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Ah, well. There’s no time to do anything about it now. Wrinkles it is.
Emmett leans in for a hug and his nose goes straight to my neck as he places his dark chocolate alongside Jed’s maple. “You all go on ahead. I have some work to do in the office. More checkups and samples,” he explains before giving me a quick kiss on the lips and disappearing out the door.
“You’re so going to be late,” Ry says, practically shooing us out, but not before sweeping me into his arms and giving me the biggest kiss known to betakind.
“Good thing we know a shortcut,” Andrik responds with a wink in the beta’s direction as he leads us over to a marble statue at the end of the hallway. Of course, the secret passages. I shouldn’t be surprised by now, however, when he maneuvers the switch and the door slides open, it still awes me a little.
Andrik, ever the handy one, pulls a small flashlight out of his pocket. I remember Jed saying they’d keep one on them so we wouldn’t have to travel in the dark again. “Stay behind me, Precious. Just in case.”
Kyle files in behind, with Jedrik bringing up the rear. My two enforcers in the front and back. There are better ways to have them in front and back… Probably shouldn’t have finished that thought, but oh well.
Andrik leads us to a spiral staircase, which we start descending right away. “This is crazy. Who would’ve guessed the secrets behind these walls?” Kyle murmurs.
Jedrik snorts. “You’re telling me. Imagine discovering them. We had a lot of fun showing up in different places unexpectedly.”
About one floor down, there’s a gap in the handrail where it breaks off into a hallway. This floor must be mapped differently from the omega wing. Andrik takes a step to continue down the stairs, but immediately comes to a stop after his flashlight illuminates the space. I plow into him from behind, not expecting his pace to cease so abruptly. It has me wobbling on my feet, but Kyle grabs me by the shoulders to steady me. Thankfully, I didn’t fall.
“Ouch. What the hell, Andrik?” I demand, rubbing my chest.
He doesn’t respond for a second and the longer the silence drags, the more curious I become. “Fuck,” he curses. Well, that certainly doesn’t bode well. “Look at this.” He lowers the beam of the flashlight and motions at the floor. It’s covered in what appears to be decades of dust, which is simply gross. I pull my shirt over my nose to stop inhaling so much of it.
“What? The dust?” The questions fly out of my mouth, but then I spot what he means. Sure enough, there are tons of footprints tracking up and down this section of the hallway imprinted in the grime layering the ground. Some are older as the dust has almost covered them back up, but it’s the fresh ones that have my heart rate kicking up a notch. “Wait. Aren’t these yours?”
Andrik shakes his head. “Some of them probably, but not all. There are way too many.”
“Who else knows about these passageways?” Kyle inquires.
Andrik shrugs. “Honestly, there’s no way to know for certain. I’d venture to guess whoever built the manor, but they’re long dead by now. No one who runs the show seems to know about them because they’ve been asking Jed and me how we get around the cameras for ages. But they also could be lying to protect the knowledge that they know—“
A growl escapes Jedrik, cutting Andrik off before he can say anything else. “Well, obviously someone besides us does. And they know them well. This particular passage leads to the movie theater and those aren’t our tracks.”
Andrik kneels to get a closer look at the fresh shoe prints. “It’s hard to tell exactly what kind they’re from, but I’d guess a loafer of some sort. There are too many to know for certain. We need to investigate further.”
“But we’re already almost late—“ A rock skitters from down the hall like someone kicked it, followed by the thump, thump, thump of heavy footsteps. Oh, hell nah! I jump straight into Kyle’s arms, knowing he’ll catch me as a scream tears from my throat like I’m Scooby-Doo and he’s Shaggy.
As Kyle turns to book it back in the direction we came, Jedrik charges forward like he’s going to investigate whatever is making the noise. Absolutely knot. As fast as a striking snake, I whip my arm out and latch onto his bicep. “I’m not letting you become the third fucking body, Jed. Get me out of here.”
His jaw clenches like he wants to disagree, but the whine that escapes me has him relenting. “Go. Get our omega out of here,” he commands. “Andrik and I will guard our backs.”
Kyle nods his agreement and jogs his way up the stairs. Thank fuck for alpha muscles, because I’m not sure my legs would function right now. We’re all breathing hard by the time we reach the hidden lever to the omega wing and dive out of the passageway. Kyle sets me on my feet and tugs me into his arms. Sure enough, my legs buckle and that’s when I notice I’m shaking like a leaf.
“What the hell was that?” I demand after I’ve caught my breath.
“Truthfully, I don’t know,” Andrik replies. “It could’ve been a rat, and the hall was making it sound louder than it was and we panicked. However, with the evidence of tracks, I doubt it.”
A chilling thought.
“There you are!” Karen’s voice startles the hell out of me. My hand flies to my chest as I almost jump out of my skin.
“Sorry, we were on our way,” I defend.
She eyes us up and down, the new red pen behind her ear almost falling out before she catches it. “Mhm. I’m sure. Come on, you’re beyond late for your group date.”
Chapter 46
Verity
Steam from the pot of boiling water wafts toward me as I sprinkle a generous amount of salt in it and then twist the pasta before dropping the hard sticks into the water. A tiny droplet of water splashes onto my hand and I wipe it on my apron before placing a wooden spoon over the top to keep it from boiling over. It’s a trick Ry taught me.
