Page 34 of Secretly Mated To My Monster Alien Boss
Then the bomb went off.
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DERYG
One moment he was walking toward Kiara, the next Deryg was blown back. His back hit the wall behind, narrowly avoiding the spike from the ridiculous sculpture in the corner.
His instincts blared to life instantly.
He fell to the floor in a crouch, with precious moments to assess the situation.
The blaring in his ears made concentrating difficult.
There had been an explosion. A loud one, which had damaged his hearing. His equilibrium had been affected too.
The blast had come from the ceiling, where a large gash now spilled smoke onto the frantic mass of beings running toward the exists.
The pillar in the center of the atrium, the ornate jewel of the party, had collapsed. A limp hand was sticking from underneath it. But it was green. Not Kiara.
Deryg sent a quick prayer to whatever soul had been lost and jumped to his feet, running straight for the column.
Kiara had been standing on the other end of it. If she hadn’t moved, the pillar and the debris wouldn’t have touched her, if his calculations were correct.
But his twin hearts still beat frantically and his mind raced. Neither of them would calm until he found her.
His training kicked in.
He jumped over upturned tables and bodies shaking with coughs. First, he would find Kiara and make sure she was safe. Then he would help all of them. It was a compulsion he couldn’t fight.
The air was tainted with dust and smoke. And something else, sickly sweet. One good inhale and Deryg instantly felt lethargic.
He ground his teeth. Someone had planted a gas that would slow Deruzians down.
He ripped one arm of his jacket and wrapped it around his face, covering his nose and mouth, without breaking his stride.
Kiara.
He had to find Kiara.
One more jump, over a beam that had crashed and dented the floor, and he was at the pillar. He couldn’t jump it–and Deruzia didn’t allow them to reveal their wings to humans–but he could climb it.
Just as he grabbed hold of the metal vines wrapped around the pillar, a bullet pierced the stone right next to his shoulder. Deryg ducked just in time to see a mass of people pouring into the atrium. Some cascaded from the ceiling, hooked on strong wires. Some flooded from the entrances, aiming their weapons at the panicked guests.
And some shot straight for Deruzians.
Jaryn ducked from a bullet, rolled onto the floor, and rose back up with his own gun aimed straight at the hooded figure who had wanted to blow his head off.
Deryg didn’t have time to see what happened as another bullet barely missed his left horn. He took out his own human gun, shooting in the direction of his attacker. The bullets aimed true–but they ricochet right off whatever armor the being wore.
Whoever they were, they had come prepared.
And they kept coming. Waves upon waves of masked, armed shadows, filtering in through any crevice they could find, like insects.
This wasn’t some protest, meant to send a message.
This was meant to be a massacre. Deryg wouldn’t allow it.
He tore off what was left of his jacket, shredding a part of his shirt along with it. Fabric wouldn’t protect him and the tight fight halted his movements.
