While glancing over her shoulder at each hallway, Angel unsheathed one of the daggers and in two seconds had picked Kveta’s cage’s lock.
Angel helped the female Were from the cage. “Can you shift?” Angel asked. “You can move faster.”
“Of course.” Kveta began to transform.
When Kveta started shifting, Angel was already rushing through the shattered examination room window, straight for me. She took the same dagger she’d used to pick the lock to slice away the straps that had secured me to the gurney.
I felt relief compounded with fear that one of Johnson’s techs or interns might come too fast for me to get off that gurney.
Even after I had seen what she’d done to that cage, Angel’s strength surprised me while she helped me off the gurney. If Drow had tear ducts, I would have been crying rivers from the pain shooting through me like jagged knives.
I balanced on one foot and used my good arm to brace myself on the gurney.
She stuffed the extra gun into the front of the waistband of my pants, in the right position that my good arm could reach across and draw it if I needed it. Then she put the second, now re-sheathed, dagger next to the gun.
I looked at her bloody neck. “Your neck—you need to shift.”
“Surface wound.” Angel slid her arm under mine on my side with the injured wrist so that my good arm would be free to grab either weapon.
When we were ready, I drew my gun, and she gripped hers. My broken wrist wasn’t happy about being moved over her shoulder, but that was nothing compared to the screaming pain in my knee as I tried to keep it from moving and hop along with her in awkward steps.
Her strength fed my own, though, and I found I could move faster as we went. Stepping through the broken window was the biggest challenge so far. I almost fell and brought Angel down with me, but she managed to get us both through.
Kveta was waiting, sitting on her haunches.
My senses came alive the moment we were balanced again.
Kveta’s head swiveled in the direction of the right hallway. She braced herself on all fours, her hackles raised, teeth bared. A low rumble came from her throat.
“More than one—almost here.” I could feel life forces coming toward us in a rush. “Four, I think.”
Angel and I both raised our weapons.
Kveta stayed by our sides and I didn’t think she would move no matter what we said.
Angel’s voice was low, hard as stone. “Whatever comes out of that hallway, no mercy.”
I nodded even though a strange feeling tugged at my senses. “Something’s wrong, Angel.”
“No mercy,” she repeated.
Her gun was steady as she kept it aimed.
Mine was, too.
Three men and one woman rushed out of the hallway.
EIGHTEEN
Olivia, Ice, Joshua, and Adam.
Adam? The fact that Adam was here made me wonder if I’d started hallucinating.
I sagged in relief against Angel and she took my weight with no problem. Fortunately, she hadn’t shot any of them.
Ice and Joshua kept their backs to us, their guns covering each hallway entrance.
Adam and Olivia started toward us and Kveta growled.
“They’re our friends,” I hurried to say and Kveta relaxed her stance.
Thank the Goddess neither Olivia or Adam tried to hug or touch me when they reached me and Angel. Not that Olivia was the hugging type.
“Jesus,” Olivia said as she looked at us.
“Christ,” Adam said at the same time.
I laughed. A weak laugh, but one just the same.
Olivia had probably thrown on the first thing she grabbed, but I saw her T-shirt and I gave a delirious giggle.
3 3 3. Only half evil.
Adam didn’t seem to find anything amusing. “Where are you injured?”
Angel still supported me. “Wrist, knee, cheekbone, all crushed,” I said. “Everything else is bearable.”
Adam looked furious, too angry to watch his language around me like usual. “Who did it to you? I want to beat the shit out of whoever it was—before I kill the bastard.”
“I’ll take care of him.” I scowled. “He’s mine. After I shift and I’m healed, I’m coming back.”
“Like hell.” Adam and I probably wore matching storm-dark scowls. “You’re staying in the camp.”
“Don’t even go there,” I said.
He started to say something, but Olivia said to Angel, “How bad is your neck?”
“Surface wound,” Angel repeated.
