Chapter 23 · Neural Resonance

"Don't touch that door." Kael caught Zero's wrist before her fingers reached the control panel.

She turned so fast his shoulder hit the metal wall. Her blade stopped under his jaw.

"Take your hand off me."

"If you open it, the signal gets a clean path to us."

"Then stop standing between me and the door."

"I'm trying to keep you alive."

"You keep saying that like it makes you my owner."

The blade pressed harder. A thin line of heat slid beneath Kael's jaw.

He didn't move. He could feel the tremor running through her arm, though she was trying to hide it. Her body had taken too much damage in the fight with the Copy. One knee was bleeding through torn fabric. A black burn crawled up the side of her neck, pulsing every few seconds with a faint blue light.

The signal from the dead clone still buzzed through the ruined chamber.

Victor had found them.

No. Worse.

The person behind Victor had found them.

"Zero," Kael said quietly, "your pain-lock is about to cycle."

Her eyes narrowed. "Don't use my designation like a warning."

"It's not a warning. It's a fact.