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Suddenly, he moved, heaving in a strained breath. “What the hell?”

“Fire.” She could hear it crackling. “We have to go.”

He wrapped an arm around her and together they slid off the bed.

“Stay close to the floor,” he warned.

Together, they scrambled across the room until they reached the door. Dare grabbed the handle. He rattled it, then shoved against the door.

He sank back down with a vicious curse. “Locked. I can’t open it.”

She looked wildly around the smoke-filled room, coughing. “Balcony?”

It was their only other option, but it was on the opposite side of the room.

With a grim look, he nodded. “Stay low, and try not to breathe in the smoke.”

“Thanks. I was thinking of taking in a few mouthfuls of it.”

He shook his head. “Smartass.”

They crawled across the floor toward the balcony. Or at least, she hoped it was in the direction of the balcony. She couldn’t see a thing, and her coughing fits increased. It was getting harder and harder to draw a breath, and her lungs were burning.

She wasn’t sure how far they’d gone, but she had to stop. She stayed on her hands and knees, the pain in her chest like fire.

A big hand settled on the back of her neck. “You’ve got to keep moving.”

She managed a nod, and with Dare’s help, she reached the glass windows. He reached up and she prayed the door would open. She was drawing the tiniest breaths possible, and each one was agony.

Then, there was the sound of a door sliding open. Cool night air rushed into her face and Dare half dragged her out of the room.

She greedily drank in the air and heard him coughing.

But there was no time to rest. Dare dragged her onto her feet. Behind them, smoke poured out of the open door, rising up into the night sky.

“We have to get out of here,” he said.

She looked down over the railing. It was a three-story drop that made her stomach turn over. They’d break something for sure. Then her eye caught movement below, and she frowned. “Dare, look.”

He glanced over. A group of black-clad people were stealthily moving around the front of the building. They looked very well-trained.

Not good.

“Shit,” he muttered. He glanced at their surroundings. “We need to go up. We’ll get onto the roof and then we can jump across to the neighboring building. I’ll call Rynan and Justyn for help.”

“Jump across to the neighboring building?” Her throat went dry, and it had nothing to do with the smoke she’d inhaled. “No, sorry. I’ll just burn to death, thanks.”

He shot her a look that told her he didn’t find her funny. She didn’t tell him that she was only half joking.

He found a place where there was latticework heading up toward the roof. He put his bare foot into a space on the lattice, gripped another one with his hand, and started climbing up. “Come on, Dakota, it’s easy.”

“Easy for you to say, you aren’t afraid of heights.” She heaved in a breath. Stay here and be cooked to death, or be captured by whoever the hell was down below, or climb on the roof and risk falling to her death. She was sick of only ever having shitty options.

Still grumbling, she set her foot in the latticework, and started climbing up behind Dare. Just don’t look down. Don’t look down.

She’d almost reached the top when strong arms reached down and pulled her up. She rested against Dare’s bare chest. At least she wasn’t alone. Having him and his distracting bare chest with her made her shitty options slightly more bearable.

He touched his ear. “Sky Nomad, come in. Ry, are you there? We need help.”