“‘Divide.’”The word pulsed inside Kael’s split blood when Ryan’s voice cut through the frost outside, low and final.“If you fall here, I take him. No hesitation.”I stood in the shadow of the heavy steel door, my back pressed against the cold, vibrating metal of the SUV. Every breath felt like a betrayal of the oxygen I didn't deserve.The gale outside let out a long, predatory howl, trying to drown out the conversation. But the air was so thin that every syllable cut through the wind like a razor.I closed my eyes, feeling the frost crystallize on my eyelashes, the chill pricking my cheeks like thousands of tiny needles.From the narrow crack in the door seal, the scent of Kael’s chest pain—that familiar, suffocating sour rust and acidic ore—seeped into the cabin. It was a biological warning. The man was dismantling.A fracture line crept across the windshield, thin as a pulse, groaning as the weight of the snow outside increased. It moved with the same agonizing slowness as my own
Read more