn't trigger city-wide alerts unless—"
"Unless what?"
"Unless something's breached the perimeter," she finished. She looked at me, her gaze dropping to my palm. The black shard embedded in my skin was pulsing. Not just glowing—pulsing, like a second heart.
I looked down and hissed. The black ink was spreading, twisting into jagged lines that looked like a barcode from hell. It burned. Not a fire burn, but a freezing, void-like cold that made my fingertips numb.
"It's doing something," I whispered.
"Do something about it!" Wren stepped closer, her boots clicking sharply on the hardwood. She didn't touch me, but the heat radiating off her was suffocating. "You're the one with the glitchy villain power. Fix it before we both stop breathing!"
"I can't just 'fix' a cursed rock in my hand, you idiot!" I snapped back, my voice cracking. "Maybe if your perfect little Agency didn't lock us in a gilded zoo, I could actually think!"
She lunged forward, grabbing my wrist.
I flinched, expecting the power to explode and flatten us both into the carpet. But it didn't. The moment her skin touched mine, the screaming sirens outside seemed to fade into a dull hum. The freezing cold in my palm surged, but instead of crushing me, it flowed. It traveled up my arm, meeting the golden warmth of her energy.
It was like two predators fighting for the same piece of meat. My black void, her golden light. They clashed, spiraling up our joined arms, creating a static charge that made the hair on my neck stand up.
"Stop it," she breathed, her face inches from mine. I could smell her perfume—something expensive and floral that smelled like a lie. "It's... it's pulling from me."
"I'm not doing it on purpose!" I tried to yank my arm away, but her grip was like a vice. She wasn't letting go. In fact, she was pulling me closer.
Our foreheads collided. It wasn't a romantic bump; it was a collision of desperation.
In that split second, the link snapped wide open. It wasn't just physical anymore. A raw, unfiltered thought slammed into my brain, loud and clear, echoing in a voice that wasn't mine but felt like it.
*I want out too.*
I froze. I looked into Wren's eyes—the eyes the whole city worshipped. Behind the gold, there was a hollow, aching exhaustion. She wasn't the Golden Girl. She was a prisoner in a much fancier cell than mine.
"You..." I whispered.
"Shut up," she whispered back, but she didn't pull away. Her breath was warm against my lips, and for a heartbeat, the tension changed. It wasn't just panic. It was a magnetic, dangerous pull. I could feel her pulse racing against my wrist, a frantic rhythm that mirrored my own.
I wanted to push her away. I wanted to scream. But the void in my hand was finally settling, calmed by her light. For the first time since the power woke up, I didn't feel like I was about to implode.
Then the door to the apartment exploded.
Not a knock. Not a key. The reinforced steel door simply ceased to exist, blasted inward by a concussive wave of force.
We both leaped apart, the connection severing with a violent psychic snap that left me dizzy.
Cade Rowan stepped through the smoke, looking entirely too relaxed in a tailored suit that probably cost more than my entire neighborhood. He wasn't alone. Four Agency Enforcers followed him, their tactical gear humming with dampening fields.
"Lovely reunion, girls," Cade said, his voice dripping with a fake, polished warmth. He checked his watch. "You're three minutes behind schedule for the synchronization test. I assume the 'bonding' phase is going well?"
"What the hell was that alarm?" Wren demanded, stepping in front of me. Her voice was back to its commanding, hero-tone, but I could see the slight shake in her shoulders.
Cade smiled. It didn't reach his eyes. "Oh, that? Just a little marketing push. We've leaked a 'villain threat' to the press to drive up the viewership for your official pairing announcement. The city is practically vibrating with anticipation."
I stared at him, disgusted. "You triggered a city-wide panic for *ratings*?"
"Welcome to the industry, Ellis," Cade replied, walking toward us. He stopped a few feet away, his eyes scanning the room. "Now, let's see the results. Did the shard stabilize? Or are we still in the 'accidentally killing each other' phase?"
I instinctively hid my hand behind my back, but the black ink was already shifting.
"Everything's fine," Wren lied quickly. Too quickly.
Cade's eyes narrowed. He stepped closer, his presence filling the room like a suffocating blanket. He didn't look at Wren. He looked at me.
"Is it?" He reached out, his fingers brushing the air near my wrist. "Because the telemetry on my tablet says your energy spikes just hit a record high. Either you're having a heart attack, or you two actually found a way to sync."
He grabbed my arm—hard. I let out a sharp yelp as he yanked my hand forward.
He didn't see a burn. He didn't see a wound.
He saw a name.
Etched into my palm, written in a shimmering, abyssal black ink that looked like it had been carved into my soul, was a single word: *WREN*.
Cade's expression shifted from smugness to genuine, predatory interest. "Well, well. A soul-bind. The Agency didn't think that was possible with a villain-class shard."
"What does that mean?" I spat, trying to wrench my arm back.
"It means," Cade whispered, leaning in so close I could see the coldness in his pupils, "that you're no longer just partners. You're a single biological unit. If she dies, you die. If you're tortured, she feels it. And more importantly..."
He stepped back and tapped a button on his tablet. A holographic screen flickered to life in the center of the room.
It was a public bounty board. The official Agency 'Most Wanted' list.
At the very top, in bright, flashing red letters, was my face.
**ELLIS NOELLE: CLASS S THREAT. REWARD: 10 MILLION CREDITS. DEAD OR ALIVE.**
"The world thinks you're a monster now, Ellis," Cade smirked. "And since you're bound to Wren, the only way the public will accept her is if she's the one who eventually 'takes you down.'"
I looked at Wren. She looked at the screen, then at me, her face pale.
"Cade, you can't—" Wren started.
"I already did," Cade interrupted. He turned to leave, the Enforcers flanking him. "Get comfortable, girls. The hunt is officially on, and the whole world is watching."
As the door hissed shut and the locks engaged with a heavy, metallic thud, my palm began to burn again.
I looked down. Below Wren's name, a new line of text was appearing, like a digital clock counting down from zero.
*00:59... 00:58...*
"Wren," I whispered, my voice trembling. "What happens when it hits zero?"