"Don't know yet. But we'll find out."
Jake stirred around mid-morning. His eyes fluttered open, confused at first, then focusing on my face.
"Kai?"
"Hey." I squeezed his hand. "Welcome back."
"What happened?"
"You got shot. You're okay now."
"Doesn't feel okay." He tried to laugh, winced instead. "Feels like someone's stabbing me with a hot poker."
"That's the nerve endings waking up. Good sign." I checked his vitals again—stronger now, color returning to his cheeks."You're going to be fine, Jake. Few weeks of recovery, you'll be good as new."
"Few weeks?" He groaned. "The battle?—"
"Is not your problem right now. Your problem is healing." I fixed him with my sternest nurse stare. "You scared the shit out of me, you know that?"
Something softened in his expression. "You saved my life."
"You're family. That's what family does."
He was quiet for a moment. "Is everyone else okay?"
I hesitated. He saw it.
"Who?"
"Three brothers didn't make it. Donnie, Marcus, Pete." Names I barely knew, faces I couldn't quite place. Men who'd nodded at me in hallways, shared meals at the common table. Gone now. "Seven wounded, including you."
Jake's eyes went wet. "This is my fault."
"What? No?—"
"If I hadn't gotten pinned down, if I'd been better?—"
"Hey." I gripped his uninjured shoulder. "This isn't on you. This is on Viper, on Chen, on everyone who decided to bring war to our door. You fought. You survived. That's what matters."
He didn't look convinced, but he nodded. Let me fuss over his bandages. Let me pretend everything was going to be okay.
Axel found me outside an hour later. I was sitting on the back steps, staring at nothing, trying to process the last twelve hours. The bodies had been removed—ours taken somewhere respectful, theirs dumped in a truck for disposal. The cleanuphad begun. Life went on. He sat beside me without speaking. Our shoulders touched. Solid. Warm.
"How many more?" I finally asked.
"What?"
"Attacks. Battles. Bodies." I turned to look at him, exhaustion making me raw. "How many more before this ends?"
"I don't know." His honesty was brutal. "Viper won't stop. Not until we make him."
"And Chen?"
"Tyler's working on that. He's got a plan." Axel's jaw tightened. "She'll pay for what she's done. They both will."
"When?"
"Soon." He took my hand, laced our fingers together. "We're going on offense, Kai. No more waiting for them to hit us. We take the fight to them."
