Chapter Fifteen
Harlow
Watchful Eyes
The start of my day—or night—was nothing short of hormonal whiplash. Yet, as I sit in what I can only describe as a command center, my chair rolled up as close as possible beside Mateo’s, the chaos that unfolds before us and quite literally shakes the walls does perhaps the opposite inside me.
I watch with wide eyes, stilted breaths, and the cold grip of fear tight around my heart, as people I’ve barely met and hold no ill will toward fight for their right merely to exist.
The most terrifying thing isn’t the violence.
It isn’t the gunfire or the grenades that the men in military-style dark clothes and gear pitch at the walls.
It isn’t knowing that the woman who rescued me from the lunatic in the forest is now on the rooftop playing sniper—that’s actually one of the most badass things I’ve ever had the privilege of witnessing, I think—or seeing her spouse fighting for them both on the ground below.
It isn’t even seeing the men I’ve spent the last day surrounded by finally behaving like vampires when one of them attaches his mouth to the throat of an armored invader, and the armored man goes limp.
No, the most terrifying thing happens inside me. Because as I watch, as I listen to Mateo relay enemy locations and coordinate his people’s movements, I realize that this isn’t the first assault they’ve endured. Those who survive tonight will eventually, inevitably, endure another.
They’re being hunted because they’re different.
I am different.
More than that, more than anything, if these hunters win ... I lose, too. Regardless of whether or not I walk away, I lose Mateo.
The understanding hits me like a punch to the gut, and it’s all I can do to keep from reaching for him.
He’s busy, and what he’s doing is keeping his family alive.
I can’t afford to distract him more than I already have.
So I sit, and I keep my eyes glued to the violence playing out on the screens, because it’s important I see the reality.
He wants me to make a choice when this is settled. I know he does. And if the idea of losing him hurts so badly, I think my heart’s already made that choice. Now just isn’t the time to tell him.
My eyes flick from screen to screen, and I suck in a breath as one of the men I met the previous day loses his head. I already forgot his name, and guilt sweeps in for it.
“Fuck,” Mateo growls. His fingers briefly curl into a fist, and I’m sure he saw it, too.
I reach out and lay my hand over his, squeezing it. This isn’t the time for drawn-out comfort, but I don’t want him to forget that he isn’t alone.
He exhales, his hand uncurls, and he snaps something into the device in his ear. I don’t linger on the words.
My gaze is still sweeping over the images flashing in front of us, sometimes flaring too brightly from the nearby flare of gunfire.
The vampires move with such speed that it’s hard for me to track until they’re locked in closer combat with our assailants.
Most of that fighting has thankfully been held outside the building itself.
That’s why the movement in a hallway-stationed camera catches my eye.
By the time I swing my focus to it, the scene is still and calm. But the thundering in my heart tells me otherwise. I recognize that hall. I traversed it on my way to this room.
“Mateo,” I say, my voice too soft. I reach over and latch onto his sleeve, curling my fingers too tightly. “Can you rewind this camera?” I point to the screen in question. “I saw something. I’m sure of it.”
I feel his body shift toward me. The silence of his pause is nearly deafening. The image blinks, and the small numbers on-screen roll backward. Again, there’s a flash of movement.
Mateo bites out a curse and lets the feed play forward.
We both watch as two of the hunters, crouched and holding their weapons up, move at a fast and steady pace through the camera’s line of sight.
I pull in a hard breath. “What does that mean?” Obviously, it means the enemy got inside. I saw the hole they’ve blown into the wall. I can guess how. But my brain is scrambling to put that logic with this reality, let alone identify next steps.
Escape. Escape is the next step.
Those men are coming with the intent to kill, and our goal is survival. So escape is the thing we need, right?
Mateo slams a button on the far side of his desk, detached from his keyboard, and the house lights up. I can faintly hear the undertone of a shrill whistle.
On screen, several of our allies go still and swing their heads toward the house as if visibly startled. But they only delay for a moment because they can’t afford more.
Mateo pulls my chair around, suddenly facing me. “We’ve been breached,” he says, his tone and his jaw tight. “Those hunters are coming here. I need you to hide.”
I blink at him. “Hide?”
“I’d take you back up to the Consort Suite if there were time,” he says. He scrubs a hand through his hair, then swiftly lifts me from the chair and carries me around the massive computer desk. “I need you safe.”
I push at his chest. He’s walking me toward a wall, and I’m pretty sure that means he has some improvised safe room hidden away, and as smart as that sounds, I don’t trust it. “Are you going to hide with me?”
“I can’t, Harlow,” he says. Mateo sets me on my feet but keeps an arm around my waist, his other hand stretching for the wall. “I’ll deal with the hunters who reach us, and I have to coordinate—”
His words are cut off by a muffled explosion that shakes the entire room. Another alarm sounds, this one obviously automatic.
My eyes swing past him, to the door I’d come through, which has been locked tight for at least an hour. Smoke is wafting through. “Mateo!”
Something beeps behind me. “Get inside, Harlow,” he hisses, his hand fisting the dress over my hip. “And stay quiet, please. Don’t let them find you.”
My heart constricts, feeling as if it’s folded in on itself. I grab his shirt to keep his focus. “You can’t fight them off, protect me, and coordinate everyone else.”
He actually growls at me. “I can’t lose you.”
Somehow, his words make me smile. Instead of replying, I reach up and snag the earpiece off him, holding our strange staring contest and ignoring the building smoke as I proceed to stick the thing onto my own ear. “Then don’t die.”