And then a few things all happened at once.

The door of the apartment burst open, banging against the wall behind it.

Alek and I jumped up, and he pushed me behind his back.

And I looked at the envelope.

I picked it up.

And inside it?

Was a tiny little black tracker that we didn't see.

Chloe's POV

Alarm burst in my chest and spread throughout my body, and I had to take a deep breath before the panic took over my thoughts and clouded my judgment. I threw the envelope onto the nearby coffee table – just in case it was possible for us to take the tracker and then trace the root, back to the Order. It landed with a short thump, scattering some loose advertisements and other envelopes on the table.

I heard shouts fill the room, and among them Alek's. He was telling me to run to the bathroom and call for help, locking the door behind me. I shot him a dirty look, pride and protectiveness replacing my fear.

"Like I'm going to leave you here and make you fight fifteen Order members alone while I cower in the bathroom? When they're here for me? To hell with that idea," I said, going back-to-back with him as the Order members surrounded us, crowding us in. His familiar, strong warmth flooded through my body and comforted me. Someone knocked over the coffee table, the contents on top spilling, cold coffee slowly dripping towards us.

Someone somewhere somehow made a move – I didn't know who it was, it could've even been me – but that movement triggered it. Cries filled the air, and limbs flew. I prayed to Bastet that Jasmine and Valentina would come home soon, but then took it back once I realized that would be putting them in danger, too. I dropped to the floor as a fist almost connected with my face, and supported all my weight on my arms as I focused all my strength to my legs as they connected with three members' shins, knocking them flat onto the floor.

Alek, alarmed by my back's disappearance, quickly glanced behind him and checked to see if I was okay. A kick loosely connected with his throat, leaving him doubled over for air.

"Alek!" I cried, quickly springing myself back up. The sight of him being hurt set panic through my system again, and my heart thumped erratically in my chest. I tried to go back into our back-to-back position we had always practiced during training, but two Order members grabbed my arms. I wriggled and scraped my foot down one of their legs, and then stomping as hard as I could on their foot. The one on my left loosened his grip, and I quickly used the force of the right one's hold and flipped myself in the air, breaking their hold while simultaneously knocking them down with a blow to the head.

"Jesus," I muttered, glancing at the broken vase on the floor. "Valentina is going to kill us."

I heard Alek cry out again, and I looked over to see that he had a bloody gash on his face. He was in the middle of clawing someone. I looked down to see that my claws were out as well. I had barely noticed. Some of the Order members that had been unconscious on the floor were starting to come to, and for a second I desperately wished as I pressed a pressure point in their neck to make them pass out again that we were spies, and we could use those handy little Napotine patches that would knock people out cold for hours.

Spies had it easy.

I stopped my internal blabbering and was about to step into the fight again – they had all seemed to corner Alek into a wall – when all of their watches beeped at the same time. The nasal, repetitive blaring hurt my head, and I looked at them, confused. Some of them cursed, looking down and turning off their alarm. They shared a glance and each hoisted one unconscious member up onto their shoulder.

Then, they opened the apartment door and just...left.

"Hey!" I shouted out to them, running to the door. They were already grappling down the apartment building. "What the hell was that?"

None of them even looked my way, and in a minute they all disappeared from sight.

Not that I was complaining – as much as I hated to admit to weakness, Alek and I would've lost that fight. But what were those alarms on their dorky Velcro watches? Why did they just suddenly stop fighting and flee?

"That was weird," I closed the apartment door and turned back to Alek.

Only he wasn't there.

I looked down, and saw that he had slumped to the floor.

"Jesus, Alek!" I cried, rushing over to him. I roughly pushed my stubborn curls out of my face and cradled him in my lap. His face was all bloody, and looking down I saw another gash in his stomach. His breath was coming in quick bursts, and I saw that his neck was bruised.

"Alek?" I sobbed. I quickly fished my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed Jasmine. All rational thought exited my mind as I listened to the ringing.

"Hello?"

"Jazz!" I sobbed out, panic and desperation cutting into my voice and heart. "We – we just got attacked. They're gone now, but-" I had to stop to breathe. I felt Alek clutch my hand lightly, trying to squeeze it. The way his skin was so cold on mine made me take my bottom lip in-between my teeth. "But Alek is practically dead on the floor, and I – I don't know what to do. Jazzy!"

