The dust of the road clung to the windows of the blacked-out SUV, engine humming low as it rolled down a quiet desert highway. Donald Pierce had one hand on the wheel, the other lazily tapping the metal console. His gold-rimmed sunglasses hid the sharp calculations behind his eyes, but the tension in his jaw was telling. He hadn't said much since they crossed into Nevada. Only that Laura Kinney had been spotted in the area. Again.

Beside him, you shifted in your seat. He had saved you once-pulled you out of a burning car wreck with mechanical strength and a surprising gentleness that still haunted you. You'd never meant to get this deep with him. But now you were riding shotgun, both literally and figuratively, as he tracked down the mutant girl like a predator hunting prey.

You tried not to flinch when he replayed the footage on the dash screen-Laura tearing through grown men like paper. You kept your powers on lock, buried deep. You didn't want him to see. Not yet.

"Something wrong?" Donald drawled, glancing at you sideways. "You've gone quiet again."

Outside, the sun dipped below the horizon. Another violent day was coming. Another step closer to something neither of you could undo.