The lab was a war zone. Sparks rained like fireflies. The air hummed with energy, crackling with danger. My pulse slammed in my ears. Fear, sharp and immediate, twisted through me, but so did pride. I would not falter. I could not.
Vorde’s hand gripped mine, hard, grounding. His eyes, wide and fierce, were fixed on the figure across the room. The one I had thought gone forever, impossibly alive. Jealousy flickered, not at him, but at the enemy’s audacity to return. How dare you come back? After everything?
The figure’s smile was slow, deliberate, intimate in a way that made my stomach twist. “You always fight first, protect first. Always human before survival.” The words slithered into my mind. Fear lanced. Fury coiled. I protect them. And I fight. Always.
Viole shrank behind Vorde, her
