Chapter 6 · Hounds on the Hunt

"Don't move. Not a single muscle, or I'll carve that glitch right out of your skull."

Cold steel pressed against my jugular. Vala didn't just catch me; she had me pinned against a rusted coolant pipe, her body flush against mine, trapping me in a space that smelled like ozone and expensive synthetic perfume. Her grip on my wrist was like a vice, twisting it behind my back until I heard a satisfying pop in my shoulder.

"Nice to see you too," I wheezed, the words scraping my throat. "You always greet your dates with a blade?"

"You're not a date. You're a paycheck," she hissed. Her eyes were lethal—cold, calculating, and currently scanning my face for any sign of the Void glitch. She leaned in closer, her breath warm against my ear, a sharp contrast to the freezing metal of the knife. "Who gave you the key, Kai? Who told you that you could survive the merge?"

I tried to shift, but she slammed me harder against the pipe. The vibration rattled my teeth. "I don't know what you're talking about.