“That’s…”
Hysterian pulled her close. “It’s what I do best. Are you being held against your will?”
Another blast of gunfire pricked up her ears and she looked over her shoulder. All she saw were writhing bodies.He’s okay. He has to be okay.She chanted the words over and over again in her head, trying to make sense of the chaos. She also needed to get away. Janet pushed against her captor’s chest. “Zeph really will kill you.”
“Not if he wants Raphael’s ship.”
She narrowed her eyes, focusing on the Cyborg.Maybe he’ll help us. “You know. Of course you know,” she accused. “How could you know?”Maybe he works for Raphael?
“You’ve obviously spent some time among my kind?”
“Unfortunately.”
Hysterian tilted his head, and she stopped fighting to get out of his hold. His covered face gave nothing away, not even the slight filmy material around where his eyes and his mouth should be. Her lips parted.His eyes…There were no flashes of color coming through them, not like Zeph’s where they glowed bright enough to light up an entire room.
He twirled her around and pressed himself hard against her back. Janet stumbled on her heels, but he caught her before she fell.
“Stop manhandling me!” she screeched.
He lowered his head close to hers, his mouth near her ear. “You haven’t answered me. Do you need help escaping? Has he hurt you?”
Realization struck. “What?”
“You know what. You’re a captive. Is he using your sister as leverage against you?”
Lily.
The air rushed out of her lungs, and her mouth parted.He’s trying to helpme. Not Zeph.Her back stiffened.
She found Zeph from across the club, aiming a gun at somebody out of her line of sight. His eyes landed on her in the next moment. He lowered his gun. Then he was heading her way. There was nothing but flashes of neon color and blurry bodies between them. Janet swallowed and shivered as her entire body tensed, readying for him.
Zeph violently pushed through the crowd, heading straight for her with murder in his eyes, leaving angry party-goers and bloody angels in his wake.
“Well?” Hysterian prompted. His words didn’t quite register.
“He’s coming…” Janet whispered, her body flushing with a different type of heat. Hysterian’s grip on her vanished just as Zeph broke through the edge of the crowd, his suit sleeves rolled up, and his neckline ripped open, the pale ridges of his muscles changing colors.
She didn’t have a chance to turn away and stop Hysterian’s retreat before she was caught up roughly in Zeph’s arms. Like a ragdoll, like a puppet, she was a toy that was only played around with by deadly Cyborg men. Zeph’s familiar scent filled her nose as one of his arms slipped under her knees and lifted her into the air. She snaked her arms around his neck and buried her face into his chest.
“Wrap your legs around me,” Zeph said into her ear.
Electricity coursed through her. Janet did as she was told. Her dress slid back up around her waist, but she didn’t care as he carried her out of the wild space and down a hallway. The pounding music faded before it became nothing but a distant thrum. When she looked up, they were heading straight for their hovercraft.
It wasn’t until she was settled into the passenger seat and buckled in that her voice returned.
“What happened back there?” she asked, still a little shaken.
“We got the ship.”
“What? That’s not what I meant—wait, how?”
“Guns speak better than words. His angels and the urine stain on Raphael’s pants can attest to that.” Zeph moved around the back and settled into the driver seat. His door had barely slammed shut before the hovercraft was in the air and surging away.
Janet jerked around to look at the quickly disappearing club behind them. No one gave chase. “You killed them?”
“I shot them all one very expensive bullet. If they live through the exchange, they can keep them...if their boss doesn’t dig them out himself with his broken nails.”
“They’ll come after us!”
