"Confirmed," she called back. "Drop it."
I let the coil go. It hit the deck with a heavy slap.
"Proper spiderweb up here," I shouted. "Whoever rigged this used shoelaces and hope."
She stepped in to check the line I’d dropped. "Signal path looks clean. Just don't?—"
Above me, a par can groaned.
It wasn't the one I was working on. It was the one next to it. The safety chain had rusted through. I heard the metalpingbefore I saw the movement.
"Zia! Move!"
I didn't think. I didn't calculate. I launched myself off the riser.
I hit the stage deck and lunged.
My hand caught her arm. Just above the elbow.
I yanked her back, spinning her into my chest as the heavy light fixture smashed into the floor exactly where she’d been standing. Glass exploded. Metal screeched against wood.
But I didn't hear the crash.
I felt the contact.
My hand on her arm. Her back against my chest.
It was like grabbing a live wire.
Zap.
The universe narrowed down to the point of contact. Her pulse hammered under my fingertips. Her scent, citrus, ozone, and lightning, wasn't just air anymore. It was heat. It was skin. It was electric, hot-shiver violence that tore through my nervous system and rewrote my DNA in a millisecond.
Mine.
The word roared through me. Not a thought. A fact. A geological imperative.
My arm tightened around her waist reflexively. I pulled her flush against me. She was small, solid, trembling.
For one second, she didn't fight. She melted back against me, a soft exhale that smelled like rain.
Then the shockwave hit her.
She gasped, a ragged, panicked sound, and scrambled forward.
"Nope. Nope. Nope."
She stumbled out of my grip. She scrambled over the debris of the shattered light, boots skidding on glass.
"Zia—" I reached out. My hand was shaking.
She backed away, eyes wide, pupils blown black. She looked at me like I was the danger. Like I was the falling light.
"Don't," she said. Her voice cracked.
She turned and bolted. Proper sprinted. Straight for the loading dock exit.
I stood there in the wreckage. My palm burned where I’d touched her. My heart was trying to beat its way out of my ribcage.
