He reached for her again.
Ayla caught his wrist and twisted. This time, he let her move him. His back hit the opposite wall. His free hand landed beside her head, trapping her between his arm and the narrow shaft.
His heat pressed into the space between them.
His pulse beat under her fingers.
Fast. Violent. Wrong.
"Move," she warned.
"I need your hand."
"You need a doctor."
"Doctors cannot read the lock."
"I can read it. I cannot fix it."
"You can control it."
"I do not know how."
"You do. Your body knows."
"That is a terrible argument."
"Ayla."
The way he said her name stopped her.
His voice had lost the sharp edge. It was still rough, but now there was something underneath it. Not begging. Kade Rook did not look like a man who begged.
It was trust, and he had no business giving it to her.
"Do not use my name like that," she said.
"Like what?"
"Like you own it."
"I do not own anything. Not even my memories."
The words came out before his face closed again.
Ayla saw the crack.
Not in the mark.
In him.
She should have used it. A good debt hunter used every weakness. She had survived by doing exactly that.
Instead, she lowered the knife.
Kade's gaze dropped to it, then returned to her mouth for one dangerous second.
Ayla noticed.
So did he.
"Do not," she said.
"I did not do anything."
"You thought about it."
"You can read debts, not thoughts."
"I can read enough."
"Then read this."
He took her marked hand and placed it against his chest.
The contact hit like a live wire.
Ayla felt his heartbeat under her palm. Too fast. Too heavy. Each beat shoved against her bones. Beneath it, another rhythm answered, deeper and slower, like something enormous knocking from behind a locked door.
Her blue soul-mark brightened.
Kade inhaled sharply.
"Take it," he said.
"No."
"Ayla, take the debt."
"No. I do not know what it will do to me."
"It will hurt."
"That was not the question."
"It will let you feel everything I feel."
Her hand jerked, but Kade held it there.
"And you feel mine?" she asked.
"Every spike. Every lie. Every time you think about running."
"Then you know I am about to break your nose."
"You are thinking about it. You have not decided."
"You are arrogant for a man who cannot stand without me."
"You are shaking."
"I am not."
"Your mark is."
The blue line on her hand crawled toward his silver mark.
Ayla tried to pull away.
Kade caught both her wrists and pressed them against the wall above her head.
The position was secure, not painful. His body blocked the narrow exit. His face hovered close enough for her to feel his breath touch her lips.
"Let me go," she said.
"Say you will help me."
"I will help you by letting Meridian take you."
"They will tear the core out while you watch."
"Then I will collect the bounty before you stop screaming."
His eyes went flat. "You do not mean that."
"You do not know what I mean."
"I know you keep looking at the door."
"Because I want to leave."
"No. You are calculating how many people you can kill before they reach your brother."
Ayla went still.
Kade's fingers tightened around her wrists.
"Stop looking inside my head," she said.
"I am not inside your head. You are loud."
"One more word and I will make you regret having a pulse."
"Good. Hold on to that anger. Fear makes the lock hungry."
"You are giving me instructions now?"
"I am trying to keep us alive."
"You are trying to trap me."
"Yes."
The blunt answer hit harder than a lie.
Ayla stared at him.
"At least you admit it."
"I need you close."
"You need a leash."
"I need the only person who can see the mark."
"And if I refuse?"
"The core opens."
"That is not an answer."
"It is the answer."
"No. If I refuse, what do you do?"
Kade leaned closer. Their coats rubbed together. His forehead nearly touched hers.
"I hold you here until the lock chooses for us."
Ayla's breath caught.
"Try it."
"You already are."
The door behind him split down the middle.
Ayla drove her knee up. Kade twisted aside, and her strike hit his thigh instead. His grip broke on one wrist. She spun, hooked his ankle, and sent him down hard.
"Stay there," she ordered.
"You first."
He grabbed the hem of her coat as she turned toward the door.
Ayla looked down. "Let go."
"They are through."
The metal door tore away from its hinges.
Six enforcers filled the opening.
The lead man held a black cylinder with a red core. Not a shock rifle. A rupture charge.
Ayla recognized it from execution records.
One pulse would split Kade's heart-core open.
The blast would tear through the lower wards.
"Drop the knife," the lead enforcer said. "Get away from Rook."
Ayla stepped in front of Kade.
"You brought a rupture charge into a residential district," she said. "That is going to look terrible in court."
"There will be no court."
"There is always a court. Rich families love courts. They make murder look expensive."
The lead enforcer lifted the cylinder. "Move."
Kade pushed himself up behind her. "Ayla, do not let him trigger it."
"I had noticed."
"The charge is keyed to my mark."
"Then stop being marked."
"I am working on it."
"Work faster."
The enforcer thumbed the activation ring.
Red light spread across the cylinder.
Ayla flung her palm forward.
The debt-lines on the enforcers flared, but the rupture charge did not stop. It pulsed through her power and struck Kade instead.
Kade folded with a strangled breath.
The silver lines beneath his skin burst brighter.
Ayla felt the same pain in her chest.
She dropped to one knee.
The enforcer smiled. "There. The lock is already looking for you."
Kade reached for her through the shaking light.
"Do not touch me," she said.
"Too late."
His fingers closed around her wrist.
The blue mark on her hand split open like a line of fire.
Ayla saw another flash.
A sealed room. Two metal chairs. A child-sized hand pressed against glass. A woman standing behind a panel with a Meridian badge.
The woman said, "The first anchor is stable."
A man's voice answered, "And the second?"
"He will forget."
Ayla tore out of the vision with a gasp.
Kade was staring at her.
"You saw it," he said.
"Saw what?"
"The room."
"You were there."
His expression cracked.
"No."
"You remember it."
"No, I don't."
"You knew what I saw."
"Because you are showing it to me."
The rupture charge whined louder.
The enforcers moved closer.
"Enough," the lead man said. "Ayla Vane, step away. Your brother's debt will be cleared if you do."
She looked at the red charge.
Then at Kade.
His hand still wrapped her wrist. His thumb pressed against her pulse, steadying her even while his own body shook.
"You hear me, right?" she asked.
"Every word."
"If I bind this, can you control it?"
"Maybe."
"Maybe is not good enough."
"It is all I have."
"What happens to me?"
"You feel my fear."
"You said that already."
"And I feel yours."
"I do not want you in my head."
"Neither do I."
"Then why are you still holding me?"
Kade's gaze dropped to their hands.
"Because if I let go, we both die."
The lead enforcer raised the rupture charge.
"Last chance."
Ayla's soul-mark burned.
She could feel Kade's fear now. Not the clean fear of death. Something uglier. Fear of remembering. Fear that the thing inside him had already killed once. Fear that Ayla would see the truth and leave him to Meridian anyway.
She hated that she could feel it.
She hated that it sounded too much like her own.
"You said the whole city dies with you," she whispered.
"I was not exaggerating."
"You should have led with that."
"You were threatening my life."
"I was negotiating."
"You put a knife under my jaw."
"That was emphasis."
Kade almost laughed. It came out as a broken breath.
The red charge clicked.
Ayla made her choice.