Not alone.
Never alone again.
Hannah anchored them both, her power weaving around his like threads tightening into a rope.The force of their combined electricity roared out of him in a brilliant spear of light—through the surveillance connection—straight into the weapon on Pierce’s end.
Somewhere across New Athens, a deep, concussive blast rattled the chamber’s windows and shook dust from the rafters.The weapon was gone.Pierce cut the signal and winked out, cursing.
Silence swallowed the chamber.
Gray swayed, catching himself on the table.Hannah’s hand steadied his instinctively, the bond pulsing with warmth and relief so deep it stole the breath from his lungs.
Across the room, Senator Caldera rose slowly from behind her desk, staring at him with awe.
“Mr.Spark,” she said softly, “I believe we’ve seen enough.”
Her gaze swept the chamber.“This vote,” she declared, “will not pass.Not today.Not ever.”
The applause began hesitantly, before spreading across the chamber in a rising wave.
Hannah slipped her arm around Gray’s waist, supporting him as the adrenaline leak left him lightheaded.He leaned into her slightly, not from weakness, but because their bond made it feel impossible not to.
Chapter Nine
Hannah
After the explosion of Gray’s lightning colliding with the Protogenus weapon that tore the signal apart, the Senate chamber went utterly still.No shouting.No camera shutters.No frantic movement.Just the soft, ragged sound of people trying to breathe again.
But all Hannah could hear was Gray.
His breathing wasn’t labored, not exactly, but it was unsteady.She felt the tremor in him before she saw it, a faint shudder beneath the hand she kept pressed to his back.Their bond was heavy and sluggish.He had burned through so much power in the last hour that she was amazed he was still standing at all.
She tightened her grip on him, as though her body alone could hold him upright.
“Gray,” she whispered, leaning in close enough that her lips brushed the shell of his ear.“Talk to me.How are you feeling?”
His answer came after a beat too long.“Like I picked up a skyscraper and set it back down the wrong way.”
