Chapter 43
Kayla
He closes the door and approaches me. I’m off the bed in a flash and backing away from him.
His smile grows. I look behind him, wondering if the door is still locked from the inside, or if I can get out.
My heart races in my chest, and I try to take a calming breath.
“You know what the great thing about these rooms is,” he says, stalking me.
“There are no cameras.” My stomach drops, and I track his every move.
He’s on me a second later, and something snaps inside of me.
I’m tired of being a pawn in a man’s hands.
I’m tired of being treated as less than, and I’m tired of not fighting back.
“Don’t touch me!” I yell at him and kick him as hard as I can down low. He doubles over, and I race for the door. I hit the door at full force and fumble with the handle. Desperation seizes me when I find it locked. I pound on it with both fists.
He grabs me by the hair and pulls me backwards, wrenching a cry from my lips.
He pins me to the floor, and I pummel his face with my hands.
With a roar of rage, he pins both my hands to the ground.
But that leaves my legs free, and I make him pay for that mistake.
I manage to land a hard kick to his stomach, and he rewards me with a blow to the face.
My head whips to the side, and black spots dot my vision for a second.
It only lasts a second, and I ignore the pain in my cheek and arch my back and shove my hand up into his nose.
He bellows, and I roll away from him and jump up off the floor, running once again to the door.
I pound on the door. “Help me!” I scream.
He rips me away from the door and throws me across the room again.
The air is knocked from my lungs, and I can’t catch my breath.
“I will kill you,” he says in a fit of rage.
He wraps his hands around my throat, and now, I really panic.
I kick with my legs, but I can’t get any purchase.
Suddenly, the door to my room crashes open.
Something powerful shakes the room, and then the weight is gone.
I roll over choking and gasping for air.
I blink watery eyes and try to make sense of what I’m seeing.
At first, I think I’m hallucinating what I’m seeing. But then I hear his voice.
“You were dead the moment you dared touch what is mine.” I don’t even recognize Jackson’s voice.
And then in a move I will never forget, he rips his head off.
Jackson takes the body and hurtles it across the room before turning.
We lock eyes, and I stare at him. This is Jackson, the leader of the rogue wolves, the man in charge of helping a group escape a vampire site.
I feel like I’m seeing him for the first time.
Power seems to ripple off him, and I can literally feel it.
He’s at my side in three strides. He drops down next to me.
His eyes run the length of me, taking in every detail.
I watch as his eyes pause on my face. “I should have made it last longer.” He doesn’t ask me if I’m okay, and I’m thankful for that.
“We have to get out of here.” His voice is gruff, all business.
“They’re going to know I’m gone. We have to find a place to lay low until we can escape. ”
He speaks fast, and my brain has to work overtime to shake off what just happened and now try to move forward. “Okay.”
His bright blue eyes meet mine. “I will get you out of here.” He reaches out a hand like he’s going to touch me, but then he drops it.
“Do you have any more of those?” I scramble mentally to keep up with him.
“Pants,” he says, nodding at me. I realize for the first time that he’s wearing only boxers.
“Yeah.” I stand to my feet. The world spins around me, and he steps close but doesn’t touch me.
“You good?” I nod and walk over to the drawer and rummage through to find a bigger pair of sweat pants. They’ll still be small on him, but it’s all we’ve got. He pulls them on a second later. I notice he has bare feet, but he doesn’t say anything about it.
“We have to go. Now.” I nod and follow him to the door. He meets my eyes. “Can you run, or do you want me to carry you?”
Thankfully, my adrenaline finally starts kicking in, warming my body and preparing me for the fight that’s coming. “I can run.” He gives me a sharp nod. “Wait,” I say, right before he opens the door. “We have to get Jade before we escape.”
“Jade?”
“Another healer. She's in room seven.”
“Okay.” That’s it, and then he turns back to the door. He’s quiet a moment, and I know what he’s doing. He’s listening. “We’re going to have to fight our way out of here. We’ll get to a place where we can hide until things calm down and then make our escape.”
“Okay.” I get what he’s saying, but I don’t know how it’s going to work.
But before I can overthink it, he throws the door open.
And then he’s running. I sprint down the hallway behind him.
Two men are on us almost as soon as we start.
They literally appear out of nowhere. Jackson brutally attacks both of them.
The fight is over in seconds, and they’re both on the ground.
He starts running, and I run right behind him.
Another guy comes at Jackson, and he takes him down in seconds.
Something grabs my wrist, yanking me to a stop and pulling me backwards.
A sound escapes my throat, and that’s all Jackson needs.
