Page 87 of Kiss Across the Universe
Jesse gave a soft sigh. Her eyes closed.
The man who had fired the weapon gave a soft grunting sound, pulling her gaze back to him.
The point of a long knife was jutting from the front of his throat.
Then, with a jerk, it was removed.
The man dropped out of sight and Kit bounded up the stairs, taking them two at a time. He rounded the newel post and leapt over the kiddie gate. The knife in his hand was bloody.
Alannah leapt over the sofa, using her arm as a fulcrum. She landed right next to Jess and Aran and dropped down beside them.
Kit squatted next to her.
“We need Alexander!” Alannah cried. She didn’t look at the state of Aran’s body. She kept her gaze on his face. Jesse, beneath him, was just as still, her face just as white.
Kit put his hand out, against Aran’s neck. He held still for long seconds, then shook his head.
“No!” Alannah screamed. “No! He’snot dead! Neither of them are!”
“Alannah…” Kit said gently.
She shook her head.
“Alannah!” Marit cried from right behind her. Marit grabbed Alannah’s shoulders. “Let me see.”
“No,” Kit said. “Get Alexander. The fight is over down there. Alannah, help me with the children.”
Alannah shook her head. She wanted to pat Aran, to shake him awake, stir him to life, but she was afraid to touch him. She was afraid to move, in case anything she did changed things for the worse.
“Alannah,” Kit said, his hand sliding under her arm. He lifted her up. “The children. They’re afraid. Help me.”
Footsteps, heavy and fast, sounded on the stairs. Many of them. Alannah turned to check who was coming. Relief touched her when she saw Alexander appear at the top of the stairs. Remi and Rafe were right behind him. London, then Sydney. Then Nyara.
They pushed into the reading nook, and Alannah scooped up one of the triplets to get them out of the way of the many adult feet squeezing in around Aran and Jesse.
“Veris’ surgery,” Alexander directed. “Quickly!”
Alannah put the baby on the sofa and bent and picked up another. Then another. Kit propped Maggie next to them. He had India under his other arm and settled her beside her sister and soothed them both with gentle hands on their heads.
Aran and Jesse were picked up and carried away.Farhad a compact but well equipped surgery at the other end of the landing. She watched her brother and his wife taken in there.
She felt numb. She tried to soothe the babies as Kit was doing, but her own heart was skittering around as wildly as theirs and all she could wordlessly communicate was panic.
She got to her feet. “I can’t…I must…” She waved helplessly toward the surgery door.
Kit nodded. “I’ve got this. Go.” His black eyes were calm.
She almost ran to the surgery and staggered inside, her heart screaming.
Alexander stood at the head of Jesse’s bed, a stethoscope against her chest.
Sydney and Rafe were by Aran’s bed. Kieren had crowded in at the head of the bed and stood looking down at Aran, a small furrow between his brows, while Sydney and Rafe watched him closely.
He lifted his head and shook it.
Sydney sighed.
Alannah clutched at the doorframe. Her heart, everything in her middle, seemed to drop and shatter. Coldness took its place. “No…” It was a whisper, when she really wanted to scream it aloud in protest. “Not Aran. Not Jesse…”
