Several beats of silence passed.
“Do you mind if I call Christian?” Gemma broke the quiet. “I promise I’ll be okay alone in here.”
“Can you keep it together if you do that? Doctor Manae can be really scary when she gets pissed off.”
“I’ll be fine.” Christian’s voice was a balm against her aching soul after all.
“Okay. I’ll be outside if you need anything, then. I can’t wander too far, or I’ll really get in trouble.” Gunner flashed a lopsided grin.
Gemma nodded, still unable to smile, as Gunner left, and the room fell quiet again.
Gemma reached for her comm, but her fingers hesitated. She’d told Christian that she would let him know what happened with the door, but her heart already hurt just thinking about how much his would ache when he learned how fast things were accelerating.
Still, she’d said she would call. He’d be more worried if she didn’t.
She tapped her comm. “Call Christian Holm.”
The signal beeped once, twice. When he answered on the third beep, Gemma heard the ruffling of sheets. She groaned. Of course she’d forgotten about his grave shift schedule.
“Hey.” Christian’s voice sounded alert despite being awakened. “You okay?”
Gemma exhaled a breath. “Yeah, I just promised I’d call.” Her voice caught.
“That’s not what I asked,” he said gently.
Her eyes flicked to the far corner of the lab, as if she could hide the truth. But lying to him wasn’t an option. He’d only ever been honest with her.
“It responded to me—the door.” She swallowed. “I commanded it to open, and it did. Before I passed out.”
Christian swore under his breath. “Are you hurt?”
“No, just overloaded, I think. Doctor Manae ran scans. The Revarian DNA—” She faltered, swallowing deeply to keep the emotion out of her voice. “It’s accelerating. She said it’s overtaken my human DNA.”
Silence.
Her pulse thrashed in her ears. What was going through his mind? Was he regretting saying he’d stay by her side no matter what?
The room blurred behind unshed tears.
His voice dipped, rough and tender. “I wish I was there to hold you, kiss you, tuck those rebellious strands of hair behind your ear . . . Stars, I miss you.”
“Me too,” she whispered, her voice cracking.
A short pause.
“Does it feel different?” he asked. “In your body, I mean.”
Gemma glanced down at her hands. “I guess. It’s like there’s something under my skin, like . . . I don’t know. Pressure, maybe? Not enough to hurt, but I can feel it. Like it wants me to keep using my powers.”
“Don’t push it, okay? Let them run tests, do the science. But don’t let them treat you like an experiment.”
A pause.
Her throat tightened. “I’m scared.”
“I know. But you’re not alone in this. We’ll figure it out. One step at a time.”
She wiped a traitorous tear off her cheek.
