Page 106 of Heart of Dawn
“No. Should it be?”
He scowled, forehead creasing. “Let’s move.”
“Can you?”
The glitter in his eyes glinted like steel in sunlight. “Yes.”
I loved his bravery, his determination to protect me as much as I wanted to protect him. We were true partners, true mates. Now we just needed to give ourselves a future to explore that bond further.
“Come on,” I said.
After a shaky start, he righted himself and walked without my support.
Three replicas stayed with me and Ori in point, the others behind me with my pack. The corridor came to a T-junction, a sign indicating Labs 1–4 to the right, and Labs 5–9 on the left.
“Come on.”
We went left, the next corridor wider than before, a series of huge labs behind massive windows on either side of us. Many of the overhead lights seemed to pulse, especially in the first lab on my right. Its window was broken, a severely decayed body slumped over the bottom of the frame. The fucker woke up from its stasis, reaching for a replica. It split in half, the top end landing at the replica’s feet, its bottom half hitting the floor on the lab side with a squelchy thud.
Other biters stirred in response to our presence. All slowies, a replica dealing with them before James could.
“I see they’re like their daddy,” he said.
“Don’t ever say that again,” I warned my beta.
He shrugged.
The replica waved for my attention, then pointed at a cabinet. Not one of them could speak.
“What is it?” I asked.
He kept on pointing.
My trainers crunched on glass and body parts as I moved past the chrome tables and the wreckage of the lab. But the cabinet remained intact, dry ice swirling behind the glass.
Essence Storage 5.
Eir. Hades. Ares. Thor. Sekhmet.
No Unauthorized Access.
Please handle with care.
More deities.
Great.
I took out Belle, giving her a couple of squeezes before leaving the lab. This shit hurt to read, guilt gnawing at me again with merry abandon.
This is because of me…
Poor Belle got a proper crush for her troubles.
Orion linked his arm with mine. “Okay?”
I nodded, carrying on.
Biters pressed against the windows of the other labs, smearing filth across the glass. The doors were sealed tight, sporting more panels.
