Chapter 16
“—stop or I’ll have to restrain you, ma’am!” My guard yells as I tear along the hallway, cold concrete beneath my bare feet.
I turn, realize I’m going the wrong way, double back and almost wind up in his grasp. “Leave me alone!” I sprint again, hopefully going the right way, my heart pounding as he gains on me.
When I turn again, I find a familiar metal door and bang on it.
Pain erupts in my shoulder as my guard grabs my arm and yanks me away. “I said stop!” he yells and wrenches my arms behind my back.
“Gage!” I scream.
The guard zipties my hands, the plastic biting into my skin.
“Let’s go.” He shoves me back into the hallway.
“Georgia?”
I look over my shoulder.
Shirtless, his hair going in a dozen directions, Gage stands in his doorway. His gaze turns stony. “Release her.”
“Sir, my orders—”
Gage shoves the man aside, and I catch the scent of alcohol on him. “Get the fuck out of here, Lieutenant, or I’ll have you on quarantine duty outside. Do I make myself clear?”
The soldier’s eyes widen, and he opens his mouth, then snaps it closed. Without another word, he turns and hurries away down the hall.
“Come on.” Gage holds his door open for me.
“Can you—” I show him my hands.
“Yeah, inside.” He sighs, the liquor even more loud and clear on his breath.
“We’re in danger. Gregor knows about this base.” I explain what Valen told me as Gage pulls out a pocketknife and frees my wrists. “He’ll send Valen and all his troops. They’ll kill us all. We have to do something.”
“So now Valen’s a threat?” He crosses his arms over his bare chest, his expression doubtful.
“No!” I rub my wrists. “He’s not, but you know how the bloodline works. Gregor can make him do things, anything really. And that includes coming here and killing us all.”
“If Gregor were to do that, his line would end. The other vampire houses would tear him apart.”
“He knows, and he doesn’t care. His life is over. He wants to burn it all down on the way out.”
“Even if Gregor sends Valen here, we’re well defended.” His nonchalance is nauseating.
“He already got in once.”
“We closed that ventilation shaft and placed silver bars on all the others. He can’t get in.
His soldiers can’t get in, either. They can launch an assault, but we’ve wrested control of the military stockpiles back, and General Lopez can order strikes on the surface that will annihilate intruders while we’re safe down here.
Not even Valen will be able to survive it. ”
“That’s why we have to stop it! Valen doesn’t want to do any of this. Gregor is forcing him.”
His eyes harden. “Valen is a monster among monsters, Georgia.”
“No, he’s not. He has a heart. He cares about—”
“You, Georgia.” He shakes his head. “He only cares about you. How do you not see that as a problem?”
“What?”
He scoffs. “He would keep following Gregor’s command until you were the only human left on earth. He would kill us all—every man, woman, and child—as long as you were still alive. Why can’t you see that for what it is?”
“I’ve seen him save humans. He’s working to thwart Gregor’s plans as best he can within the confines of his bloodline. Why can’t you see that?”
He lets out a groan and runs a hand along his five o’clock shadow. “Go back to bed. You have nothing to worry about. The base is safe.”
“It’s not. You’re underestimating Valen. You’re underestimating all of them. Gregor wouldn’t even know this base existed if you hadn’t brought vampire prisoners here. You and General Lopez must’ve dragged in a Dragonis and put everyone at risk.”
His brows furrow. “What?”
“You heard me!” I throw up my hands.
“We have never brought a Dragonis anywhere near this place. That would be suicide.” He stills for a moment, his expression going sober. “The only one who’s here with any drop of Dragonis blood is you, Georgia.”
I blink, my entire body going cold to the bone. “No.”
“Think about it. Gregor never knew about this base, never targeted it until now. And all of the sudden, we’re in the crosshairs?” He shakes his head. “It didn’t even occur to me. I brought you here, and you have the enemy in your blood.”
“No.” I back away from him.
He continues, figuring it out as he speaks. “Valen has known about the base for months. He’s been here before, but he’s always been able to shield certain things from Gregor.” He doesn’t say it with pleasure. Grim and factual, he looks away. “No other Dragonis …”
I sit heavily on the hard couch, my blood loud in my ears. Me. I’m the reason Gregor knows about the base. And if he knows about the base—I shake my head. No. No, no, no. I press my hands to my face.
“Georgia, we’re safe.”
“No.” Panic closes my throat. I can’t say it out loud. I can’t.
If Gregor knows about this base because of me, then he knows I’m alive. He’s known all along that Valen has been lying about Carlotta killing me.
My gorge rises, and I swallow the bile. He’ll never let Valen live. He’s just toying with him now, and Valen has no idea. He’s walking into a woodchipper.
Gage is talking to me, but I can’t hear him. My vision swims, awareness trickling through my blood like icy fingers. I smell death, rot, the stench of human decay.
Come to me. A voice, cold and unforgiving. It echoes in my mind as my world turns to black, as I sink into a mire of corpses, all of them grasping for me, their mouths yawning.
Someone screams, the sound high and piercing.
It’s me.
I’m screaming.
I can’t stop.
I’ll never stop.