“In the tunnels,” I panted. “We’ve got the baby, and we’re heading to the elevators.”
“Single body?” he asked.
“Huh?”
“Tell him yes,” Christian shouted from up ahead.
“Yes.”
“Who has the baby?”
“Blue.”
“It’ll take me time to get out. I’ll call Wyatt and tell him the exit location has changed.”
“Do you know where we are?Idon’t even know where we are.” I slowed down when Christian stopped in front of a metal box affixed to the wall.
“I rarely get lost. See you soon.”
I gaped at the narrowest door I’d ever seen. It was rusty and had no knob. “What the hell is that?”
Christian knocked his knuckles against it. “The elevator. Most prefer not to take it for the obvious reason.”
“And what reason is that?”
When the metal panel opened, I stared inside at a small cylinder just big enough for one person.
“Single body,” he said as Blue stepped inside. When he pushed a button, the door closed. “Someone built it a few years ago as an emergency escape.”
I laughed. “A skinny woman?”
Christian folded his arms. “Perhaps. You won’t find Shepherd squeezing himself in there. The ascent is slow, and there aren’t any lights.”
I bent over, hands on my knees as I took a moment to catch my breath. Sucking out Cristo’s dark energy was the worst decision, but I also had no idea we’d be dodging more traps and running for our lives. A cold sweat came over me as that murky light mixed with my own. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Why did you do that back there? Pop his cork and render him human.”
“I was afraid Viktor was going to stop Shepherd,” I admitted. “Who’s to say if Cristo would have gotten the death penalty? They don’t keep people locked away for all eternity. Maybe I didn’t want to give him the opportunity of a possible parole in five hundred years. I’d rather he grow old behind bars and wither away until nothing remains but a dried-up husk of a man, but maybe cutting off his head is the better idea.”
Christian’s eyebrow arched. “I think it’s safe to say you won’t be winning any congeniality awards this year.”
“Bummer.”
His eyes flicked behind me. “Trouble’s coming. They must have heard the explosion.”
“Who?”
He gripped the back of my neck and led me away. “Men who don’t like trouble in their territory.”
“How many?” I asked, looking back at the empty hall.
He quickened his pace, his hand still behind my neck. “More than three.”
“What Breed?”
“Definitely not Mage, or they’d be flashing.”
The tramping sound of footsteps sent chills up my spine, and when I glanced over my shoulder, five men were barreling toward us. They looked as if they’d lived their entire lives underground. Their alabaster skin made their black eyes appear demonic, and every one of them had ebony hair.
