Ben had already opened his mouth to respond when she touched his throat and he coughed around a numb throat instead. He kicked out as best as he could with bare feet, forcing her hand away from him. At the same time, he tucked his arms to his chest, hiding the burns around his forearms. There was no 'halfway through' he wanted to shout at her. You only made it out of that because I was there, if I hadn't you'd be dead right now!

He yanked on the tiny sliver of guilt she felt about the other Guide, then shoved some of his own energy into it, forcing it to blossom inside her mind. Controlling a Sentinel's emotions was dickish at the best of times, but using it in retaliation went against all of Ben's training. Still, she was no ordinary Sentinel and if she wanted to keep him as her Guide, she was going to have to prove herself to the Guide part of him. Until then, he would do whatever he could to keep her away.