Chapter 3

The whole safehouse shuddered. Dust rained from the ceiling.

"City sweep. Full lockdown," Kade snapped. He was over me, one hand flat on my back, pinning me down while the other reached for the blackout shutters. "They flipped the protocol twelve hours early."

"You said we had till dawn!" I shoved at his shoulder, but he didn't budge. He was heavy, warm, his breath ghosting against my ear.

"Yeah, well, someone talked," he said. His voice dropped, dangerous. "You tell anyone we were moving?"

"Screw you. I don't have anyone to tell."

Outside, the loudspeakers kicked in. That flat, dead federal tone. "Attention Sector Four. Remain indoors. Transit papers will be checked door to door. Noncompliance will be met with force."

Then came the boots. Rhythmic. Heavy. Right outside the door.

Kade looked down at me. His eyes were way too calm for a man about to be raided. "We can't stay. They'll scan this building in six minutes."

"So what, we run? Through a checkpoint dragnet? That's suicide."

"We don't run. We go through Nox." He finally let me up, but his grip on my wrist stayed tight. "You still want guns for checkpoints two and three? He's the only one who has them."

"Nox is a leech," I spat. "He sells to whoever pays more."

"Right now, we pay," Kade said. "Move."

He yanked me up and shoved my forged papers and meds into my pack. His own bag was already on. Of course it was. The man slept ready for a war.

"If this is a trap you set—"

"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead in that bed last night," he cut in. "Come on, Maya."

We slipped out the back through the laundry chute—a rusted metal slide that dumped us into the alley behind a noodle stall. Kade went first, then caught me. For a heartbeat, his hands clamped onto my hips, pulling me flush against him. His face was inches away. I could smell smoke and old rain on him.

"Don't get handsy," I snapped, though my heart skipped.

"Don't fall," he said, letting go like I'd burned him.

The alley was a nightmare. Drones buzzed low, red scan lights sweeping the brickwork. Kade hauled me into a service doorway, pressing us both flat against the vibrating pipes.

He was a wall of heat against my back. His mouth was right by my ear, his chest heaving against my shoulder blades. I could feel every muscle in his body locked tight.

"Breathe quieter," he whispered.

"I'm trying," I breathed back. "You're crushing me."

"You'd rather I let you get scanned?"

A patrol stomped past, two feet away. I held my breath until my lungs screamed. Kade's hand slid down, lacing through mine. Not romantic. A grip. A warning. *Don't you dare run.*

"We cut through the market," he said. "Stay on me."

Nox's place wasn't a shop. It was a bunker under a subway maintenance shaft, accessed by crawling through a hole behind a butcher's freezer. It smelled like blood and bleach.

Nox was waiting. Skinny, tattoos crawling up his neck, a smile that never reached his eyes.

"Well, well," he drawled, leaning back. "The forger and her new boyfriend. Heard the sirens? I think those are for you two."

"Hardware," Kade said. No greeting. "Clean rifles. Two. And EMP rounds."

"Expensive," Nox said, his gaze sliding to me. "Especially when you're already hot. You know there's a bounty refresh happening right now? City-wide?"

"We don't have time for games," I snapped. "Price. Name it."

Nox grinned. "Price is a contract. My kind of contract."

He slid a thin black tablet across the table. Red text pulsed on the screen: BLOOD-BOUND TRANSIT PACT. Two signatures. Shared liability.

"What the hell is this?"

"New house rules," Nox said. "You want my guns, you sign together. Means you can't ditch each other. You get caught, you both burn. You betray, the tracker in the ink lights you up for every hunter in the zone. Very romantic."

"No," I said instantly. "I'm not tying my life to his."

"Then no guns," Nox shrugged. "Good luck walking through Iris Vale's checkpoint with nothing but a pretty face."

Kade didn't blink. He picked up the stylus. "Explain the tracker."

"Subdermal dye," Nox said. "Activates on signature. Fades when you clear checkpoint three. Or when one of you dies. Then it fades too, I guess."

"Side effects?"

