“I’ll be right back,” he told her.
“Where are you going?” She swallowed a hard lump in her throat, gaining a secure grip on her rudimentary weapon.
“Don’t go anywhere. We’re going to have that drink,” Adam turned and walked toward the door.
Waverly took a deep breath and tightened her fingers around the brick. Fuck you, she thought as she rushed toward him and smashed the stone against the back of his skull. His body crumpled to the floor with a thud, a trickle of blood dripping onto the floor.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she breathed, enraged he’d planned to kidnap her. The woman’s voice from the hallway grew louder, and Waverly looked to the sliding door that they’d used to enter. Nearly ten feet away, she’d have to move him over to the security scanner.
“You can do this. You can do this,” she repeated to herself as she reached under his arms and began to drag him across the floor.
A surge of adrenaline shot through her as she hauled him toward the door and draped his limp body against the wall. As she reached for his arm he moaned and she released him, afraid he’d come at her.
“What are you doing, Waverly?” he groaned, beginning to come round.
Just do it. You’ve got to get out of here. Heart pumping, she summoned the courage she never thought she’d possessed. She grabbed his wrist, yanked his arm upward and flattened his palm to the reader.
As she released him, he attempted to grab her. Without hesitation she kicked him in the jaw and tore out of the door into the smoky room.
Her heart caught in her chest as she entered the secure storage facility and realized Viktor and the others were missing. She ran down the tunnel, finding her way out, briefly looking back to the security cameras. As she approached the exit, she noticed the guard was missing, the foyer lights flickering overhead.
Broken glass crackled underneath her boots as she stepped through the metal detector. With stealth and deliberate steps, she made her way into the darkened lobby. The doorway came into view, a splatter of light from the parking lot spilling onto the floor.
A low growl sounded in the darkness, and she froze, her focus homing in on its source. Her heart raced as the great beast came into view, a huge brown wolf stalking toward her. No, no, no.
“Easy there.” She held her hand out to it and slowly stepped closer to the doorway. Out of the corner of her eye she spied their limo. Relief shot through her at the sight of its lights shining. Someone’s in it.
The wolf growled again at her.
“I’ve got to go now. Be a good little doggie.” One. Two. Three. Waverly took off running toward the limo.
Her lungs burned as she sprinted past the wolf. A dark shadow whizzed past her, but she kept running. From out of nowhere, a security guard across the parking lot called to her and began chasing her. As the car came into reach, she frantically tugged at a doorhandle, but it refused to budge. She peeked over her shoulder, catching sight of the great beast as it attacked the guard. It latched onto him, its teeth tearing at his throat, blood gushing onto the pavement.
She rounded the car, her mind churning with confusion. Where is Viktor? The wolf howled, rushing toward her. As it leapt into the air, she curled against the car, bracing for impact.
“We’ve got to get out of here. Get in the car,” she heard Rafe’s voice call to her.
“It’s locked,” she managed, shocked to see him standing in front of her, nude.
“Waverly, let’s go,” he yelled as he swung open the driver’s door.
She released a bloodcurdling scream as she looked down to the ground at a dead body sprawled on the pavement. Blood oozed from his mouth, his eyes wide open in horror. “The driver. He’s de—”
“Get. In!” Rafe’s order shook her, and she tumbled into the car, shimmying over into the passenger seat.
“No, we can’t leave,” she told him as he slid the car into gear. “We can’t leave them.”
“Viktor’s in the back. Greyson too.” Rafe slammed his foot on the gas.
“What? How?” Waverly reached for the dash, bracing herself as the limo surged forward, squealing out of the parking lot and onto the street.
“Whatever was in the powder had silver in it,” Rafe told her. “It’s poison. Luckily, I was able to get out, shift and heal.”
“Adam said it was some kind of security system designed to keep supernaturals out. Open the privacy window. Let me back. I’ve got to get it off them.”
Rafe tapped at the dashboard touch screen. As the partition retracted, Waverly slid through the window into the back of the limo.
“My cell phone is somewhere in the car,” he yelled back to her. “I need you to find it and throw it up to me so I can send the pilots a text. Gotta lift off as soon as we hit the tarmac.”
“Viktor!” Waverly fumbled in the dark for several seconds until Rafe flicked on the lights. “Oh God!”
“They’re going to be all right,” Rafe called back to her. “Get their clothes off and toss them out the window. Don’t forget their phones.”
Tears filled her eyes as Waverly reached for Viktor. She brushed the sticky grey powder off his face and pressed her lips to his. “I’m so sorry, baby.”
“You’ll have time later. Get it off him,” Rafe instructed.
“Yes, yes.” She wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand and focused on her task, removing their clothes.
“Oh God,” she exclaimed, realizing the dust had settled all over her jacket. Waverly stripped down to her underwear and continued to brush small particles from Viktor’s hair.
“I can’t get all of it off. They need to shower.” Panic stabbed through her. “Why aren’t they waking up? What’s happening to them?”
“It’s going to be okay.”
“Why are they like this, but you’re fine? You’re vampire too.”
“I don’t know. I’ve got mixed blood so maybe it didn’t affect me as much. I shifted. The shit stung like a motherfucker. They tried capturing me but I’m fast as fuck now.”
“Humans?” she asked.
“Vampires. A couple of humans took out the limo driver. I don’t know who else might have been there.”
“Where’s the fleam? The handle?” she asked.
“Everything’s back there.”
“How far to the airport?”
“We’re almost there,” he promised. “It’s right up here. It’s a private airstrip.”
“Why isn’t he waking up?” Waverly cradled Viktor’s head onto her chest, stroking his face. “Please wake up.”
“Okay here we go,” Rafe warned.
Relief washed over Waverly as they pulled into the airport, the guard waving them onto the tarmac. As the car rolled to a stop, she reached for the door handle and shoved the door open. Attendants rushed the car, reaching for both Viktor and Greyson.
“I’ve got the box,” Rafe told her.
Waverly collected the phones and stepped out onto the tarmac in her bra and panties. The roar of engines sounded around her, a cold breeze blowing across her skin.
“Come. Let’s get you inside.” Rafe appeared next to her and guided her up the stairs.