Chapter 19 · Shield of Bone and Fur

Chapter 19: Shield of Bone and Fur

"Rhee, move!" Kane's voice cracked through the chamber a half second before the turbine housing groaned.

I didn't move fast enough. Vance's blood was still spreading across the grated floor, soaking into my boot, and my brain was stuck on the red light blinking over the dead-man's switch he'd slapped his palm against before he went down. Armed. Live. Counting.

"The switch—" I started.

"Forget the switch." Kane's hand closed around my wrist, and his grip wasn't human-tight, it was past that, fingers already curving wrong, nails thickening into something that scraped a line of heat across my skin. "Water's coming up the intake. We've got maybe ninety seconds before that turbine eats itself."

"You're shifting." I yanked against him, not because I wanted away, but because I could smell it—his scent flooding the narrow concrete throat of the tunnel, thick and hot, pine and blood and something underneath that made my knees forget their job. Scent invasion. That was the only way to say it. It didn't ask permission, it just filled the space until there was nothing else to breathe.

"Partial.