Sera tore the heart out of the man's chest in one smooth pull, and the CDC guard was dead before the organ even hit her mouth
The muscle was tougher, richer than the other flesh she had ripped off him. She bit through it, chewed, and swallowed the pieces down. Warmth spread through her limbs and softened a tension along her spine she had not realized was there.
Behind her, boots shifted. Rifle straps creaked. Someone shouted.
Aerenyx's voice cut across it all, quiet but edged. "Stay back," he warned the others as they inched forward toward the blood and carnage, their own creatures pacing deep inside them. "The queen eats first."
Lachlan let out a breath, half a sound that might have become a laugh in a different world. Zubair stayed where he was, watching, ready. Alexei did not move forward. None of them reached for the fallen man.
Her creature approved. Good. They remember. You eat first. They are not starving. They can wait.
