Asher didn’t move. Levi might as well have been pulling on the wall.
“He put his hands on you,” Asher said, his voice quiet and even.
“He’s running.He’sfixing this.Asher, please, please, I’m begging you —” Levi’s fingers dug into the fabric of Asher’s sleeve, his other hand coming up now, his palm flat on Asher’s chest, pushing.
“He whispered in your ear—”
“ASHER!”
“And you let him.” He caught Levi’s wrist, and held it there against his heart as he turned away from the tracker to look at Levi. “Am I not safe for you, Levi?” Asher asked, sounding small and hurt, but the look on his face was cold.
“Asher,please—” Levi made no effort to stop the sob working up his throat, shaking as he kept pulling. “Please…let him finish the mission, let him—”
“I love you,” Asher said.
Levi’s mouth opened and nothing came out. His tongue moved against the roof of his mouth. His throat worked. The sound that was supposed to come out of it was the sound that would save Elliot’s life, and it was supposed to come out fast, and it didn’t.
The silence stretched one beat. Two. Long enough for Asher to hear it. Long enough for Asher to sigh.
He pressed the panel.
The section sealed. The purge engaged. The distant roar — quieter than Cargo Bay Two, the reserves nearly spent, but enough. Over the walkie, Elliot was saying something, but Levi couldn’t make sense of it before he heard it cut off. He didn’t look at the screen to watch the signal fade.
Gone.
Levi’s fist connected with Asher’s jaw with a force that came from somewhere beneath tactics, beneath every careful negotiation he’d been trying to run since the forest. Asher’s head turned with it. He took a step back, fingers rising to his lip and coming away red.
He smiled with blood on his lip and warmth in his eyes and Levi’s stomach turning because Asher wore the same expression he always wore after Levi did something unexpected — charmed and fascinated, like Levi had given him a gift.
“What did you just do?” Jasper whispered.
Asher straightened his uniform and adjusted his cuffs, still smiling at Levi. “I contained the threat.”
13
Busted Mechanics
Levisankbackagainstthe console and stared at nothing.
I’m an idiot. I’m an idiot who will never get out because I can’t swallow my fucking pride and just tell him what he wants to hear.
He closed his eyes long enough to feel how tired his face was, how tired his shoulders were, how tired the small muscles at the back of his jaw were from clenching them. Then he opened them, because closing them for longer than that would mean stopping, and he didn’t have the option to stop.
“Jasper,” he croaked. “Pull up the damage report for the section.”
Jasper’s face was stripped of everything Levi associated with him — the grin, the easy rhythm, the stoned philosopher who accidentally found clues in a fucked up asylum...all that was left was the man underneath, working because that was the only part of him still functional. “The purge ran in Sector Three…the command EVA locker has heat damage. Only Kane’s suit is intact.”
Levi heard the words from somewhere outside himself as he blinked away his tears. “Okay…okay. Let’s go.”
Levi pushed off the console and was moving before the wordokayhad finished settling in the room. “Owen, where’s the nearest functioning airlock that isn’t in Sector Nine?”
Owen’s hands were shaking on his data pad but his voice was steady. “Sector Two. Secondary airlock, maintenance access. Life support is marginal but breathable. You’ll still have to get the EVA suit from Sector Three.”
“Jasper, can you walk someone through the array disconnect from there?”
Jasper was already grabbing his terminal and tool kit. “If the radio holds, yeah. I can pull up the array schematics from any console with a live feed.”
“Then we go. You, me, and Asher. Now.” Levi looked at Owen. “You stay here. Monitor the creature and keep us on comms if anything changes.” He looked at Maddie. “Keep everyone in this room.”
