Chapter 11 · Her Mother's Voice

"Don't touch him!" Ayla slammed her palm against the glowing heart-core just as the black shell split open.

The pulse threw her across the train car. Her shoulder hit the metal wall. Kade hit the floor hard enough to rattle the benches.

For half a second, nobody moved.

Then the heart-core spoke.

"Mara Vane."

Ayla stopped breathing.

The voice came from the cracked device in Kade's chest. It was low, rough, and tired. The exact voice she remembered from childhood bedtime warnings and whispered arguments behind locked doors.

Her mother's voice.

Kade pushed up on one elbow. His face had gone gray, but his eyes stayed fixed on Ayla. "You know that name."

"Shut up."

"Ayla."

"I said shut up!"

The core pulsed again.

The train lights died.

The emergency strips along the floor blinked red, then went black too. Somewhere outside the car, metal screamed against metal. The train jerked sideways. Ayla lost her footing and slid across the floor.

Kade caught her wrist before she hit the opposite wall.

His fingers locked around her. Hot. Too hot.