A shiver of something unnatural passed through the air. The temperature didn’t change. The wind didn’t shift.
But Nikos felt it, like pressure building behind glass. He swore he could feel the crackle of ozone before a lightning strike.
He didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. But Benoit knew. The bastard’s gaze sharpened.
That slight tilt of the head, that flicker of a smile. He’d sensed the reaction. Nikos’s pulse thudded once in warning.
There was an unnatural look in the man’s eyes. His expression darkened, just a fraction.
Possessive.
Triumphant.
As if her name wasn’t just a memory on his tongue—but a claim. A command for her to come to him.
Nikos’s jaw tightened, and his eyes narrowed. Slowly, deliberately, he raised the rifle—this time directly at Benoit’s chest.
“Say her name again,” he growled, his voice like gravel over stone, “and I will put a bullet between your eyes.”
The smile Benoit offered now was a fraction too wide. A fraction too confident. As if he’d already played the first move in a game the others didn’t know had started.
Kiki felt when the airshifted.
It was barely perceptible, a breath sucked from the room before a scream. That breath felt like it was hers.
A cold thread coiled down her spine… not physical, but psychic. Sharp. Familiar. Poisonous.
Her hands braced against the wall of the safe room. Her breath caught in her throat as the ripple passed through her.
Benoit.
The moment he spoke her name, it tore through her like a blade made of memory.
Pain bloomed behind her eyes.
There was physical pain, but it was minor compared to the mental intrusion. A floodgate of memories hit hard. Memories of needles and restraints, of rooms with no corners, of voices behind glass saying her name like it was an equation, not a person.
Kiki, you mustn’t fight. It will only hurt if you do.
Kiki, try harder. If you don’t, others will be hurt.
You must never resist, Kiki. You are the future of humanity, and I am your creator. You must never turn on your creator. You understand that, don’t you, Kiki?
The echo of Benoit’s voice back then—smooth, assured, laced with smug authority, a compulsion that she didn’t know how to fight as he overwhelmed her senses. A tsunami of emotion sank into her thoughts like oil in water. Slick. Pervasive. Designed to crawl under her skin and unravel her from the inside out.
Her knees buckled. She twisted and slid down the wall to the floor. The cement under her was surprisingly warm. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes as she forced herself to breathe.
No, I willnotallow him to enter!
She slammed the door shut on the memories. Never again. She shovedback with cool precision, forcing him out of her head like expelling rot from a wound.
“He’s trying to get inside my head,” she murmured, her voice hoarse.
Cosmos’s voice came from the other side of the room, urgent and clipped. “RITA, keep the guys updated while I help Kiki.”
A moment later, Kiki felt Cosmos’s warm hands running up and down along her arms. His voice was low, urgent. She forced her eyes open.
“Can you fight him?” Cosmos asked, continuing the soothing motion.
