Through his tears, he looks at me.
And that’s when I realize something is wrong. I don’t know what yet, but I catch a strange scent in the room, quite intense.
Salt clearly doesn’t notice it. There’s a smile spread across his face.
"Oh, Eliano, how a day can change in a split second," he says. "From bleak and hopeless to wonderful and full of promise."
"And the other way around," a low voice answers from the room, one I recognize instantly.
The shock hits me like a battering ram. I literally shiver, feeling an immediate adrenaline rush.
Drax!
What happens next is so fast it barely registers as anything more than a flash. The only thing my mind manages to record is his massive silhouette standing in the dark rectangle of the bathroom doorway.
It’s absurd, but even in that instant a stray thought crosses my mind, that Drax probably had access cards to the secret bathroom doors in every unit.
One thing is certain. He does not try to fight me. In that fraction of a second, Drax raises his hand and fires.
There’s no time to act, no chance to react or dodge.
The gunshot is deafening.
The only instinct I’ve ever truly learned from years in the mafia is this: when someone shoots at you, turn sideways to reduce your profile. That’s why the bullet doesn’t hit me square in the heart. I twist, and it catches me near the shoulder instead. The momentum of the turn sends my body flying backward with double the force, and I hit the floor hard.
At the same time, I hear Salt’s terrifying scream.
"Nooooooooo!"
Even as I’m falling, I see Salt leap off the bed and rush toward me in a truly heroic move, throwing himself into the bullet’s path as if he means to shield me with his own body.
My brave, beautiful Salt.
If there’s one thing no one could ever take from him, it’s his courage and loyalty. I don’t know anyone who is as uncompromising.
I hear the bullets strike his body instead of mine… and the sound is the most horrific thing imaginable. There is nothing worse.
And then another miracle happens, something unbelievable that Salt produces out of himself.
A sound tears from his throat, something I’ve never heard in person before.
I’ve heardof it, seen recordings, clips in documentaries.
It’s the famous Omega Stun Sound.
A sound at such a high frequency that it causes disorientation and loss of consciousness in any alpha who is not the True Mate of the omega producing it.
The piercing shriek rips through the space around us. Drax folds in on himself, his weapon slipping from his hand as he collapses to his knees, stunned.
I know I have only seconds to act.
Despite the blood pouring from the ripped artery in my shoulder and the shock pounding through me, I understand this is a life-or-death situation.
If I don’t do something now, none of us will survive.
I vault past Salt, jump toward Drax, grab the gun from the floor, and fire, aiming straight for his chest and stomach
Once.