"Mild burning. Existential dread. You know, the usual."

I grabbed Kade's arm. "Are you insane? You don't even know what this does long-term!"

"I know what no guns does short-term," he said, his voice low, just for me. "We die at checkpoint two."

"So you just sign anything Nox puts in front of you?"

"I sign what keeps you alive."

I froze. His eyes locked onto mine—too serious, too intense.

"Don't do that," I whispered. My voice sounded smaller than I wanted. "Don't act like you care."

"I don't act."

Nox coughed. "Lovebirds, the sirens are still going. Sign or don't."

Kade pressed the stylus to the tablet. A thin line of red lit up under his thumb. He hissed—it actually burned—but he didn't pull away. Then he held it out to me.

"Maya," he said. "Trust me for three checkpoints. That's it."

"I don't trust you at all."

"I know," he said. "Sign anyway."

I stared at that pulsing red line. My hand was shaking. Outside, another siren wailed, closer this time.

"If you screw me on this—"

"I'll be right there screwed with you," he said.

I grabbed the stylus and slammed my thumb down. Fire shot up my wrist. I gasped, and Kade's free hand caught my elbow, steadying me.

"Ow! What the hell, Nox!"

"Told you. Mild burning," Nox cheered. "Congrats. You're married now. Legally, at least, to the bounty system."

The tablet chimed. PACT SEALED. Two names glowed: KADE MERCER // MAYA REEVES. A faint red thread, like a vein, pulsed under the skin of my inner wrist. Kade had the same one.

"Great," I muttered. "Now we're matching."

"Cute, right?" Nox kicked a crate open. Two wrapped rifles, clean and oiled. "There's your dowry."

Kade checked one, fast and professional. I tried to follow, but my hands were still buzzing from the burn.

"You okay?" Kade asked, his voice softening.

"Peachy. Love being branded."

He almost smiled. Then Nox's cat jumped onto the table—a scrawny orange thing missing an ear.

"Mister Buttons, no," Nox shooed it.

Kade froze. He looked at the cat, then at me.

"Mister Buttons?" I asked, frowning. "You still have him?"

Kade's head snapped up. "You know that cat's name?"

"Yeah, Nox had him for years. So what?"

"How do you know that name?" I asked Kade. My stomach dropped. "I never told you about any cat."

He went very still. His hand was still on my elbow. Warm. Tight.

"She talked about you every day," he said softly. "Your mom. She told me about the cat. About the apartment with the leaky roof. About you hiding your papers under the floorboard with Mister Buttons sleeping on top."

My throat closed. "Stop."

"She said you used to read to him when you thought no one was listening," he went on. His voice was low, careful, like he was stepping on a mine. "She said you were the only good thing she ever made that the lab couldn't touch."

"Stop saying that!" I yanked my arm back, eyes hot. "You don't get to use her like that. You don't get to just—pull her out like a trick."

"It's not a trick," he said. "I was there. The last week. She made me promise."

"Promise what?"

He didn't answer. He just looked at me like it hurt to look.

Nox clapped once. "Touching. Really. But if you're done trauma bonding, you should see this."

He tossed a photo onto the table. It slid and spun, landing face up.

A woman in federal blacks. Sharp jaw, cold eyes, hair pulled back tight. Standing at a checkpoint gate. The timestamp was yesterday.

"Second checkpoint commander," Nox said. "Iris Vale. Federal remnant from ten years back. Thought she died in the collapse. Nope."

Kade went rigid. The air in the room shifted. His whole body locked up.

"You know her?" I asked.

"We all know her," Nox said, eyes on Kade. "Don't we, Mercer? She's waiting for you two. Already flagged your pact signature. You're lit up on her board. And she's got a welcome party—"

The bunker lights flickered. Nox's main screen suddenly pinged. Loud. Red.

BOUNTY REFRESH — SECTOR 4. PRIORITY TARGETS UPDATED.

Two photos popped up, big and clear. Mine. And Kade's. Side by side. With fresh numbers under them.

Nox whistled low. "Well damn. You're officially famous. And Iris just—"