I went still. “Is it Rook?”
He cocked his head and sneezed.
I didn’t know what that meant.
Would he even recognise Rook’s name?
Bending over, I held his stare. “Has something happened to the girl?”
He hissed right in my face.
I took that as a yes.
Urgency shot down my legs to go to her—
I froze.
A thin bead of sweat ran down my temples as a burn centred in my heart that had nothing to do with the vitalsync core.
This felt...human. Messily intense instead of callously engineered.
But...
If she was in danger—if Marcus had noticed the unwanted connection forming between us and decided to use it against me—wouldn’t I be walking into yet another trap?
What would he make me do in order to stop hurting her?
The worse question was: what would I be willing to do to keep her safe?
Anything.
I didn’t like that answer.
I didn’t like the sudden flash of wrath and violence and—
Fuck.
Swaying backward, I shook my head.
Impossible.
How had this happened?
I didn’t evenknowher.
I wasn’t supposed tofeelanything.
She meant nothing to me, so why did the very thought of Marcus and his men laying a single finger on her make me want to slaughter them in the slowest, sadistically cruel way possible?
I backed up, shaking my head as more rage filled me.
If she’d become yet another tool to keep me in-line, then...I’d somehow already fallen for it and—
Stalking into my quarters, I threw myself onto the well-worn couch.
Fuck it.
Whisper dashed after me, snarling, spitting, hissing.