I cried her name out, desperate for her to be here.

Some Uniter I was. Freaking out and panicking over some little thing.

But I guess to me – it wasn't a little thing. The man I loved was laying over my lap, barely breathing. We couldn't call an ambulance about this, because the human doctors and police force would wonder what happened. Now I wished Alek and Jasmine had been less lenient with me on the days they took pity on me and let me sleep instead of going with them to train.

"Chloe, you need to breathe. Breathe, alright? Mom and I are going to come back as soon as we can. Now, can you remember this? I need you to remember this for me," Calm and practical as ever, Jasmine was already giving out instructions. "623-1875. 623-1875. Chloe, remember this. Say it back to me."

"623 – 1875."

"Good. That's the number of the Mai doctor in San Francisco. Call him immediately. Get rags and apply pressure to Alek's wound. Now, Chloe. We'll see you at home."

And with that, the frantic phone call ended. I chanted the numbers in my head as I gently laid Alek back down on the floor, sprinting to the bathroom to get rags, and dialed it, my shaking fingers fumbling over the buttons.

"Hello?" A low, comforting male voice answered the phone.

"H-hi!" My voice caught in my throat as I continued to struggle to breath around my dry sobs. "My name is Chloe King, and I'm in Valentina's apartment, and my boy – Alek Petrov is on the floor, and we just got attacked by Order members, and I really need you to come over right now to help him."

No questions asked, the man was immediately all business. Which I was extremely grateful for. "I'll be right over."

I dropped the phone on the floor, grabbed the rags, and went back out to Alek. I put a rag on his stomach and apologized when he winced as I pressed down, soaking up the coppery, crimson liquid. The red soon tainted my pale skin, but I didn't care.

I whispered soothing words to Alek and myself as I cleaned some blood off his face so that it wouldn't get in his eyes.

"Chlo..." he winced when he spoke, his voice came out raspy.

"Shh," I soothed, pushing his hair back from his face as I listened intently for his heartbeat with my Mai hearing. "I don't think you should talk right now, Alek."

He just shook his head. "Chloe. Chloe King, look at me."

Instead, I looked up and took a shuddering breath. Tears brimmed my lower lash line, but I didn't know if I wanted to let them out of not. My chest swelled and I couldn't breathe. Somehow, judging by the rate of his heart and the desperation in his voice, I knew what was coming.

"Chloe," Alek tugged at my hand. I finally looked down at him, the action causing my tears to overflow. "I need you to listen to me. Are you listening, love?"

I nodded quickly, exchanging the soaked rag on his stomach for a new one. He didn't even seem to notice, his eyes catching mine and holding them with his.

"For my whole life, all my skies were grey and cloudy. I couldn't think about anything but my parents' death, and it made me angry and bitter, and a bit of a bastard."

I tried to interrupt him, but he shook his head. "No, shh. But then you came along, like a ray of sunshine, and we talked, and eventually we did more than talking. We fell in love. And you became my sun, Chloe. You became my sun, and will forever be it. You gave me laughter and joy and love. You have to remember that, alright? You are my forever sun."

He whispered the last part, and I heard his heartbeat quicken impossibly, and then slow.

And then it came to a stop.

I stared at his face, his gorgeous, bloody face, in shock. A choked sob erupted from my system, convulsing my body violently. Violent emotions attacked my chest, pulling and cracking my heart open until it turned into a million pieces, and then smashing the pieces even more until my heart turned to dust and mixed in with my blood.

I chanted his name over and over again, bringing my head down to his chest and clutching one of his limp hands. My chants slowly turned into shouts, and my shouts became desperate wails. Hot tears flowed down my splotchy cheeks, and the back of my eyes burned to much it was getting hard to see.

Not that I would want to see the scene in front of me – the one person I was truly sure I loved lying lifeless in front of me, the apartment a mess.

And it was too much.

It was too damn much. My vision blurred and I saw colors, swirling around in my sight and disorienting me. I felt myself fall limp beside Alek, still clutching his hand. My blood roared in my ears.

I gasped for air, but it never came.

It never came, because my air, the one thing I couldn't live without, was gone.