Chapter 13 · Heartbeat Tracker

"Get away from him, Sera!" Mira shouted.

Sera ignored her.

Kael hit the black water on his knees, one hand clamped over his chest. The relay chamber threw his gasp back at them, sharp and ugly. Blue current snapped across the flooded floor and crawled up his boots.

Then the pain punched through the bond.

Sera folded against the nearest rail.

"Damn it." She grabbed the metal until it bit into her palm. "Kael, what did you do?"

He tried to answer. Only a strangled sound came out.

Mira skidded to the control panel, sending water splashing around her ankles. "The Core is pulling a live signal through the relay. His heart rate just jumped to one-fifty."

"Fix it."

"I’m working on it!"

"Work faster!"

Kael dropped forward. His fingers struck the water, then found Sera’s boot.

The bond tightened.

His pain flooded her again. Not just the crushing pressure in his chest. She felt the cold in his lungs, the violent stutter of his pulse, the panic he was trying to bury under clenched teeth.

Panic.

Kael Rusk was afraid.

Sera stared at him through the blue sparks. "You’re scared."

His head jerked up.