How could she prevent that?
Linda popped up by the side of the bed.
Karma yelped and then sat up. “What are you doing here? Are the girls okay?”
Linda’s eyes were wide and too dark. She hovered, slightly see-through in the moonlight shining through the window. “They’re coming. I just saw it. You have to—”
Explosions ripped through the peaceful night outside. Karma caught her breath, and before she could jump out of bed, her door crashed open and Benjamin barreled through.
He had her out of the bed and in his arms in a heartbeat.
“Benjamin.” She grabbed the material of the T-shirt stretched tightly across his chest as he ran through the house and into the master bedroom, kicking it shut with one boot.
More explosions made the ground beneath them quake. A painting fell off the wall onto his sprawling bed, but he kept running into a well-appointed walk-in closet that was mostly empty of clothing. Then he set her on the dresser in the middle of the space, looked around wildly, and grabbed the lone tie from a peg. Without a word, he wrapped it around her face and covered her eyes before she could protest.
Then she was back in the air and against his chest. She had to grab on again to keep from falling. He moved a few feet and then must’ve reached the rear of the square-shaped closet. The sound of his hand slapping the wood filled her ears.
Oh, God. He knew about the implant. He had covered her eyes.
Something quietly slid to the side.
He lunged inside and ran down unseen steps; it felt as if he was taking them four at a time. Cool air brushed her, and she held on for dear life, acutely aware of her lack of clothing. She blinked behind the blindfold but couldn’t see anything. The door snicked shut behind them. She held on tighter as he jostled her. “Where—”
“Shhh,” he muttered, the sound curt.
She swallowed. “They’re here for me, Benjamin. Maybe if you let me go, there won’t be a fight.”
“I’m not letting you go.” The words were uttered as fervently as any vow she’d ever heard. “Don’t speak again, or I’ll gag you.”
She bit her lip. So he knew about the device in her ear as well. She had no doubt he’d do as he said, but she had to at least try. “I don’t want you or any of your friends to get hurt. Please just leave me and go.” They had to have several escape routes, and he could be long gone before the Kurjans found them. “I have to go back.”
“Not one more word, Karma. The only thing I have to gag you with right now is a sock, and it’s been on my foot all day. Don’t push me again, baby.” He was running full-bore while carrying her, yet he didn’t sound winded in the slightest.
The last thing she wanted in her mouth right now was his dirty sock. She’d tried to reason with him, and the Kurjans were surely listening to every word. “I can’t see. Can I take off the blindfold?” It was imperative they understood she was blindfolded.
“No.” He slowed down. “Sock it is.”
“No,” she yelped. “I promise. Not one more word.”
He paused as if thinking it over. “All right. Last chance.”
She pressed her lips firmly together to keep from making a sound. He moved her slightly and then stopped descending, so the ground must’ve leveled out. It became cooler and quieter, and the explosions in the distance sounded far above them. How far underground had he run? She didn’t dare ask.
He ran for a few more minutes, paused, and pushed open what sounded like a door. Then he moved forward again, turning several times and finally moving into what felt like a smaller place. He ripped off the blindfold.
She looked around a cell with three rock walls and one of bars. “Benjamin.”
“Sorry.” He set her on a cot and hurried back out the barred door, shutting and locking it firmly. “I’ll be back.”
Then he was gone.
* * * *
“Talk to me.” Benny ran into the control center inside the mountain. Screens were mounted on three walls, and the fourth held various weapons. The main weapons room was just beyond.
Logan looked up from a keyboard, still typing. “Attack from the river with secondary forces advancing from the east and south.”
So they’d taken the bait. “Excellent. The river mines worked.” Benny reached for several weapons to hide on his body. “I didn’t expect them for a few days.”
Logan looked over his shoulder, his eyes a startling and pissed-off green. “Neither did I.”
Benny paused. Oh. Logan would’ve preferred to get Mercy out of there and to Realm Headquarters first. “Understood.”
Mercy glanced up from another set of consoles. “We have movement in the air—looks like three attack helicopters.” Then she lowered her chin. “And I’m ready to fight. I wouldn’t have gone to the Realm.”
Garrett emerged from the weapons room fully armed. He growled low. “We weren’t expecting a fight yet. We have half of our force away. To say we’re outnumbered would be a gross understatement.”
Mercy looked at the big screen. “Incoming.”
Benny studied the air support through the night vision camera. “Is that a—”
The missile exploded with a loud roar. The entire mountain rocked back and forth, and Benny had to brace his feet to keep his balance. “Holy shit.”
Logan typed furiously, focusing the camera closer in. “What are they doing? We’re in human territory. They can’t just take out a mountain like this. There’s no way to hide that.”
“Agreed,” Benny muttered. The Kurjans had blown up the Seven’s mountain headquarters before, but those had been off the grid. This one wasn’t, and even the Kurjans knew better than to attack like this and alert the humans to their existence. The entire immortal world, allies and enemies alike, would retaliate against such a foolish move. “Apparently my offer to mate Karma didn’t go unheeded.” Anger morphed through him, tensing each one of his muscles. This was personal.
Mercy studied him from her position. “Yeah. They definitely jumped the gun on this. The only reason they’d do so would be personal and not strategic. Ideally, they’d want Karma to gather more information for a few days as they prepared for an assault. They haven’t had enough time to really study the area.”
Quade and Haven ran inside, both ducking falling shards of rock. “Why are they here already?” Quade asked, tucking Haven close. His eyes were dark with anger, and blood trickled from a cut on his temple.
Benny winced. “We might have underestimated the fact that Karma is now unmated and free to mate again. Or I could be wrong about that.” He should’ve asked her more questions, but it wasn’t as if she would’ve been able to answer with the Kurjans listening. He grabbed night vision goggles from the shelf. “I’ll go. We just need one prisoner to question.”