Elara's POV
The shot echoed off the walls and then everything went black.
I dropped low without thinking. My knees hit the concrete hard and pain shot up through my shoulder from the impact. Someone grabbed my arm from behind and pulled me sideways behind a stack of crates. Alexander. His grip was firm and he kept his voice at almost nothing.
"Stay down. Do not move until I say."
I pressed my back against the crate and tried to slow my breathing. The darkness was total. No windows on this side of the building. No emergency lighting. Just black and the sound of feet moving somewhere ahead of us and someone breathing hard to my left.
"Damien," I said. Quiet but not a whisper. Whispers carry differently in empty spaces.
Nothing came back.
Alexander shifted beside me. I felt him raise h