“You look like shit.” Olivia cut her gaze from Angel to me. “Both of you.”
“Nyx took the worst of it,” Angel said.
Angel looked at Adam. “It’s going to be painful for her, but she needs to be carried.” I started to shake my head. Angel narrowed her eyes. “You’ll slow us down.”
Despite the fact that I hated to be carried like some swooning maiden, I had to admit Angel had a point.
I noticed Olivia was favoring one arm.
“What happened?” I said in a rush. “Did anyone hurt you?”
Olivia shrugged. “Some asshole shot me in the arm while I was in camp.” She patted her side. “Took care of him, though.” She frowned. “He died before we could find out anything from him,” she said with a scowl. “He was set up like a lone sniper without a spotter.”
I kept my mouth shut. She didn’t need to know she’d been targeted because she wasn’t white.
“Where are the pups?” Olivia asked.
“In Manhattan,” I said. “I’ll explain when we return to the surface.”
“Hurry up,” Ice said. “We need to get the fuck out of here.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep my cries of pain to myself as Adam tried as hard as possible to pick me up without hurting me. I leaned against him, my good cheek pressed against his muscled chest, my broken wrist cradled to my belly, the gun resting in my lap, my good hand still gripping it tight.
Joshua came up and to my surprise handed Angel her whip. To my huge relief, he also carried my weapons belt over his shoulder. “Found them in one of the rooms we checked.”
I wanted to reach for my weapons, but my body hurt too much and Joshua had already turned away, my belt still slung over his shoulder.
When we started down the hallway, Ice took the front with Angel following, then Kveta in wolf form. Angel held her weapon down, but ready, and appeared as if she wasn’t the least bit injured. Joshua covered us from the rear. Olivia walked directly behind Adam and me, backing up Joshua.
“How did you find us?” I asked.
“Later, Nyx,” Ice hissed my name in obvious irritation. “Shut up.”
My own irritation at his tone and order made me want to hiss back, but he was right. I also realized I was on the edge of turning delirious from the pain and shock that I’d fought off ever since Sanderson had beaten me.
The sound of the waterfall grew louder and I sensed its magic calling to me the closer we got to it.
After walking so long my eyes wanted to cross, we went through a doorway and the rush of the waterfall was loud and joyful in my ears.
“The room looks like the waterfall was once used to generate electricity,” Adam said just loud enough for me to hear over the water’s roar. “Whatever the reason, it’s not functional any longer.”
“How do we get out of here?” Thoughts sprang into my mind, pleasant thoughts, as I imaged us all aboveground again.
“There’s a rock staircase behind the waterfall.” Adam gave a nod toward the fall. “Looks like it hasn’t been used in decades.”
“Stop,” I said as the idea flared sharp and brilliant in my mind. “I need to talk to Olivia and Joshua.”
Adam looked puzzled, but did so.
“Joshua, Olivia,” I said as Adam turned enough that I could see them. “Block that door open as securely as you can. I have a plan. Block it so that nothing should be able to close it w
ithout some work.”
Olivia shrugged at Joshua. “When she’s got that look in her eyes, she’s up to something. No stopping her.”
Adam called out ahead for the others to wait, then we both covered the pair who used the door’s built-in hydraulic locking mechanism to lock it in the open position. Then they rolled a couple of barrels that might have been drums filled with crude oil.
“I hear something,” Joshua said as he and Olivia jogged up to us just as they finished. Kveta had raised her hackles. “Get out of here,” he shouted.
Joshua called ahead to the others as we ran. I bit my lip as pain bounced through me while Adam picked up his pace.
“Hope whatever you have planned works,” Olivia said behind me.
“It will—if we can get behind that waterfall,” I said.
Kveta, Angel, and Ice had disappeared behind the waterfall when shots started zinging past the rest of us.
Adam ran faster. I bit my lip harder.
I craned my neck and looked behind Adam. Three men were chasing us. Joshua vanished, turning into a shadow when one of the men shot at him. I let out a breath as Joshua reappeared.
