The first rifle shot took chunks from the wall beside my head. I rolled forward, staying low, using the cell doors as partial cover. The second shot sparked off metal as I moved.
Then the lights went out.
Not just the detention level—the entire compound plunged into darkness. Emergency power kicked in a second later, bathing everything in red, but that second was enough.
I crossed the distance in the dark, guided by their panicked breathing. My hands found the first guard’s rifle, twisted it from his grip, reversed it, and drove the stock into his temple. He dropped, and I spun to catch the second guard’s wild swing.
The rifle clattered away as we grappled. He was trained, strong for a human, but I was beyond human limits now. Beyond anything but the need to reach her.
I drove him into the wall hard enough to crack the pristine white surface. His body slumped, leaving a red smear as he fell.
The compound sirens began to wail.
I’d been discovered. Every guard in the facility would converge on this position within minutes.
I didn’t care.
I stood before the reinforced door, knowing she was somewhere beyond it, knowing I’d triggered everything they’d prepared for.
Come, I thought, gripping a stolen rifle. Come and try to stop me.
The first wave would arrive in thirty seconds. I’d make those seconds count.
BRONWEN
The lights flickered and died, plunging my cell into absolute darkness. Emergency power kicked in a heartbeat later, painting everything in red light that made the white walls look bloody.
Perfect timing. He’d found the generators, just like I knew he would.
Slade’s voice crackled over the intercom, all his polished control cracking at the edges. “Security to detention level. Full response. The Vinduthi is in the compound. Repeat, full response authorized.”
My killer had arrived.
The sirens started their wailing, and I had to resist the urge to laugh. All this panic for one male. Though to be fair, Zarek wasn’t just any male. He was mine, and he was angry, and that combination meant people were about to die in creative ways.
Through the ventilation grate, I heard it—high-pitched shrieks from outside, getting closer. My Gravewing invitation had been accepted. They’d been circling for the last hour, drawn by the clicking pattern, and now the darkness and chaos would drive them into a proper frenzy.
Guards ran past my cell, boots pounding on metal floors. So much panic. So little coordination. They’d drilled for riots, for escape attempts, but not for a single Vinduthi systematically taking their compound apart.
And definitely not for what was about to come from above.
The first Gravewing hit the roof, the impact reverberating through the structure. Then another. Then dozens, their shrieks echoing through the ventilation system as they attacked anything that moved in the darkness. Their talons would be tearing through the softer sections of roofing, looking for ways inside.
“What the hell is that?” a guard shouted outside my door, his voice cracking.
“Flying things! They’re everywhere!”
Glass shattered somewhere above. The Gravewings had found windows.
I pressed myself against the door, making my voice high and frightened. “Please! What’s happening? Let me out!”
“Shut up!” The guard’s words came out strangled.
More screaming from above. The Gravewings were inside the upper levels now, and from the sounds, the guards were learning what happened when you cornered a creature with a twelve-foot wingspan and talons designed to punch through armor.
The door to my cell yanked open. Slade stood there, fury replacing his usual control, with two guards flanking him. His uniform was disheveled, a smear of someone else’s blood on his collar.
“You.” He grabbed my arm, fingers digging in hard enough to bruise. “You’re coming with me.”
