I squint against the sudden brightness when the door to the file room is opened.
“Get up!” one of the anti-vaxxers snarls from the doorway.
“Get out here!” another growls. “Now!”
I glance at Wren. The phone is gone. Either she’s stashed it somewhere or shoved it back in her pocket. It doesn’t really matter anymore. Our window of opportunity has pretty much closed. Our time is up.
“Move!” the male in the doorway shouts. “I won’t ask again.” There is fear in his eyes.
Sally struggles to her feet, and Wren helps her up. I rise as well. It’s a little awkward with the chains still binding my wrists. At least my arms are bound in front of me and not behind my back.
We file out of the room into the hallway. The emergency lighting casts everything in an eerie red glow.
Kaine is waiting for us, along with a couple of his males. His face is drawn, sweat beading on his forehead.
“Secure them properly. Draig Security could raid this building at any time. We need to be ready,” he orders. “Now. They’re our way out of here.”
Two of his males move forward. One grabs Sally, yanking her head back. The other does the same to Wren. Blades against their throats, just as two males flank me.
My dragon roars inside me, wanting out. Wanting to hunt and kill.
“If you so much as blink, the females will get sliced and diced,” Kaine warns, his eyes narrowing on me. “I never wanted bloodshed. I just want the truth to be told. They won’t harm you as long as—”
“Listen to me,” I cut him off, my voice urgent. “You need to—”
“Shut up!” he yells, taking a step toward me. His eyes are wild. “Not a word out of any of you.”
They’re panicking, and so they should be.
“They’re—” I try again, but one of the males at my side drives his elbow into my solar plexus.
The air rushes out of my lungs in a whoosh. Pain explodes through my abdomen. My first instinct is to fight back, to rip his fucking arm off and beat him to death with it.
But I resist.
Because they have Sally and Wren, and the females look terrified.
We’re marched toward the reception area. Each step feels like walking to the gallows.
This is bad.
This is so fucking bad.
Kaine barks orders at his males. “Use them as human shields. Position them at the front.”
They’ve barricaded the glass front entrance with furniture. They’ve used desks, chairs, and file cabinets, all stacked haphazardly. I can still see movement outside through the gaps. Shadows shifting rather than the whole picture.
“Stay back!” Kaine shouts toward the entrance. “Or I’ll kill them! I swear to God, I’ll slit their throats right here!”
He’s giving away our exact position, the idiot. He has no fucking idea what he’s dealing with.
One of his males slams the reception desk phone down hard, the sound echoing through the space.
“Still no dial tone?” Kaine asks; his facial expression shows that he already knows the answer.
The male shakes his head.
Kaine makes a noise of frustration and pulls a cellphone from his pocket, looking at the screen for a second.
