by Zoe Chant
Gaze dropped his hand again. “Just down the hall. But I’m sure I could get someone-“
“I’ll be right back,” Ivy called over her shoulder, already striding away.
Hope was deep in conversation with her fellow teens in the corner, but she broke off at Ivy’s approach. “Well?” she demanded eagerly, swiveling round. “Did you like him? Is he-“
“He wants to offer me a job.” Ivy took hold of the handlebars of Hope’s wheelchair. “We’re going to discuss the details after I’ve taken you to the bathroom.”
“What?” Hope said, as Ivy briskly wheeled her through the crowd. “I-“
“Need to go right now, I know.” Ivy desperately prayed Gaze wasn’t one of the sorts of shifters that had supernaturally good hearing. “Come on, let’s make this fast. I want to get back to the party.”
As Ivy had hoped, that finally clued her sister in that something was badly wrong. Miracle of miracles, for once Hope actually shut up.
Under the pretext of opening the door, Ivy bent level with Hope’s ear. “How’d you get up here?”
“Elevator.” Hope whispered back. “It’s that way. What’s going on?”
“Tell you once we’re out.”
Miracle of miracles, the hallway was empty. Ivy jabbed at the elevator call button with a shaking hand. Her venom sweated into her gloves as the machine crawled upward agonizingly slowly.
Come on, come on!
She breathed deeply, trying to calm herself. She had to reduce the concentration of her venom, so that her touch would paralyze rather than kill. There was no way that a crime boss like Gaze would have left all the exits unguarded. If she couldn’t rush Hope past whatever thugs he had stationed in the lobby, she’d be forced to fight.
There was one line she’d never crossed. No matter what other terrible things she’d done, what mistakes she’d made… she’d never killed.
She’d sworn she never would.
“It’s okay, Ivy,” Hope whispered as the elevator binged at last, doors sliding open. “Everything’s going to be fine. Just breathe.”
“Leaving so soon, Ivy Viverna?”
Ivy’s hammering heart lurched. Thrusting Hope into the elevator, she spun on her heel. Gaze stood at the end of the corridor, calmly surveying her through his dark lenses. A pair of monstrous black dogs padded at his side, their coal-black backs level with his waist. A hot, baleful orange light burned in the dogs’ throats, behind their snarling fangs.
Hellhounds!
“Hope, go!” Ivy yelled, shielding her sister with her own body.
“Not without you!” From the sounds of the doors trying and failing to close, Hope must have been holding the Door Open button.
Once, just once, Ivy wished that Hope would do as she was told. She didn’t dare take her eyes off Gaze and the hellhounds. She kept her hands raised and ready, deadly venom gleaming on her palms.
“Stay back,” she warned, fighting not to show how she was shaking. “Or I’ll show you what I can do.”
She could only pray that he wouldn’t take her up on the offer.
“I would, in fact, very much like to see your skills.” Gaze’s hand went to his sunglasses, sliding them down his nose. “But first, I’ll show you mine.”
He looked straight at her.
The force of his eyes took her breath away. They were red, red as blood, from edge to edge. No pupil, no white. Nothing but crimson, filling her vision, swallowing her whole.
Ivy couldn’t look away. A strange fire filled her blood, like nothing she’d ever know. In all the world, there was nothing but him, and her.
Holy crap. He really is my mate!
Then, as the burning heat in her veins continued to rise, Ivy realized that her one true mate probably shouldn’t set her aflame with pain.
“I did say we had much in common, Ivy,” Gaze murmured. His mouth curved in slight, strangely wistful smile. “Wyverns are nearly as rare as basilisks.”
“Hey, asshole!” Hope yelled. “Think fast!”
Something pink and glittery hurtled past Ivy’s shoulder. Gaze’s eyes flickered, instinctively tracking the motion.
Ivy was never, ever going to complain about Hope’s terrible taste in handbags again. Her paralysis broke the instant Gaze was distracted. Before the basilisk could capture her again with his stare, she squeezed her own eyes tight shut.
“Hope, go!” Ivy shouted, and gave herself up to her wyvern.
It surging up from her soul in an emerald storm of teeth and rage. The corridor would have been too small for a proper dragon to shift, but when her wings were folded, Ivy was only the size of a large horse.
Still keeping her eyes closed, she braced herself on her folded wing-joints, and breathed out a blast of acid. Her wyvern wanted to melt the flesh from her enemy’s bones, but she held her full strength in check.
Even a mild dose of her acid was still enough to hurt. Yelps of pain echoed down the corridor. She hoped she’d gotten the basilisk, but she didn’t dare open her eyes to check.
To her eternal relief, she heard the elevator doors slide shut behind her. Hope was finally on her way to safety.
Ivy blindly breathed out another covering blast of acid, half-spreading her wings to make sure no-one was trying to sneak past. No yells this time, so she guessed Gaze and his shifters must have retreated.
The elevator binged, counting down floors as it descended. Ivy frantically tried to remember how tall the apartment building was. It would surely only take a few minutes for the elevator to reach the lobby.
Got to find a window. Fly down to meet Hope, get her to safety-
Something crashed into her, knocking her head over tail backward. She slammed into the wall, her attacker a cold, hard weight on top of her. It took all her willpower not to open her eyes as its talons tore at her throat.
Spit! Strike! Kill!
Completely disorientated, Ivy unleashed a blast of acid—not the diluted form she’d used before, but her full, steel-melting strength. Her unseen assailant let go of her, claws scrabbling away as she blindly whipped her head from side to side.
Walls sizzled, melting under her deadly breath. Sparks showered over her scales as the acid ate through electricity cables. The whole building shook as the power went out. The music still emanating from the party abruptly went dead.
And in the sudden hush, Ivy heard the deep, metallic groan of the elevator cable giving way.
Hugh Argent had a splitting headache. As usual.
It was rather ironic, considering that as a paramedic he was carrying an emergency kit full of modern medicine’s finest painkillers. But not even morphine could do anything to help the migraine brought on by close proximity to non-virgins.
Being a unicorn shifter was, quite literally, a pain.
Firefighter Unicorn (Fire & Rescue Shifters Book 6) is coming soon! To be notified when it’s released, join my mailing list.