There are moments that change everything. Life doesn't warn you when it's about to split in half. It just does it and it leaves you standing on the line holding a before and after.
This was one of those moments for Guinevere Lunaris.
Boots hit stone from both ends of the corridor. Reed and Damon rounded the corner at a full sprint with Shadowfell's other men behind them, armed, awake, and operating at a speed that said the Alpha's roar had reached every floor of this building.
Reed dropped to his knees beside Nicholas without a word, two fingers pressing into his neck, his other hand already checking the back of his skull where it had hit the wall. His face told the story before his mouth did.
Guinevere couldn't look away from Nicholas. Her body was glowing so bright the corridor had turned white at the edges, and the light was pulsing in time with something that wasn't her heartbeat because her heartbeat had relocated to her throat and was no longer keeping reliable time.
