Chapter 16 · Blood in the Decon Showers

Chapter 16: Blood in the Decon Showers

"Hold still or I open the wrong vein." I've got Kane's forearm pinned against the steel wall of the decon stall, water hammering down scalding hot because that's the only setting that kills silver runoff before it eats through skin.

"Do it," he says. His jaw's locked so hard I can hear his teeth grinding over the water. "Faster than that."

"You want faster, stop flinching."

The burn mark runs from his wrist to his elbow, a long black seam like someone poured acid down his sword arm and let it sit. It's not acid. It's silver, military-grade, the kind that doesn't just burn — it nests. I saw this once on a trainee who caught a round meant for someone else. He lost the arm by morning.

Kane's not losing his arm tonight. Not on my watch, not after what his blood did to mine six hours ago.

The mark on my wrist throbs in time with my pulse, hot and stupid, like it's trying to answer something his skin is saying. I hate that it does that.