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All thoughts of leaving her were gone in a second. He wiped the back of his hand across her forehead, and it came away slick with sweat.

“Rexx, back off. You shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t be around me. I’m... I’m changing.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening. Are you feeling sick?”

She finally lifted her head enough so he could see her face. A dark red trickle of blood slid from her nose and down to her top lip. “I don’t know what’s happening. I can’t control my thoughts. You have to get out of here before I do something bad.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“There’s no other option. The Gente are here for me. The second I saw them, whatever they put in me flared to life. I could feel it trickling through my veins. It’s excited about something.” She scraped her nails across her arm. “It’s alive. It feels like it wants to take over.”

Rexx growled. “It can fucking try.” He’d never felt so out of control. Even when he’d been in the middle of a battle and all hope seemed lost, he’d always found a solution. But he couldn’t destroy this enemy inside Daisy. If he tried to get this thing out of her, it would kill her.

He held her close as she trembled. “Hold on for as long as you can. We’ll get out of here and find you a doctor.”

“Rexx, there won’t be anyone on this planet who can help. Angel didn’t even know how to fix me.”

“Then we’ll leave. I’ll get rid of the Gente and get the ship flying again. I’ll take us to the best doctor.”

“You need to leave. You shouldn’t be around me.”

“And you shouldn’t have that alien tech trickling through your veins making you say such dumb things. I’ll never leave you. Can you stand?”

“Get out of here. I don’t want you around me. Leave me alone.”

The words kicked him like a hard, booted foot, but he pushed them aside. This wasn’t his Daisy talking. This was the alien tech taking over.

He slid a hand under her knees, his other arm around her shoulders. He scooped her into his arms and stood. “You stay in the cockpit. I’ll deal with the Gente.”

He’d made it two steps before something hard prodded into his ribs. He grunted in surprise as he saw the gun shoved against him.

Daisy’s eyes were cold as she glared at him. “Put me down. I’m not yours to control. I don’t belong to you.”

“Of course you don’t. But I have to keep you safe.”

She dug the gun in harder. Confusion flashed across her face. Her hand shook, and her eyes rolled in her head. “Help me, Rexx. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

He eased her back to the ground and held her upright to make sure she didn’t fall. “Daisy, stay with me. Don’t let what’s inside you take control. You’re strong. You can fight this.”

She swiped the sweat out of her eyes and raised the gun. “I can’t. Something’s happened. You need to get out of here. I’m not safe to be around.”

“You’re always safe to be around. You’re my partner. We stick together.” Her face was ash gray. And as Rexx studied her expression, something dark slid beneath her skin.

He was losing her. He had to act now, or it would be too late.

Rexx pushed down the gun she held. “I’ll sedate you. If I knock you out, maybe the alien tech won’t do more damage. It could need you awake to work.”

“You want to trap me, too? You’re no better than High Command. The second they knew there was something wrong with me, they treated me like a prisoner.”

“No, you won’t be a prisoner with me. This could work.”

“I don’t want to be unconscious. I need to know what’s going on.”

“You will. Soon enough.” He grabbed her by the shoulders again and held her against his chest, the gun wedged between them. She wouldn’t fire on him.

“I... I don’t know. I guess it could work.” Her voice was muffled.

“Stay here. I’ll get the medical kit.” Rexx raced into the cockpit, grabbed the kit, and returned to Daisy. This had to work. There had to be a way to slow down this monster inside her and give them a chance to make this right.