Caleb picked up his pace, Forrest right there with him. But with all the people in the atrium, there was no way they’d get there in time to stop her.
“Dammit, Brielle, stop,” he said.
But it was no use.
Caleb watched in a near panic as she followed Harrington and his guards around the corner that led to the parking garage and the limo waiting there for them. At this time of the evening, with the social event still in full swing, the hallway would be nearly empty.
And the perfect place for an ambush.
Caleb lifted his arm, bringing the mic in his sleeve close to his mouth. “Harley, move in now.”
Saying the hell with his cover, he picked up speed. As he ran for the corner Brielle had disappeared around, he realized he wasn’t even sure where Harley was at the moment. She’d been keeping an eye on his limo in the garage from wherever she’d been hiding. He only hoped she was closer to Brielle than he was.
Caleb reached inside his jacket and grasped the small automatic secured in the holster under his left arm. He didn’t want to cause a panic, so he didn’t draw it. But he had his hand around the grip, thumb moving to release the safety.
The moment he rounded the corner into the long hallway that led to the garage, he froze, his fangs and claws extending. The laughs and murmurs of polite conversation in the atrium behind him faded away to nothing at the sight of Brielle standing in the middle of the wide corridor, her weapon out of the holster hidden under her dress, Harrington’s bodyguards pointing their weapons straight at her head.
Harley was a little farther down the hallway, closer to the garage, four more men holding weapons on her as she stood with one clawed hand wrapped around the throat of another bodyguard and the other pointing a small-frame Glock straight at Xavier Harrington. Uriel was at his boss’s side, ready to put his body in front of Harley’s weapon, his large-caliber automatic already pointing in Caleb and Forrest’s direction. Harrington didn’t seem surprised by their appearance. It was almost as if he’d known they were coming around the corner at just that moment.
Caleb’s instincts shouted at him to either pull his weapon and start shooting or tearing his way through everyone standing between him and Brielle. Caleb wasn’t sure which one he was going to opt for even as he stepped forward.
Harrington folded his arms over his chest, jade-green eyes locked on Caleb. He was the only unarmed person in the corridor and yet he didn’t seem the least bit concerned about that.
“My, my, my,” Harrington said, his New York accent slight but easy to pick up. “You are a hard one to get a read on.” He glanced at Brielle, then back at Caleb. “But your protective instincts when it comes to her are quite obvious.”
Weapons abruptly skewed around all over the place, some coming to rest on Caleb and Forrest, others coming around to threaten Brielle, as if the bad guys decided she was the key to this situation. Uriel especially had a glint in his eye as he aimed his gun at her heart. The thought of someone so important to him being in so much danger pushed Caleb even closer to the edge. He knew, without a doubt, that he was seconds from losing all control, and he didn’t give a damn. From the way Harrington and Uriel were looking at him, Caleb could only guess that his eyes were glowing like a blue neon sign.
Caleb glanced at Brielle and saw the fear clear in her gaze. For a moment, he wasn’t sure if she was more scared of the men with the guns or of what he was about to do. But then he decided it didn’t matter. He’d kill them all to save her. He didn’t even care about who’d go down first.
Hating to take his eyes off Brielle but knowing he needed to, he dragged his gaze away from her to look at Harrington. The man regarded him curiously, like Caleb was some sort of puzzle he was trying to figure out.
“I expected something would happen here but definitely not this,” Harrington murmured. “Which, if I’m being honest, is extremely concerning. Almost as concerning as those friends of yours currently searching the offices of the Harrington Group. Then again, I have been distracted lately. Now that I know what you’re looking for, I realize I need to do something about it.”
Fingers started to tighten on triggers, and Caleb knew the shooting was about to start. Less than twenty feet from an atrium full of UN dignitaries. As werewolves, he and Hayley would likely survive a shootout with Harrington’s bodyguards, even at this range. But Brielle and Forrest almost certainly wouldn’t. He had to get to Brielle and protect her. He only hoped Harley was aware enough to know she had to do the same for Forrest. Misty would be devastated if anything happened to him.
Caleb extended his fangs and claws further. He was gonna kill as many people as he could on his way to Brielle.
Starting with Harrington.
“Father, what’s going on?” a soft, feminine voice interrupted just as Caleb was about to launch himself forward.
A moment later, a slender woman with long, blond hair wearing a dress so expensive it probably cost more than the last four or five cars that Caleb had stolen walked into the middle of the crowd of armed people, an irritated expression on her face. Like she was dealing with a room full of first graders arguing over a video game controller.
“You were going to start shooting people in the hallway at a United Nations humanitarian conference?” she demanded, disgust dripping off her words as she stepped in front of Harrington, pushing Uriel’s weapon aside without even looking at him. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Kiara, you need to leave. Now,” Harrington said, his voice a mix of exasperation and anger as he stepped forward and took her arm.
She yanked her arm free of her father’s grasp. “Don’t even try it. I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but I refuse to be part of it. Nor will I walk away and act like I didn’t see anything.”
Caleb was still grappling with the idea that someone like Harrington could have a daughter when the young woman suddenly stepped away from her father and looked around at his bodyguards.
“Put your weapons away, you idiots, before someone comes around the corner and sees you,” she ordered.
Caleb wasn’t sure that the woman’s angry tirade would work, but with a gesture from Harrington, the men slowly holstered their guns. Brielle was immediately at Caleb’s side. At the far end of the hallway, Harley finally dropped the man she’d been choking, blood from where her claws had dug into his skin running down his neck. Harley and Forrest took their places to either side of Caleb and Brielle, weapons still out.
Harrington obviously wasn’t happy with his daughter’s interruption, but after another gesture at his men, they began to peel off and head for the garage one by one.
“I’d like to think we won’t be seeing each other again, but we all know that’s unlikely,” he said, eyes on Caleb. “So instead, I’ll admit to looking forward to our next meeting.”