Page 184 of Kingdoms of Night

The Cheyenne Mountain Complex, a site that was formerly regarded as one of the safest locations in the world, had been taken down by a senator. He’d been bitten, hadn’t told anyone, and proceeded to change onceinsidethe mountain complex.

By then, it’d been too late to do anything about it.

Because he’d bitten a handful of humans.

Who’d bitten more humans.

And it had spiraled from there.

But to make matters worse, half of the Infected were former military. Which meant they weren’t just mindless creatures trying to eat their way out of the mountain. They werearmedcreatures who instinctively knew how to fire a gun.

While also wanting to eat everything in their path.

Not all the human faculties died with the virus, but the part that deciphered between right and wrong did.

And the virus itself turned the hosts into cannibals—hence thezombieterm—while removing their senses of danger and morality.

It also impacted other neurological areas, such as speech patterns, which was evidenced now by the pilot trying to defend himself against Jonas.

There were a series of garbled words coming from his mouth that sounded oddly like an apology.

“Just a scratch,” he seemed to be saying.

That’s all it takes,I thought sadly. This was part of the mutation—it spread so easily now that some researchers feared it might become airborne, if it wasn’t already.

There were also those of my kind who feared it might evolve enough to start impacting all supernatural beings. That worry only increased after the Ash Wolves had begun to react to the virus.

Luckily, it hadn’t shown signs of spreading to many others yet.

But with how fast everything seemed to change, who knew where we’d be in a century, let alone a decade from now, or even next year.

The pilot slurred something unintelligible and swung upright, his arm knocking several controls along the way and pitching the jet harshly to the side.

I yelped, my nails digging into the leathery arms as Jonas crashed into the side of the plane.Shit!

He released a roar that made my knees shake, my inner wolf immediately bowing to his command.Oh, moon…

His woodsy scent overwhelmed the air around me, the Alpha allowing his dominant side out to play in a way I hadn’t seen before. I had no idea just how subdued he usually was… until now.

Until he shoved off the side of the plane and charged toward the pilot.

His steps were sure, his movements fluid and honed by decades of experience. Maybe even longer. I had no clue how old Jonas was, just that he was older than me.

And far more powerful.

His leather jacket strained against his muscles as he took the pilot down, his big hands wrapping around the human’s head and twisting it violently.

The snap reached my ears, even over the engine’s vibrations, the sound of the neck breaking sending a chill down my spine.

So easy.

So immediate.

And yet the jet was angled in a way that was going to kill us if we didn’t do something quickly.

I started to unbuckle my seat belt, but Jonas stilled me with a lethal look. “Stay.” The word wrapped around me like a noose, demanding my submission.

I held up my hands to show that I was obeying.

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