Page 57 of Bound to the Guard

Memories flood my mind. Cold metal biting into my skin. The searing pain as they pumped me full of chemicals. The helpless terror as they stripped away my humanity, piece by piece.

Milo’s voice sounds from a distance. “We’ve got movement in the adjoining corridor. Three heat signatures.”

“Copy that,” Damien responds. “Proceeding with caution.”

The words barely register as the horror of the past drowns me. I want to scream, to rage, to tear the whole place down with my bare hands. Seeing the chair again reminds me of how I felt at the time, like they reached inside my body and hollowed me out. In that chair, they took something from me that I never thought I’d get back.

I flinch back to the present as the camera feed erupts with more shouting and gunfire.

An ambush.

My heart seizes as Damien’s team scatters, taking cover behind crates and equipment. My hand flies up to cover my mouth, to stop myself from calling out to him. I can’t distract him. Not now, when every second counts.

The copper tang of blood fills my mouth as I bite my lip. Can’t breathe. Can’t think. All I can do is watch.

Milo barks orders as he paces from one screen to the other. Tension fills his shoulders as he does everything he can to guide the team to safety.

I take a breath to steady myself, to remember that Damien’s well-trained, that he’s done this before.

He’ll come back to me. He has to. Because if he doesn’t… if I lose him…

No. I can’t think like that.I won’t.

I force my attention back to the screen, watching as Damien and his team fight their way through the ambush. Every shot fired, every cry of pain, punches through my heart, but I don’t turn away. This is the only way I can be with him right now, the only way I can stand by his side.

No matter what happens, no matter how much it hurts, I won’t abandon him.

Not now, not ever.

As the firefight rages on, I spot a door on one of the monitors, hidden behind a stack of crates.

“There!” I point at the screen. “That door leads to a storage room. It’s where the Doctor keeps all the confidential data.”

Milo leans in, studying the image. “Are you sure?”

“I’m positive.” My pulse pounds. “If they can get in there, they might find out more about the Doctor’s benefactors.”

Milo relays the information to Damien’s team, and they move toward the door. A grunt sounds, and a spray of blood streaks across the wall in front of one of the monitors as a soldier goes down.

Drawing my blanket up, I let out a choked sob. It’s too much, too real, and no amount of lingering pheromones can calm the panic. I scramble off the chair, retreating to a corner and curling in on myself as the panic takes hold. My body shakes, my breath coming in sharp gasps.

Milo breaks through the haze, gentle but insistent. “Seven, hey. Look at me.”

I blink back tears.

“Damien wouldn’t want you to suffer like this,” Milo says. “He’s fighting for you, for all of us. He needs you to be strong.”

I swallow hard. “I… I can’t lose him. I can’t.”

“You won’t.” Milo’s words leave no room for doubt. “Damien’s coming home to you.”

I take a deep, shuddering breath and push to my feet, walking back to the monitors. The fight still rages on, but I force myself to focus.

I scan the monitors, searching for anything to give Damien’s team an advantage.

“There’s a ventilation shaft,” I say. “It runs right above the storage room. If someone can squeeze through, they might catch them by surprise.”

Milo relays the information. One of the soldiers breaks away from the group to head toward the shaft.

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