I’m free a second later, and for the second time, I see Jackson rip a head clean off its body.
I swallow hard, repeatedly, trying to keep the contents of my stomach firmly in my stomach.
I hear the ding of the elevator, and I go still.
Jackson grabs my hand and runs. We slip into a little alcove area.
He pushes me into the wall, his big body covering mine.
We hear voices shouting, and I hardly dare to breathe.
My body shakes with both fear and nerves; I know that we’re going to get caught any second.
The longer we stand there, the more the shivers come.
Soon, they’re full-body shivers. Jackson presses closer to me, pushing me into the wall.
His body is plastered against mine, and I almost can’t breathe.
But I don’t dare say a word. I don’t know how well vampires can hear or smell for that matter, and I don’t want to find out. There’s more shouting.
“I don’t care! Find them!” A new voice orders, and I jerk at the sound of Alicia’s voice.
“Kill the wolf as soon as you see him.” My body locks up, and terror seizes me.
I start to push against Jackson. They can’t find him; I won’t let them find him.
Panic so terrible spreads through every inch of me, I can’t catch my breath.
Kayla, I hear his strong voice in my head.
Breathe. But I can’t; I can’t find any air to breathe.
He’s too close; he’s taking all my oxygen.
But if I push him away, they’ll see him and kill him.
My panic builds when I can’t get any air into my lungs.
I try to push him away, needing air desperately; but he doesn’t move.
My eyes burn and tears drip from the corners of my eyes.
I look up and lock eyes with him. His eyes burn into me with an intensity that I’ve never seen before.
Listen to me. There’s authority in his voice.
You can breathe. Take a breath with me. I shake my head.
I can’t. I don’t know if I send it to him or just out into the universe, but he seems to hear me either way.
Yes, you can. Breathe with me, Kayla. There’s an order in his voice I can’t ignore.
I try, but it doesn’t seem to work. Again.
I try again, but it doesn’t work. Black dots line my vision, and I feel like I’m going to throw up.
Suddenly, his hands are on my face, and he pushes on my cheeks.
Then there’s sweet oxygen. I suck it in greedily.
There’s more, and I do the same thing. I suddenly can’t get enough.
Slowly the black dots fade, and reality settles back in.
When I come back to myself, I realize Jackson and I are still stuck in this alcove.
I open my eyes and meet his fierce gaze.
I am not going to let them hurt you again.
There’s a darkness in his gaze and his voice.
It’s not me I’m worried about, I manage to send back. She said to kill you!
Not an ounce of worry fills his gaze. Let them try. Neither of us says anything for a moment, and I listen. It’s not as loud anymore, like they’ve moved further down the hallway. Get ready to move, he says after a few seconds. Is there anywhere we could hide out?
I think quickly, trying to process where I’ve been and what I’ve seen.
Suddenly, I remember the words the guy said.
There are no cameras in the sleeping rooms. At least, there wasn’t in mine; and I got the idea that they were all like that.
I look up and meet his gaze. But they’ll see us going into a room, and then they’ll know where we are.
Anything else?
I do a mental run-through. There’s a laundry room.
Where?
Near the elevators.
He takes that in. Okay. On my signal, we’re going to run there.
It’s only a matter of time before somebody tracks where we went on the security cameras.
I nod, letting him know I’m ready. Let’s go.
This time, he takes my hand; and together, we explode from our hiding spot and race to the laundry room.
Two males try to stop us, but Jackson deals with them.
We burst into the room, and scan the room quickly, trying to figure out where we can hide.
Jackson puts a hand on my back and urges me forward.
It takes me a moment to realize he’s heading for the far wall.
There’s a long table, probably for folding.
There are several industrial-sized rolling laundry carts full of laundry.
He pushes me towards the furthest one back.
I come to a stop in front of it, but he doesn’t give me a chance to think about it.
He puts his hands on either side of my waist and lifts me up and over the edge before jumping over the side and landing next to me. Use the laundry to cover up with.
It takes a minute or two of awkward movement before we’re both lying on the bottom of the laundry cart, covered with sheets.
It's a tight squeeze, and I have to turn sideways to fit. Neither of us says anything, and I try to take deep breaths and calm my racing heart. Jackson is just as on edge as I am. I can feel it in the tension of his body. I hear shouts, and my adrenaline kicks up. Vampire senses aren’t as good as a wolf, but they’re better than human.
Whenever a vampire enters the room, try to hold your breath and be as still as possible. Also, try to keep your heart rate even.
His words make me panic even more, but there’s no time to panic because I hear people enter the room.