Azia's knees and elbows collided with the hard cement floor as she fell. Ignoring the pain, she immediately scrambled to her hands and knees and crawled her way to Claudia. There was yelling and screaming all around her, but Azia kept her head down, her eyes locked on the Knowles Alpha. Azia needed to protect her at all costs.

She slid beside the blonde woman, and cursed as she looked down. Dark blood had begun to spread on Claudia's dress under her right ribcage. ...