Page 165 of Eclipse Sector

Over and done that fast.

I gasped in air, my fingers touching the gouges in my throat. Only to yelp as Kieran reached for me and pulled me to my feet. His gaze went to my abused neck as a blast of healing energy swam over my skin, the source of it him.

Then he abruptly pushed me toward Quinn with a snapped “Go!”

Confusion billowed around me, the world spinning.

Everything had happened so quickly, maybe within the breath of a few seconds.

And I was suddenly experiencing déjà vu by Quinn grabbing me again. Only this time, she jerked me forward, wrenching me out of Kieran’s office a mere instant before glass exploded everywhere in our wake.

I shuddered and tried to keep pace with a now sprinting Quinn. She was quick for someone so far along in pregnancy.

She started toward one of the rooms, only to pause and double back toward the stairs.

Chaos erupted behind us, Kieran’s growls thundering through the building as the scent of metallic tang hit my nostrils.Blood.

His bellow soon followed, causing Quinn to skip a step.

I caught her by the arm, hoisting her back up before she could fall. But she halted entirely, her expression contorting with terror as she glanced over her shoulder.

Then Kieran howled, a warning underlining that single haunting sound.

And Quinn began to run again.

No words. No cries. No hisses or growls. Just quiet feet up the stairs and down the hallway toward their quarters.

I’d been in this corridor before, but not in their actual nest.

However, Quinn yanked me right inside and slammed the door behind us with a thunderous click.

Then bolted for the wall.

Ripping a panel away, she revealed a keypad beneath where she punched in a series of numbers. I gaped as a secret room appeared filled with security consoles that all fired to life upon her entry. “What…?”

She ignored me, sitting down to pull up an image of Kieran’s office and the violence unfolding inside it.

Kieran was in the process of fending off three or four Alphas. I couldn’t quite count, as it was all a blur of men that were moving too fast for the camera to focus on.

But his growls could be felt and heard all the way up here, almost as though he stood beside us.

Quinn cursed, then pulled up a few other images within their compound to see several Alphas running up the stairs.

The same stairs we’d just climbed.

“Inside!” she shrieked at me, that single word sending me sprinting forward. I turned toward the door and trembled as the front entry to her nest caved beneath one solid kick from an Alpha.

His multicolored irises met mine a hairsbreadth before I slammed our iron door closed. Quinn leapt up to flip some sort of automated lock just as that hulk of a male crashed into the entry from the outside.

The iron held.

And another series of locks clicked into place.

Followed by a thin metallic shield that covered the entire wall.

“We’ll be okay in here,” she whispered. “There’s a protective enchantment that prevents them from shadowing in, and the iron should hold. For a while, anyway.”

I swallowed. “What the hell is going on?”