Horrified.
“You hurt children.”
Wu’s expression hardens for the first time.
“We created survivors.”
Clay snaps.
He moves so fast nobody reacts in time.
One second he’s beside me—the next he has Wu slammed against the tunnel wall with a knife against his throat.
Sentinel weapons rise instantly.
Russ swears.
Lucas and Miles pivot toward cover.
Gabriel raises his rifle.
Chaos balancing on a knife’s edge.
But Clay?
Clay never looks away from Wu.
“You ever say another word about hurting her like it made you noble…”
His voice is terrifyingly calm.
“…and I’ll carve your heart out in front of your men.”
Wu doesn’t even flinch.
Which somehow makes him scarier.
Instead—
he looks directly at me.
“Observe.”
No.
No, no, no.
“His aggression threshold escalates in direct response to perceived threat against you.”
My stomach drops.
Wu continues like this is a classroom lecture.
“Protective fixation. Emotional override. Identity prioritization displacement.”
Clay presses the knife harder.
Wu barely notices.
