Chapter 9 · Vera's Name on the Hunt List

The bolt was buried deep.

Kai had his fingers around the shaft, Vera's blood slick and warm under his palm. She was biting down on a strip of leather Moss had shoved in her mouth, her back against the brick wall of the safehouse basement. The bolt had punched through the gap in her vest, right under her ribs. Clean entry. Messy angle.

"On three," Kai said.

Vera's eyes locked on his. She didn't nod. Didn't blink. Just stared.

He pulled.

The bolt came out with a wet scrape. Vera's whole body went rigid. The leather strip fell out of her mouth and she sucked in air through her teeth, loud and sharp. Her hand shot out and grabbed Kai's wrist. Not to stop him. Just to hold onto something.

Kai dropped the bolt. It clattered on the stone floor. He pressed his other hand over the wound, hard. Blood welled up between his fingers anyway.

"Moss," he said. "Bandages. Now."

Moss was already moving. He tossed over a roll of gauze and a tin of something that smelled like burnt herbs and old leather. Kai caught it one-handed.

"That's going to sting," Moss said.

"Everything stings," Vera muttered.