Page 52 of Craze

“I guess you could say I’mcrazyabout her.”

Tangle grips my shoulder and gives it a reassuring shake.I’m with you. Let’s go get your mate.

Axe and RamBash click that they agree.

“In or out, little lady.” Macabre grabs the hatch door.

Shavih jumps down into the cart beside him. She crosses her arms and huffs. “We cannot get distracted when survival is on the line. We lost friends that way.”

Macabre closes the overhead door, pins it shut, and props Ranger’s body up inside the cart. “Many of our kind knew only servitude, Shavih. They died never knowing love. Do you really wish that for us?”

Macabre’s defense of my behavior surprises me, but I agree with his point. I have fresh conviction and now know my place in this war. I am no longer just fighting because we are the losing force, because my Brothers are dying at the hands of the enemy. I do not hunt Solcrue because that is my job.

They have taken the one thing frommethat matters more than any of the rest of that shit. They have takenmypurpose,myfemale.

I engage the leaver, and the string of carts roll down the track, picking up speed. “I don’t want to go back to knowing what life was like before her—without her. Just the thought scares me to death.”

If I don’t get her, I mightactuallylose my mind.

Chapter 17: Navi

The hoverdrone is on autopilot, controlled by someone else, somewhere else. There’s no one onboard but me. The claws zapped me as we descended, then tightened around me when I started to slip through. I’m starting to think the drones were specifically designed to capture Titans that escaped the original decommissioning plant.

The wind is abrasive but warms as we race toward the tower. My ribs ache from rubbing on the hard metal claws. Every rise and fall of the drone over the rippling landscape is agonizing.

I hope Craze is safe.

I hope he doesn’t forget me.

The hoverdrone floats into the compound, passing security checks and locked doors of buildings without a guard in sight. Then it deposits me in a large white room with a wall of windows facing the landing pad.

“There she is.”

The voice curls dread around my heart and chills my spine.

Sevrin greets me with cybernetic hands lifted like I’m a deity brought back to life. His malicious smile is what gives away he true intent.

The hoverdrone thunders off and through another set of doors.

Sevrin picks me up by the neck and looks up at me as he squeezes. I clutch his wrist and try to hold myself up as my spine stretches under the weight of my body.

He’s got a new headband around the base of his skull. “You’re just in time. I’m preparing to download my entire Battledagger research database into my local splaymech. You really should watch this. I’ve learned so much from you.”

My thoughts blur and my body feels oddly fuzzy and cold.

“I blended those occular designs I jammed in your head with a splay and a bit of my own helmet cybernetics so I can access anything anywhere I go.”

Stars I hate it when he brags. But I fight the urge to roll my eyes because the veins in my face are swelling fast.

“I will be invincible,” he boasts. “Unstoppable. Oh, but you—”

Sevrin clicks his tongue and waggles his head like he can’t decide between two wonderous options. “You have to be punished first for the mess you made.”

“I didn’t blow up Ravenger III,” I wheeze.

“Oh, I know.” Sevrin drags me through the white lobby and into a nearby glass-walled lab. He shoves me into a seat, straps me in, and motions to someone in the hallway.

Rochir hobbles into the room on a crutch. “You’ve been the most infuriating subject I’ve ever worked with.” He draws a gun and points it at me, but Sevrin swats it away.

---