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A shuffling noise had me looking through the vent. Someone had come in, and Kayden left. I tried to follow the sound of their footsteps.
Delilah
I looked over my shoulder as I was taken away from my guys. Everything in me wanted to fight. There was no point. The only way the three of them would get out of here alive was if I cooperated. Even if I was put to death for my crime, my guys still had a chance. From what little Eli told me, I knew that the hunters were looking for information. I had no idea what they thought I knew, but I planned to use it to my advantage. I was shoved into an interrogation room and left alone for hours. There was no way to know for sure. Our captors had taken our watches and phones when we’d arrived. I was learning a lot about torture techniques. Sleep deprivation, lack of food or water, the threat of violence—these were all valid ways to get someone to talk. Then there was the actual torture. No one had laid a hand on me, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t. It just hadn’t happened yet.
I wasn’t scared for myself. I was terrified for my guys. I wanted to protect them with everything I had. My imagination raced, trying to figure out what was coming next. I wasn’t prepared for Dec’s hunk of a friend to walk into the room looking like sex on a stick. His light brown curls were messy as if he’d been running his hands through them. His button-up denim shirt was half unbuttoned, showing an enticing patch of chest hair. And his jeans were tight enough that they left very little to the imagination. He looked disgusted until his gray eyes met mine. That anger melted away and he growled.
I stood my ground and maintained eye contact with him. I wasn’t going to cower to him no matter how terrifying he was. Besides, there was something else in his eyes. They looked familiar somehow. I knew I hadn’t met him before, so I struggled to figure out why I knew those eyes. It didn’t matter. A moment after I noticed them, he was stalking toward me. I didn’t have time to react before his hand shot out and grabbed my hair at the base of my neck. I couldn’t move if I tried.
Kayden’s face was so close to mine that I could feel his breath on my lips. My tongue shot out and across my lips to moisten them. His eyes followed its movement. Desire. That was what I saw in his eyes. It didn’t make sense. As hard as he fought to catch us, why would he look at me like that now? I could sense his heart racing, calling to me. My heart beat faster at his attention. My breath caught for a moment when I thought he was going to kiss me. Why was I disappointed that he didn’t? Instead, he pulled me closer and whispered in my ear. “Why does he care so much about you?”
“Who?” I asked, my voice barely audible. Was he talking about Declan? Or someone else? Instead of an answer, he shoved me away. My back collided with the wall and I let myself slide down. I sat there staring at him, waiting for some kind of an answer. Instead, he just stared at me, then turned to leave.
As the door closed, I heard someone talking. I rushed over and pressed my ear to the wood. “We’re all set for the executions tomorrow. Are you sure about this?” The voice was unfamiliar.
Kayden’s response was almost too quick. “We have to be sure. This is what must happen. They broke the laws and have to be punished.” A shiver rolled down my spine. They were going to kill us in the morning, and I didn’t even get to spend my last night with my guys.
Rest was fitful at best. It was hard to sleep, knowing that we would all die soon. What little sleep I did get was marred by nightmares. I watched my loves being torn apart by wolves, staked through the heart, decapitated, and drained of their life forces. It repeatedly happened until I wasn’t sure what was real and what was imagined. I knew that someone was watching me. He probably enjoyed my thrashing and sudden jolts upright in tears. These people were a sadistic bunch.
I settled back on the single blanket thrown at me earlier. I was determined to stay awake. I would not be plagued by those dreams any longer. I would face what was coming with my head held high. Determination had kept me alive this long. It was all I had left. I closed my eyes for a second, only a second.
I awoke with a start at the feeling of strong arms wrapping around me and pulling me close. The smell was familiar but foreign, almost woodsy. My head lay on a hard chest, right over a strong heartbeat that lulled me back to calm. A large hand stroked my hair, carefully picking through the tangles and combing it smooth. It was dark, so all I could see was a silhouette. I knew he wasn’t one of my guys even though something about him called to me. For a moment, I felt safe in these arms. A hand gently wiped away my tears and cupped my cheek. “Shh, babe, I’ll take care of you.” The whisper against my skin was warm. I slept again, deep comfortable sleep, with the strange arms holding me close.
I sat up with a start at a noise down the hall. “One of them’s escaped. We have to find him.” I scanned the room to find myself alone again. Perhaps it had all been a dream. I may never know. One of my guys had escaped. That was amazing. We had hope again. If one of them was free, he would fight like hell to save us all. I pressed my ear to the door to listen. I hoped someone would say which of my guys it was. Things got eerily quiet again. Footsteps stomped down the hall and I jumped away from the door just before it opened.
