22. Chapter 22
22
T aking a deep breath, I stepped away from the wall and joined Gavin in the hallway.
Bastian stood at the mouth of the hallway, his hands clenched into tight fists. Thane and Ash waited by the front door, crescent sigils ablaze. Thane’s composure had returned, making him appear the stoic warrior once again. Micah had retreated into the living room to stare out the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Gavin strode past Bastian, the very edge of his shoulder skimming the shifter’s.
“Hey,” I said, stopping beside Bastian and resting a hand on his arm. “I’m fine.”
He clenched and unclenched his jaw, gazing down at me with burning amber eyes. “I could feel you,” he rasped. “Your hunger. Your desperation. Your pleasure. I could feel it all.”
Eyes widening, I trailed my hand down his arm and traced the lines of the bonding sigil wrapped around his wrist. The silver light flared brighter at my touch.
“I didn’t realize,” I said, my voice hushed.
I glanced at Gavin, who now waited with Thane and Ash by the door, and thought of how I had known what he wanted to do to me in the bathroom, even if he hadn’t allowed himself to give in to his desires. Had he been able to feel me in the same way when I had been alone with Bastian in the shower? Had he known of the danger I was in before he even returned to the loft? Had he felt the sweet pleasure Bastian coaxed from my body after?
Looked like we were bound together more tightly than I had realized.
Gavin’s eyes met mine. “Whenever you’re ready,” he said coolly.
I nodded and looked at Micah, who had turned away from the window and was crossing the living room. We clustered near the vampires at the door.
“Wards were etched into the foundation and the steel beams framing this building, preventing shifters from entering,” Gavin explained, his hand gripping the doorknob and his head turned so he could eye Bastian sidelong. “Unless they bear a countersigil.” He looked at me. “But only this loft is warded thoroughly enough to repel ghosts. As soon as you cross this threshold, you will be able to see any ghosts who approach you.”
“But you can’t?” I asked.
He shook his head. “ That is a gift exclusively held by queens,” he said. “Since no one else can detect the spirits, they make excellent scouts. If your sister or any others do appear, I would very much appreciate you sending them out to keep watch. We’re heading across the street to the basement of a neighboring building.”
I narrowed my eyes. “We’re not driving?”
He sliced his chin to the left and then to the right. “We’re traveling by portal,” he said. “That way, we’re only exposed for a few minutes, rather than hours.”
My eyebrows rose. “A portal?” I had only ever heard of the gateways elementals could create linking two distant places. “I’ve never seen one.”
“You have,” Gavin told me. “You just don’t remember.”
My brow furrowed at his implied mention of a shared past I couldn’t remember. “The wards prevent portals here?” I guessed.
Gavin nodded and turned the doorknob, but he didn’t open the door. “Unless you have any more questions . . .” He looked pointedly at the door. When I shook my head, he pulled it open.
Thane and Ash passed through to the landing first, Ash striding ahead to push the button for the elevator while Thane hung back.
Gavin looked at me and nodded to the landing beyond. “Go on,” he said. “I’m right behind you.”
I stepped closer to the doorway but hesitated on the threshold. There was a good chance I would find my sister out there. Or Wes. Or maybe even my mom. I tried to move forward, but another name whispered through my mind, and my muscles seized, tears welling in my eyes.
Javier.
What if I saw him out there? Then I would know for sure. I had convinced myself Javier was still alive, a prisoner to the House of the Sun. But if I saw his ghost, I would have to accept that he was dead.
Gavin moved closer to me, sliding his hand along the small of my back. “The ghosts can’t hurt you,” he said, his voice hushed.
I flashed him a sad smile. “You’re wrong,” I told him, a tear gliding down my cheek.
“Perhaps I am,” Gavin said, bowing his head slightly.
With a resigned sigh, I stepped through the doorway. I moved slowly, my breaths shallow and muscles humming with tension. Flanked by Thane and Gavin, I scanned the landing, but nobody appeared who hadn’t already been there.
When the elevator doors glided apart, Ash stepped into the enclosed space and pressed the button to hold the doors open. I joined him, Gavin and Thane following me into the elevator. We moved to the back to make room for Bastian and Micah.
It was a large elevator car, but the latent power exuding from Bastian and the three vampires made it feel itty bitty. My skin tingled, the small hairs all over my body standing on end. I hadn’t noticed the electric presence each immortal exuded in the spacious loft, but it was impossible to ignore when they surrounded me in such a tight space.
I reached for Micah’s hand, needing to feel something normal. He glanced back at me, his eyebrows raised, and I wondered if he could feel it, too. The corners of his mouth tensed, and he gave my hand a squeeze.
The elevator slowed, then stopped, and I held my breath, waiting for the doors to slide open. They did so with a whoosh , revealing a lobby of marble and polished steel, empty save for four unfamiliar vampires spread out around the perimeter of the space, an even split of men and women.
“Anything?” Gavin asked from behind me, his breath tickling the wispy hairs that had escaped from my bun.
I shook my head. I had been expecting a horde of ghosts to ambush me, and I released my held breath in a relieved exhale at finding none.
“Good,” he said, angling his body sideways to step past me and leave the elevator car. He paused to scan the lobby, then glanced over his shoulder at me. “It’s a straight shot across the street. We’re running out the doors, and we’re not slowing until we get to the basement of the other building. Don’t worry about the cars on the street. They’ll stop. And if they don’t, we’ll make them.” His focus shifted to Bastian. “Stick to her side. You’re her worst-case-scenario escape plan.”
Bastian stepped away from the elevator wall and closer to me, his fingers curling around my upper arm in a tight grip. “I understand.”
I looked from Gavin to Bastian and back, swallowing a sudden jolt of fear. They were talking about him shifting and flying me away—as a godsdamned dragon .