Burning Blood

“Of course I don’t.”

I froze as her words punched me in the heart. Words I’d expected yet—

“I want to leave with every fibre of my being,” she continued. “But...I want to leave with you.”

I froze.

Why?

Why was she willing to put her life on the line for me?

There had to be a logical explanation why we affected each other so much. Why she made my entire system turn haywire with a single look.

The air grew so thick with unspoken things, I struggled to breathe.

A throat cleared loudly as one of the doctors interrupted our staring competition. “In that case, we’ll get going then.”

My gaze snapped to the eldest doctor. “Not yet, you’re not. You’re not dismissed.”

“Listen here, you can’t just—”

“I can and I am.” Letting go of Whisper’s ear, I crossed my arms. “I have one more task before you can leave.”

“Look, I think we’ve been extremely accommodating,” Harry muttered. “We’re leaving—”

“Remove these cuffs from my wrists.” I held up my arms and the silver bondage trapping me. “And yank this torture device out of my heart.” I tapped the vitalsync core. “Do that and I won’t just let you leave, I’ll ensure you’ll never have to work again if you don’t want to.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Harry asked.

“It means get these fucking things out of me and I’ll give you whatever you want.”