Page 105 of Heart of the Deep

They were surrounded and being overrun.

Dracchus buried his claws in Neo’s tentacles.

Rearing back, Dracchus swung Neo into the wall. Neo’s grip didn’t ease, so Dracchus swung again, this time in the opposite direction. The impact was powerful enough to vibrate the floor.

Neo sagged, tentacles loosening, and landed atop one of his fallen companions in a heap. Dracchus fell upon him immediately, trapping his foe’s tentacles beneath his own. Neo thrashed and struggled as Dracchus clamped a hand on his throat and shoved his head down to the floor, bending the crimson kraken over the body below.

Ignoring the claws shredding his forearm, Dracchus drew back his fist and hammered it into Neo’s face.

Thwap.

Neo’s struggle’s wavered. Dracchus struck again.

Thwap.

Again. And again.

Head stuck between the solid floor and Dracchus’s fist, Neo’s desperate thrashing weakened with each successive blow. Something cracked wetly under Dracchus’s hand.

Dracchus struck again, kept striking until Neo’s arms fell limp and his struggles ceased, until his own hand was dripping with blood.

He shoved himself off the corpse and turned to the new wave of attackers. Larkin had her back to them. Had she not noticed them?

The other kraken flowed past her, and just as Dracchus tensed to intercept them, recognition broke through the haze of battle. He knew these kraken, too.

Vasil, Brexes, half a dozen other males. Even old Ector. They continued along the corridor, engaging the few crimson-skinned kraken who remained behind Dracchus.

When two of the newcomers dragged Kronus up off the floor, Dracchus halted them with a shout. Kronus’s shoulders rose and fell with labored breaths, and blood trickled from at least a dozen wounds on his chest and arms. He stared at Dracchus with a mixture of challenge and resignation in his eyes.

Leave him, Dracchus signed.

Though their brows furrowed in confusion, they obeyed. Kronus sank down, leaned back against the wall, and closed his eyes.

Dracchus moved toward his mate. His hearts pounded in his ears, louder than the alarm still blaring overhead. A spasm locked his back; he gritted his teeth against the wave of agony as Larkin, panting, finally lowered her rifle. Her eyes widened as they fell upon him.

She covered the small distance between them swiftly, yelling behind her, “Aymee!”

Dracchus cupped her jaw and lifted her chin, checking her neck, her face, her whole body for signs of injury. There was blood on her clothes, but apart from a few superficial scratches, she appeared unharmed. Relief flooded him.

“I’m fine,” she said over the alarm, pushing aside his hands to look him over, face strained with worry. She pressed her lips tighter together with each wound she discovered. “But you’re a mess, Dracchus.”

“I’m here,” Aymee said, voice hoarse.

Arkon stood before her a moment later. Frowning, he lifted his hands as though to touch Aymee’s neck, which was covered in angry, red marks, but pulled them back before making contact. He said something to her; Dracchus couldn’t hear his words over the noise, but she mouthed something likeI’ll be okayin response.

She turned her attention to Dracchus, running her fingers gently over a few of his wounds. Her touch stung.

Hesitantly, Arkon moved to a panel beside the entry to Randall and Rhea’s den. He manipulated some sort of control to produce a floating, see-through screen filled with human symbols. His fingers flicked through the symbols with surprising speed — Dracchus couldn’t understand how Arkon could tell them apart, or how they held any meaning.

The flashing lights ceased, and the wailing alarm went silent.

“Security alert in Cabins Hall C has been cleared,” the computer announced as though nothing had happened. “Please resume your normal duties.”

Dracchus’s ears rang in the sudden silence, as though unwilling to forget the cacophony of moments before. He looked down the hall.

None of Neo’s followers remained upright. Their bodies were strewn about the corridor in pools of blood. Vasil and Brexes were moving among the fallen, delivering quick deaths to any who clung to life.

A strange, high tone —beeeeeep— drew his attention back to Arkon.

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