Chapter 46 · The Original Order

"Don't touch that drive, Mara."

Dorian's hand clamped around my wrist before my fingers reached the black box.

Heat shot through my skin. The bond snapped tight, yanking his pulse into my palm and my breath into his lungs.

I jerked against him.

He didn't let go.

"You dragged me into a sealed shield room, watched the council erase my evidence, and now you're giving me orders?" I shoved my shoulder into his chest. "Try again."

His jaw tightened. "That box is tied to my command seal. If Silas finds out we opened it, he'll purge the entire core."

"Then let him try."

"He already is."

The black box clicked.

A red line burned across its surface. The metal table lurched, sending tools skittering across it before they crashed to the floor.

Dorian released my wrist and reached for the box.

I slapped his hand away.

"You don't get to destroy another file."

His gray eyes locked on mine. Exhausted. Furious. Dangerous enough to bite through steel.

"I didn't destroy the last one."

"Your voice ordered the shield torn down.