Chapter 22 · Voidbound - Chapter 22: The Hunter's Proof

"Don't move." Mira's gun was already level with my chest when I stepped out of the ruin.

I froze. My HP bar sat at forty-three percent, the Voidling was still pulled back inside me, and the woman I'd just dragged out of the collapsed passage was coughing blood onto the gravel behind me.

"Hands up," Mira said.

I raised them. Slow. "She needs a medic."

"She needs to explain why she's alive when my scanner says she walked into a Void-touched site two hours ago." Mira's voice didn't waver. Neither did the barrel. "Step left."

I did.

She moved forward, sidestepping me, her eyes flicking once to the woman on the ground. The woman was maybe thirty, her Guild jacket torn open, one arm bent wrong. She looked up at Mira and tried to speak, but only managed a wet gasp.

"Inspector Vance," she rasped. "They—they lied. The records—"

"Quiet." Mira crouched, keeping her gun trained on me, and pressed two fingers to the woman's throat. Her jaw tightened. "Pulse is threaded. Pupils blown. She's got minutes."

"Then get her out," I said.

"I will." Mira's gaze cut back to me.