Adam jogged up a short flight of steps made from rock beside the waterfall, then we dodged behind it. The smell of pure water, old stone, and moss was strong enough to reach through my impaired sense of smell.
The elemental magic in the clean, pure water was powerful. This was water not touched by pollution or man. It had stayed underground from the time of its birth.
Joshua and Olivia were right behind us. I could hear shouts even over the sound of the waterfall. The men were gaining on us.
“Hurry!” I shouted to everyone. Then to Adam I said, “Stop on the other side of the waterfall.”
I started drawing the elemental water magic to me before we reached our destination. Power filled me. More than usual because I’d been unable to use any of the elements for so long.
Magic engulfed me, as if I was in the waterfall itself.
We reached a flat surface beneath a stone staircase that seemed to go up forever.
“Get out of here,” I shouted to Olivia and Joshua as I raised my good arm.
They darted past Adam and me.
On the other side of the waterfall two men raised their guns.
I brought my arm to me and made a shoving motion, as if I was pushing the men back. In that motion I released the elemental magic that had gathered in my body.
The waterfall changed direction.
It blasted the men and they vanished.
Water rolled away from the falls, the crash and roar filling the entire room. It shot through the open door.
The water from the falls continued its rampage throughout the facility. I closed my eyes and pictured doors ripped from frames, rooms flooded. Especially the examination room and Johnson’s study.
Stone doors crumbled under my command and the stone room I had been confined in was in ruins within minutes.
When I felt that everything possible had been destroyed, I ordered the water to move the barrels and slam the door to the electrical room shut. The room filled high with water, the pressure so great there was no way that door was going to open.
Slowly I released the waterfall and it returned to tumbling down into whatever abyss it belonged in.
“Thank you,” I whispered to the water elemental. I felt something like water sliding over my skin even though I remained dry. Like a caress.
The power I’d used took so much out of me that I sagged in Adam’s arms. “Take me to camp.”
He kissed the top of my head and started climbing the stairs, into the sunlight.
I was beyond exhaustion. A limp bloom and stem in a flowerpot that had survived days without water.
When we reached the surface, Beketov was waiting. The expression of pain on the Were’s face made my heart hurt when I told him what little I knew about his pup and the other two being taken away.
Adam carried me to a tent, pulled aside the flap, and dodged into it. A double sleeping bag was spread out on an air mattress. I couldn’t wait for it.
“To bed.” He settled me onto the mattress and I didn’t even wince. I was too tired to feel pain. One benefit of complete exhaustion.
After he had me settled on one side of the bed, his movements were slow and careful as he tried to keep from rocking the mattress while he lay on his side beside me.
I gave him a sleepy smile. “Thank you for rescuing us.”
His features were so filled with concern. “You will heal when you shift?”
I would have nodded if it wouldn’t have hurt. “I’ll be back to normal as soon as I’m Drow again.” I gave a little smile. “I guess if you call being Drow normal.”
Adam brushed his lips over my forehead, a touch so light it was as if the water were caressing me again. “Go to sleep, Nyx.”
My smile was still on my lips as I drifted off.
A long warm body was pressed up to me when I woke. Of course it was Adam who held me, his arm around my waist. His bare chest felt hard, muscular against my back.
I fell asleep with a smile and I woke with a smile.
When I blinked my eyes open, I ran the tip of my tongue over my small fangs. My cobalt-blue hair that had fallen over my shoulder was tangled, lying over the amethyst marble of the skin of my bare upper arm.
I had shifted back to Drow in my sleep and my injuries were healed. I felt nothing but a pleasant sense of security. I did remember going in and out of sleep while I shifted and when I was done insisted that Adam hold me even though he was concerned he would hurt me. I think I threatened him if he didn’t. Something about him walking bowlegged and holding his groin if he didn’t hold me.
