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“Okay, two at a time. Cadmus, how about if you and Brandon scope it first?” I glance over at the newcomer hanging off Valdys, his build as massive as the rest of them. No way the two would fit together. “We’ll send him down to them, and then the two of us will go last?”

“You’ll need to hurry. It’s hard to say how quickly those gases will diffuse throughout the corridor.” Kenny’s words add a boost of stress to my already frayed nerves.

There’s no way I’m going to let asphyxiation separate me from Valdys, after what we’ve gone through.

Through a swinging door that separates the morgue from some storage area at the back of the room, we find the large, commercial-sized dumbwaiter, similar to the one I saw in the surgical unit used to transport med carts up from the pharmacy. While Cadmus and Brandon should fit, I was right about two Alphas at once.

The first two hop inside, and I have to stifle a chuckle at how cramped they look with their legs tangled into one another.

“You lay a hand on my fucking leg, and I’ll break your fingers,” Cadmus says, as I slide the door on them. I push the button for the second floor and watch as the elevator sinks below us, lower and lower, until it cruises to a stop. After a short pause, it sets into motion again, rising up from below, and comes to a stop in front of me once more.

Valdys helps his friend inside, exerting little effort.

The man doesn’t seem to like being babied, with the way he nudges the other Alpha’s arm away. “I’m all right.”

“I’ll send one of the dogs with you. Just in case.” Valdys whistles and guides one of the beastly looking animals into the elevator, where it settles on the other side of the man. Obedient. As if they’ve done nothing but train them this whole time. Once again, I send the elevator back down to the second floor and wait.

“If we make it out of here alive, you’re in trouble.” Brow kicked up, he stares down at me, and licks his lips.

Biting my own lip fails to hide the smile itching to break free. “How so?”

“Two months is a long time for a man to spend dreaming about his female.”

“It’s been a lifetime for me, as well.”

A thunk echoes through the room, and I swing my attention toward the door. Growls vibrate from the two remaining dogs, and they prowl forward, as if they sense something approaching.

The anxiety twists in my stomach, as I watch the elevator pause, then make its climb back to our floor, but when a crashing noise sends my heart shooting into my throat, I glance back at where Valdys has already started in the direction of the sound. The dogs barking only strums the urgency beating against my muscles.

“No!” I reach out for his hand, shaking my head. “It’s almost here!”

Valdys keeps his eyes toward the door as he backs himself to the elevator. At a clicking sound, the dogs pounce through the swinging door. One of them yelps, its suffering bouncing off the walls of the morgue.

I swivel back around to see the elevator has arrived. “C’mon! Let’s go!” Climbing inside, I watch Valdys slowly back toward me.

The second dog yelps.

Once he’s climbed into the elevator beside me, Valdys whistles for the dogs, while I press the button.

Instead of the animals, a mutation barrels toward us, just as the elevator begins its descent, and it swipes out a claw that slashes Valdys across the arm. The top of the elevator sinks to the floor level, severing the claw from its body, and the harrowing screech that follows skates down my spine. A thud hits the ceiling of the elevator. Claws scrape against the steel. The top of it caves, likely from the weight, and the elevator bounces, like the mutation is scrambling to find a way inside.

When the elevator comes to a stop at the second floor, Cadmus rushes toward us, the dog barking and growling on his heels. The elevator bounces again, the weight of it dipping the car to just below the floor, before we can climb out.

Cadmus hauls the mutation off the top, and Valdys squeezes his massive body through the gap between the floor and the top of the car. Once out, he reaches to help me through, and all I can think about is the cable snapping and severing my body in half.

The moment I’ve cleared the car, he throws himself into the brawl, holding the mutation down, until Cadmus has torn its head away from its body. The dog rips away an arm, the twitching limb dangling from the canine’s bloody maw.

Blowing out a breath, Cadmus shakes his head. “I don’t remember those bastards being so hearty.”

“They’re running out of food. Becoming desperate. Your timing for this rescue is truly shit,” Valdys says, with an air of amusement that I know holds a small bit of seriousness, too.

At the sound of a boisterous clash, everyone swings their attention back toward the dumbwaiter behind me.

Another mutation has fallen atop the elevator and claws at the air, trying to turn onto its stomach. When a cold grip of my arm yanks me forward, giving it a small bit of leverage, a scream rips from my chest. It tugs me closer, and on instinct, I reach out to push the button back to the floors above us, but a burn streaks up my arm where its claw slices at my skin. “Ah, shit!”

Valdys jumps between me and the beast, severing its hold on my arm, and the elevator jerks into an ascent, just as the creature manages to gain its footing, but it disappears into the shaft, lifted out of view.

Hand slapped over my wound, I flinch, and Valdys takes my arm in his hands as he examines the scratch.