Nyx's POV
The world happened in jagged pieces after that.
First, the shattering glass. A distraction—too clumsy, too loud. My head turned toward the noise, my body tensing to command order from the chaos.
Then, my name. My name. Not “Alpha.” Not “Queen.” A raw, tearing shout I knew in my bones. Kayden.
I turned toward the sound.
I saw him. Plowing through the crowd, shoving people aside, his eyes wide and fixed on me. Not on the commotion. On me. Time didn’t slow. It fractured.
I saw the man. By the doors. The bland, forgettable man. His arm was extended, something dark and long in his hand. A silencer.
I understood the geometry of it in a cold, instant flash: the distraction, the gun, the line between its barrel and my heart.
Kayden understood it faster.
He was already in the air