As I snuggled deeper into Adam’s secure, warm embrace, I realized I was sticky with dirt and blood and my hair was completely matted, snarled. I probably didn’t smell that great, either. With my curtailed sense of smell, I didn’t know that for sure.
I murmured, “Avanna,” and the moment I finished saying the word, I felt refreshed, clean, as if I had just taken a long, hot shower. Being half Elvin has a lot of perks.
My gaze flickered around my surroundings. I hadn’t grasped much more than him when I slipped in and out of sleep. It was dark outside, but inside the tent a light burned in one corner. It must have been battery-operated, but I wasn’t sure how it stayed where it was.
The tent was dull orange in the dim light, a tent just big enough for two. My gear was piled on one side of the tent and my weapons belt was on top. To see it sent so much relief through me again. I didn’t see the Kahr—I’d have to buy a new handgun, but that was a small price.
Despite my difficulties smelling much of anything, I swore I was breathing in and capturing Adam’s coffee, leather, and masculine scent. I might have imagined it, but it felt real enough.
I turned in his arms to face him. His eyes were open and he was studying me with concern.
“You’re sure you’re okay?” Adam loosened his hold on my waist but I pressed myself more fully along his length.
“I feel perfect.” My words were a bit muffled against his bare chest. “I feel fabulous. I’m with you.”
He stroked my hair and I didn’t worry that he might consider me odd with my blue hair and amethyst skin. He had so clearly accepted me unconditionally for who I am the first time he saw me change. Before I’d even had a chance to tell him, to explain to him ahead of time. That unconditional acceptance felt so amazing that the love I felt for him, love I kept secured tight within my heart, magnified.
“It feels like it’s been so long since the morning in the apartment.” I slid my hand down the hard planes of his chest and abs and was very happy to find that he had an erection. I cupped it, only his cotton boxers separating his flesh from my palm. “So long since I felt you between my thighs.”
Adam made a low rumbling sound in his chest, sparks seeming to flicker in his warm brown eyes. “Nyx, if you keep that up, you’d better be completely
healed.”
I grinned as I raked my nails up the length of his erection and he groaned. “Never felt better than I do right now.” My voice was sensual, promising.
He looked so serious as he ran his fingers through my hair, the strands clean and untangled now. “I was so afraid for you. That I’d—that we’d—lost you.”
I moved my hand from his groin, slipped my fingers behind his neck, and brought him closer to me for a long, slow kiss. I might not be able to draw in his scent like I usually could, but I could taste him, and it was magnificent.
“Not that I’d want anything else in the world right now,” I said against his lips, “but what are you doing here? I told you to stay in the city.”
Adam’s mouth curved up into a wicked smile. “You’re not the only one who doesn’t listen to advice.”
I gave his shoulder a playful slap. “No way could you have found this camp on your own.”
“Olivia contacted me when you disappeared.” He didn’t look so teasing now. “She promised that if anything happened to you that she’d get a hold of me.”
“No cell phone service this deep in the forest,” I said.
“I think you know better than anyone,” Adam said, “that nothing can stop Olivia. She convinced the Weres to go to a high point in the mountains where they could get enough of a signal to reach me.”
I grinned. “That’s Olivia.”
“Like you said, Weres don’t seem to like humans.” Adam looked a little amused rather than bothered. “Three of them, none of them I’d consider friendly, met me down at the end of the line. The end for anyone who isn’t crazy enough to take a vehicle on what the Weres consider a trail.”
“Like Olivia,” I muttered. “She’s nuts.” Then I smiled. “But she got you here.”
He nodded. “I’m keeping you right where I can see you, too.”
“Yeah, right.” I made a scoffing sound. “As if you could pin me down.”
Adam’s hand drifted lower and I gasped as he slid his hand between my thighs and pressed his fingers against the leather covering my center. “I know exactly how to pin you down.”
“Sometimes.” I shivered with pleasure, my eyelids growing heavy from desire. “I’ll give you that.”
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