Page 120 of Hyperspeed
The beast was done waiting patiently for Rev to pull himself together.
The anger in my chest detonated, a blazing atomic force threatening to reduce anyone who came too close to nothing but ash.
“You were so stupid out there!” I snapped, the words sharp and unforgiving. “You swerved in front of Cass and pushed her into the fucking wall!”
“I didn’t. I s-swear I didn’t!” He was pleading, desperate for me to believe him. “It wasn’t l-like that—”
“I’ve seen the footage, Rev.” I jerked my head to the side, in a fierce gesture towards the onlookers. “We’ve all seen the footage.”
“Kai, stop it,” Jax said from somewhere behind me.
But I ignored him, because I was on a roll. So why not finish?
“You pulled a reckless fucking move, and someone’s dead. Cassiopeia isdead.”
“Kai.” Rev’s shoulders slumped, his legs trembling. I wondered if they’d buckle, unable to hold him up under the weight of his pain. Before, I would’ve caught him if they did. But right now, I couldn’t be sure. “Please, y-you have to believe m-me.”
“Don’t you get it? That could’ve been you.” I raked a hand through my hair, not even caring when my fingers snagged a knot. “You, rookie. What if you’d been in Cass’s place? What if you were still in that cave instead of standing here in front of me?”
“Kai—”
“You could’ve died, little comet,” I whispered, voice catching on the nickname I usually said with a smile.
I swallowed hard.
“Your team would’ve lost you.Iwould’ve lost you.” The heat of tears burned down my cheeks. “I just . . . I can’t believe you were that reckless.”
Rev’s own tears streamed unchecked, while snot clung to his upper lip. He was a mess, a heartbroken mess.
Even so, all I could feel was my pain. My own near loss. Like his hurt didn’t matter next to mine.
“The footage is clear as day,” I bit out. “I told you, if you drove like you were still in the underground, you’d kill someone. And look what’s happened.”
Zylo joined us, stepping up beside his teammate and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “That’s enough, Mercer.”
And it should’ve been enough.
But I wasn’t done.
I looked down at Rev, the beautiful, infuriating Iskari I was falling for. I stared into those dark eyes I’d memorised, the ones I used to find comfort in.
But this time, I let my face go slack.
No anger. No softness. Just blank.
“I thought I could handle this,” I said, voice low and stripped of feeling. “Handle you. But if this is what it’s going to be . . . if it means watching you come that close to dying . . . I don’t know if I can do it.”
I saw the moment he shut down. The second every raw feeling he’d bared to me vanished back into his chest, like he was locking away a part of himself. Pulling away from me in the quietest, most heartbreaking way.
His face transformed from agony to indifference. He didn’t wipe his tears away, didn’t clear the snot from his nose. He left them there like war paint, reminding me of the pain he’d felt, the hurt I had added to.
And for the first time in what felt like forever, the lines on his skin blazed a deep red.
“Thank you for sharing your true feelings.”
His voice was wooden, lifeless, mirroring my own. Only the flicker of red on his skin suggested he felt anything at all.
Seeing it made the anger fizzle out, leaving behind a curling trail of smoke, the only evidence of my carnage. Dread settled in my stomach like a stone threatening to drag me down.
