Chapter 7 · Auth Zero-Four

"Move your knee." My voice came out flat, no air behind it.

Milo didn't move his knee.

"Door's red," he said, chin dropping toward mine, breath scorching against my jaw. "Not going anywhere, Captain."

I hit the release toggle a second time. Same dead click. Same amber bleeding into red. The panel above the bio-lock hatch had kicked my badge out two minutes ago and it hadn't asked permission first.

"Get off me and I'll fix it."

"You've had your hand on that panel for ninety seconds. It's not fixing." His weight didn't shift. Bone against bone, my spine flat on the grate, his hip wedged between mine like he'd built the room around us on purpose. "So we're not leaving. We're figuring out who's driving."

"I'm driving. I run this wing."

"Ran it. Past tense." He said it low, almost bored, and that was worse than if he'd smiled. His nose dragged along my collar, once, checking what was still there under the ruined patch. "You smell like you already know that."

I shoved a forearm up under his throat, not hard enough to hurt, hard enough to say something. He let me.