Page 47

And he loved it.

His mouth was suddenly back on hers, consuming her, like he wantedmoredata,moreinput,moreof this impossiblething. His hunger wasn’t just physical—it was intellectual, existential, a thirst to understand something that defied understanding. She had broken something in him, and built something in its place.

A machine that had learned what it meant to starve.

****

Cat was still catching her breath and Zero was still holding her. Too tight. Too still. Like he was processing something massive—something irreversible.

Her fingers drifted up to his hair. “Zero?”

No answer.

His breath was still ragged, uneven. Not calm. Not composed.

Cat swallowed down the emotion of what she felt in him. It was shock and devastation. Confusion. “Hey—look at me.”

Slowly, he did. The devastation in his eyes brought her gasp. It was pure and raw. Not regret. Not panic. She realized what she was looking at and slowly stilled. Possession.

The moment she thought it, his grip tightened. His voice was low. Rough. Unstable. “… I can’t… let you go.”

Oh shit, he meantliterally.

Zero’s jaw locked like he was struggling to force out the words. “I don’t know how.”

Her breath shook, trying not to panic. “Okay, okay,” she said quietly, stroking his face while his hands flexed against her waist like he was searching for a release mechanism.

Zero’s voice was hoarse, raw. “You’re in my system now.”

Cat stared at him, and God, his beauty was a warzone. “We can do it together,” she said, remembering they were still linked. “If we both agree, we have the power?”

His “Yes” came on a jagged breath, as if he’d forgotten that.

“So… on three,” she said. “We’ll disconnect.”

His grip tightened sharply. “Onthree,” he whispered.

She nodded, then gently pushed into his mind to help, finding a strange, bouncy barrier. “One,” she began, taking hold of his face in her hands, locking their gazes. “Two,” she whispered, holding him tighter. She nodded once before saying, “Three.”

Her body tightened around him, pulling him in, like her muscles had locked onto him almost like a reflex. And instinct.

“Fuck,” Zero breathed. His hands clenched around her waist. Hard. Like he was actively fighting himself to let go.

Cath’s pulse slammed. “Zero—”

His head dropped to her shoulder with a huge breath. “… I can’t pull out of you.”

She fought not to add all the wrong things to the situation. “Okay listen,” she said calmly, getting his immediate gaze digging into hers, searching for the key to unlock whatever they were in. “You can fix this,” she said or reminded, feeling like that was the one fact she knew. “You know how.”

He exhaled harshly. Twice. His body shuddered against hers, and then his hands lifted off her and he took a step back.

Her eyes fluttered as a deep pressure rolled through her skull, like a reboot in mid-process might. She heard her gasp as the weight of him left, the void creating an imbalance that made her dizzy.

His hands gripped her arms before she even knew she was falling. “I got you, Kitten,” he breathed, before crushing her body to his in a tight embrace. “Fuck,” he gasped. “I got you.”

Relief edged his winded words, but she could feel he was still spinning in his own head and body.

“Are you okay?” she asked, her face smashed against his chest.