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“Pain?”

“No.”

“Shock?”

She shook her head. “Heat. From the band.”

Dreven’s jaw tightened.

Tavi was beside them almost before she finished speaking, carrying a handheld scanner in two of his lower hands while the upper pair adjusted the settings.

“Give me your wrist.”

Kesta extended her arm.

The scanner passed over the copper markings and produced a string of symbols Tavi clearly did not like. His upper eyelids lowered as he tried another setting.

“Well?”

He frowned. “It registered an activation spike.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning it became active.”

Kesta gave him a flat look.

“That is not useful.”

“I am aware.”

Dreven looked from Tavi to the band. “Can it transmit?”

Tavi’s expression lost its humor. “Almost anything can transmit if the engineer is sufficiently immoral.”

All four of them looked toward Horan.

The implication settled quickly.

Kesta’s attraction to Dreven had coincided with a response from the claim band.

Or his proximity had caused it.

Or something else had activated both.

She hated every possibility.

Dreven’s voice hardened. “Remove it.”

Kesta turned toward him.

Tavi shook his head immediately. “Not without knowing what lies beneath it.”

“I was not asking whether it would be convenient.”

“And I am not cutting through an unknown device attached to an artery because you glared at me impressively.”

Dreven’s expression darkened.