“Where is he?” A man growled in my face.
“Who?” I asked, hoping he would tell me what I wanted to know. Instead, he backhanded me across the face and I hit the wall on the side of the room. I had already decided that fighting back wouldn’t help, so I prepared for him to hit me again. A low growl got my attention and I looked up to see the man’s head fly across the room in the opposite direction. His body fell forward, and I was coated in the spray of his blood. Instinct had my tongue licking the sticky substance from my face. My eyes grew wide with terror. This wasn’t done by one of my guys. I backed up into the corner and waited for the beast responsible to kill me next.
“We have to go,” a deep voice ordered. I stood in the corner, shaking my head, my body trembling. “Unless you want them all to die, we have to go now.” He stepped through the doorway, and I realized that Kayden had saved me. He reached down and pulled me up against him before wiping blood from my mouth. I silently followed him out the door. He held a finger to his lips and motioned for me to stay behind him. We crept through the hallway to a dead end. Kayden reached out to the wall and pressed two spots, making a secret door open. He ushered me inside, then made sure it closed completely behind us.
“The others don’t know about these passages. We need to get to the guys before they’re executed.” He started walking down the dark corridor.
“Wait,” I said, not moving. He turned to face me and I continued, “What made you change your mind?”
“I learned who’s behind it all. I need your help to get the four of you out of here. Come on.” He motioned for me to follow, and this time I did. Once we were all back together, I would finally get the answers I needed. I watched him closely as we walked. I was terrified that this was a trick. Something inside of me told me that he could be trusted.
Kayden stopped and cocked his head to the side, listening. It appeared that his hearing was even better than a vamp’s. The ceiling here was low enough that his ear was almost on it. His fist shot up through the drywall and something large fell in front of us. “There’s one. Now we have to get to the other two.” He pushed me behind him as Vik came up swinging. Kayden took a punch in the face and another in the gut before I realized what had happened.
“Vik! Stop. He’s helping us escape. We have to get to Dec and Eli before they’re executed." I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around him, brushing dirt from his face. He took a deep breath then pulled me close for a kiss.
“Why are you helping us?” He growled at Kayden. “You’re the reason we’re in here.”
“We’ll get to all of that after we get the others. Please, Vik. Just come with us.” I wasn’t above begging. I could feel Kayden’s desperation growing. If he was scared for them, this was serious. We had to go.
“This way,” he whispered, leading us down another corridor. I could hear the men outside searching for us. So far, it seemed that Kayden was right about them not knowing these passages were here. I gripped Vik’s hand tightly, and we followed Kayden through the darkness. None of us made a sound, stopping to listen every few feet. I had so many questions I wanted to ask, but there wasn’t time. He paused next to a door and put his ear against it. Then he eased the door open, pulled something large through, and closed it again. The whole thing took maybe five seconds and didn’t make a sound.
“What the fuck just happened?” Declan’s voice echoed down the passage. Kayden put his hand over Dec’s mouth. My sexy vamp’s eyes grew wide at the realization, and he nodded. When Kayden took his hand away, Dec whispered, “We need to hurry. They just took Eli out for execution.”
“Fuck.” Kayden took off running down a passage, and we all struggled to keep up. This was bad. Panic was setting in. Of course, Eli could take care of himself, but with a death sentence and public execution hanging over his head? I wasn’t sure.
I ran into his back when he stopped in front of a small square on the wall. “What’s that?” I pointed at the thing and whispered.
“Watch,” he said, moving a piece of it and looking out into the room on the other side of the wall. “As I said before, no one knows this is here. If we’re lucky, no one knows I’m involved.” He stared out the small opening for another moment before turning back to me.
Dec and Vik were standing on either side of me. I could tell they were trying not to panic the same as I was. I wasn’t the only one who loved Eli. We had to save him. “What can we do?” Dec asked Kayden.
“You can trust me. Stay in the passages inside the wall. When I give the signal, head east.” He pointed in the direction he wanted us to go. “We’ll meet you at the exit near where you were brought in.” Both Dec and Vik nodded, preparing to follow his directions. I was staring out the opening, searching for Eli. Kayden put his hand on my shoulder and spun me around.
