Page 318 of Commanding Blood And Bonds

We broke into full sprints, but the gate was dropping like a guillotine. We weren’t going to make it. No fucking way.

Emergency respirators gave us ten minutes max.

Mayday, mayday, mayday.

Freya?! Ansel’s panic hit me for one stride before I shoved it into a box. Darkness swept out down the shelves, rolling like a storm over the ocean. Cyrus hurled shadows forward, slamming into the glass. It slowed—but not enough.

Five seconds. My lungs burned.

Four. My boots slipped.

Three. I threw the bag forward.

Two. The air vents kicked on.

One.

A body slammed into mine, knocking me forward. I slid under the hatch, tumbling, ribs screaming in pain.

I jerked upright, my heart plummeting as I met sorrowful citrine eyes…where Cyrus stood on the other side of the glass.

Trapped.

Cyrus

I didn’t need to hear her to know exactly what Freya was screaming on the other side of the impenetrable wall of glass.

No. Again and again, her mouth formed that one word, her fists slamming into the barrier. Wind and shadows surged with every strike, but it didn’t make a damn difference.

If Moros was even half as brilliant as his father, this motherfucker was foolproof. If he’d really hidden an entire host while rebuilding the hierarchy under our noses…there wouldn’t be weak spots.

I looked up. The vents in the ceiling had activated—so had the ones in the floor.

How long would it take to displace the oxygen in a room this size? Sixty seconds? A hundred and twenty? Less?

“Run,” I signed.

Her eyes went wide. Pleading. She shook her head in defiance. “I’m not leaving you.”

“You have what we needed, Freya. Now, run.”

“Get fucked.”

I smiled feebly, the barest breath of a laugh sticking in my throat as I grit my teeth. “Maybe in our next life, my other half.”

Her eyes filled, her mouth falling open in horror. So she understood. That, at least, was something.

“You will not die today, C-y-r-u-s,” she signed, jabbing each letter like it might shake the universe into listening. “Now open your goddamn pack and get the respirator while I figure out how to get you out.”

Already lightheaded, I nodded and sank to one knee, dragging my pack around and digging into the deepest pocket until I pulled out a small black pouch. Of course, The Wraith had a contingency plan. The question was whether her people could implement it fast enough to matter.

Freya was scanning the ceiling now, her hands skimming the edges of the glass as she bolted from one corner to the other—never too far. Never letting me leave her sight.

My head swam harder. I yanked out the escape device and pressed it to my mouth, inhaling deeply. The world steadied in a breath.

Less. Less time than I’d thought. The system had displaced the oxygen in under a minute.

Fuck. Calypso was gonna kill me for this.