Page 83 of Sold to the Dark Vampire Prince

Lara refused to release his arm. “I need you to stay here with me, not go running off to check on that sanguine whore.”

“That’s not what I’m doing.” Alex shook his head. “People could be hurt inside. We can’t abandon them.”

“I’m scared.” Her voice wobbled. “We don’t know what’s happening. There could be more attacks.”

“If you feel unsafe, you should stay here with your security detail. They’ll protect you. I’m going to try to help.” He pulled his arm free, turning to the others. “Let’s go.”

Lara was still protesting as they ghosted away towards the collapsed wall at the back of the building.

Inside, it was chaos. Dust and smoke choked the air, making it impossible to see. The heat was scorching, enough to make him recoil. Fires burned back where the wall had collapsed, and alarms blared throughout the building.

They needed to hurry.

Alex started forward, only to slam into someone in the dark. The man began to cough, and Alexander grabbed him to keep him from falling over.

“It’s too damn hard to see,” he shouted. “I think we’ve got more in there, but the lights went off when the power blew. Emergency generators should have kicked in by now. They must have been hit, too.”

“How many do you think are missing?” Alex shouted.

“If they’re following procedure, managers should be doing counts now outside based on who clocked in to their shifts.” The man paused to cough. “But there may be more injured deeper in the building that we just can’t find. We’ve been looking, but it’s dark and with the rubble coming down—”

“Leave that to us.” Alexander smiled, flashing fangs. “Tracking blood is what we do best, after all.” To the others, he said, “Let’s work in teams. If there are survivors trapped beneath the rubble, it may take more than one person to free them.”

Even as he said it, every instinct in him screamed to search for Dani, to hunt for her and her alone. But he couldn’t smell her blood, and from where he’d last seen her in the building, she wouldn’t have been one of the workers stationed closest to the wall that collapsed.

She would have gotten out.

He had to trust in that.

And if she hadn’t, he would find her.

The first group he and Henri located were trapped inside an employee break room. The wall that had come down had shifted the doorframe with tons of cinderblock and broken pipes jamming it closed. Although they’d managed to pry the hinges free, the people trapped inside hadn’t made any progress in opening it.

There were seven in that group.

By the time Alex was ferrying the last man out, a crowd had formed, circling around the extraction point where they were dropping off survivors. They were stripping off coats, offering water. These people had so little, and yet they weren’t hesitating to give everything they had of themselves on the worst day of their lives.

That was when he scented Dani’s blood.

He was just turning, heart slamming wildly with fear, prepared to track her across the entire parking lot of injured humans if that was what it took, when she threw herself into his arms.

“Alexander. Oh, you’re safe. When the explosion happened, I was so worried you hadn’t gotten out.”

He allowed himself only a single second to hold her close, then pulled back to check her over, alarm filling him at the gash across her scalp that was trickling blood down into her hair.

“My gods, you’re bleeding.”

She bent over double, head between her knees. “Don’t remind me. Sorry. I’m still a little shaky.”

“You should sit down.”

“I’m fine. I was getting a shelving unit down when the explosion hit and I didn’t manage to catch it as it fell.” She laughed ruefully. “Or rather, I caught it with my face and then it landed on top of me.”

“Put pressure on it.” Pulling out his handkerchief, he pressed it into her hands. “I have to go back in. There could be more people in there.”

“Go.” She pressed a hand to his heart. “Be careful. I’m so proud of you, Alex.”

He scattered in a blur of smoke, using his predator’s instincts to comb the building for every wounded survivor, every last beating heart, until at last they heard sirens approaching in the distance. By then, he was spent, unsure he could safely make another trip back.