Alexei's jaw locked.
He wasn't afraid of new predators. He, himself, was a predator. But predators were not neutral to each other the way humans were. They met in a hierarchy… with men who held their leashes, or they met in blood.
There was no other option.
Sera was not a prize to be claimed by whatever else had crawled out of a cage. She was his because she chose him. In the cabin, in the snow, the very first moment she shared a meal.
The alarms shifted pitch.
The facility voice began to chant a new loop through the speakers, half-stuttering between static bursts. AIRBORNE HAZARD. SEAL COMPARTMENTS. NEGATIVE PRESSURE. DO NOT REMOVE FILTRATION. BIOLOCKDOWN IN PROGRESS.
The words barely mattered... but the panic behind them did.
Alexei heard the quick click of a bulkhead door farther up the hall.
A seal.
He heard it melt a second later, the sound soft, almost like wet paper tearing. He'd never heard composite doors soften like that.
