“We don’t have a choice.” He pushed me inside first, then squeezed in after me, pulling the door shut.
Absolute darkness enveloped us. The closet was barely large enough for the cleaning supplies, let alone two people. My back pressed against the shelving while my front pressed against Reaper. His weapon dug into my hip, his uninjured shoulder braced against the wall beside my head.
I couldn’t see, but I could feel, smell, and hear everything with heightened intensity. Industrial cleaner and damp concrete filled my nostrils, mingling with rain on his skin and the metallic scent that seemed unique to him. Beneath itall lingered traces of gun oil and something else—something human despite everything they’d done to erase the man he’d been.
“Your breathing,” he whispered, his mouth near my ear. “Slow it down.”
I hadn’t realized how rapidly I was gulping air until he mentioned it. I forced slower breaths, conscious of my chest rising and falling against his.
Red light suddenly cut through thin slats in the door, casting a slice of red across his face. For three excruciating seconds, the drone hovered directly outside. I held my breath. The light moved on, plunging us back into blackness.
“The injector,” I whispered, finding his arm in the darkness. “How long has it been—five minutes? Ten?” I was terrified that at any point now, it would have some effect on him. There was no way I was getting out of here on my own. Not with so many people on our trail.
“No changes,” he replied, his hand finding my wrist, thumb pressing against my racing pulse. “Whatever they put in me should have worked by now.”
“That’s worse, somehow.” My voice sounded strange, breathless. “Not knowing what it’s meant to do.”
“It may be a delayed reaction. Or it requires a secondary trigger.” His tactical analysis couldn’t hide the note of uncertainty I’d never heard from him before.
The drone returned, light filtering through the door slats again. Our breathing had synchronized without conscious effort. The vibration of his heartbeat felt steady and controlled against my chest while mine raced frantically.Heat built between our bodies in the confined space, sweat mingling with rainwater.
“Will they find us?” I whispered as darkness returned.
“Eventually. They always do. But now? The door is thick, so it should shield us from the thermal imaging. And the rain messes with the cameras.”
With each pass of the drone, I caught glimpses of his face—fragments illuminated in red light. He wasn’t just calculating escape routes anymore. He was studying me with something that looked almost like confusion, as if I were a puzzle his programming couldn’t solve.
“When you look at me like that,” I whispered, “who do you see? Their target or...”
“I don’t know,” he interrupted, something raw in his voice. “That’s what terrifies me.”
The drone suddenly hovered directly outside our hiding place. Light flooded through the slats, brighter than before. A gasp escaped me before I could stop it.
Reaper’s hand instantly covered my mouth, our eyes locking in the fragmented light. Something primal passed between us—recognition of a shared fate. His hand moved from my mouth to my jaw, thumb tracing my lower lip with unexpected gentleness.
I didn’t even know he was capable of something like this, and, judging by the way I could see him staring at me through the brief flashes of light that came from the outside, neither did he. My heart thudded inside my chest. There was some comfort in knowing that I wasn’t the only one who felt…whatever this was.
I knew it was soon.
That I knew nothing about Reaper.
Hell, he didn’t know it himself.
But there was something that undoubtedly drew me closer to him.
The programming seemed to slip away, revealing something desperate and human beneath. I recognized it because I’d seen it before—in myself, in mirrors during the darkest moments of my search for Xavier. The look of someone fighting to remember who they were.
The air between us changed. The red light caught the intensity in his eyes—something calculated giving way to something raw. I leaned forward, closing the last inch between us. No hesitation; just desire. His mouth found mine in the darkness, desperate and hard. I matched his intensity, my fingers digging into his hair, pulling him closer. The taste of rain on his skin, the controlled power in his movements—it consumed rational thought. Fear transformed into hunger, washing away boundaries that should have remained.
Despite the danger outside, for just a little while, the world seemed to slow down, and my muscles relaxed ever so slightly. And right now, that was all I could have asked for. A sudden noise outside snapped me back into reality, and a small gasp blended into our kiss.
The drone’s light abruptly moved away. We disentangled slowly, his forehead resting against mine as we caught our breath. I couldn’t even dare to look at him.
“That was just adrenaline,” I said, my voice betraying a lack of conviction. “And your programming.”
“No,” Reaper responded, hisvoice rough. “That wasn’t programming. That wasn’t tactical.” A pause. “That was me.”
The simple statement held more weight than any declaration. For the first time, he’d distinguished between his conditioning and himself.
