“Hawk!” I yelled. “We need to move!”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me into a sprint as Reese’s form convulsed inside the chamber—light pouring through him until he was nothing but a silhouette being erased in real time.
Lyric spoke one last time—soft, almost relieved.
“Echo Core terminated.”
Then everything went dark.
Dead silent.
The chamber vanished into blackness behind us as Hawk dragged me back toward the lift.
My chest heaved. My pulse thundered.
He stopped only when we reached the wall, pulling me in against him so hard it knocked the breath out of me.
His forehead pressed to mine.
His voice raw, shaking.
“You saved my life,” he whispered.
I touched his cheek. “No. We saved each other.”
He kissed me then—slow, deep, desperate—like the world had just ended and begun in the same breath.
The power flickered back on.
Footsteps echoed down the corridor.
Aaron. Boone. Logan.
Backup finally breaking through.
But Hawk didn’t let me go.
And I didn’t let him.
Not anymore.
Not ever.
36
Julia
The first thing I felt was the shaking.
Not the building—me.
My hands trembled as we rode the lift back up, the taste of ozone still lingering in my mouth, Reese’s last scream echoing in the hollow places he’d tried to hollow out even further.
Hawk’s grip on my fingers was the only thing that felt solid.
We didn’t talk.
We didn’t have to.
