Chapter 39 · The District They Deleted

"Get your hand off my heart." Kade caught my wrist before the next surge could rip through the pact.

His fingers locked around me. Heat punched up my arm, sharp enough to make my knees buckle. The train slammed around a dead curve, and the faceless figures outside slid past the windows without moving their feet.

"Then stop fighting me," I snapped. "Your core is trying to tear the car apart."

"You don't get to steer my body because you're scared."

"I'm not scared."

His eyes dropped to my burned palm. "Your hand is shaking."

I jerked against him. "Let go."

"Say it without lying."

The heartlock answered before I could. A hot line flashed between our chests, invisible but tight enough to pull my breath short. Kade felt it. His thumb pressed against my pulse.

"There," he said. "That spike. You felt the riders outside, and now you're hiding it from me."

"Those things don't have faces. Forgive me if I don't want them inside my head."

"They're not the problem."

"You keep saying that while your chest is glowing through your shirt."

A red pulse lit under his ribs. The old train car groaned.