I lunge out of the cell and swing the chain in a wide arc, catching the first guard across the temple. He drops like a puppet with cut strings and slumps against the wall.
The second guard lets out a yell of surprise and comes at us with a shock baton, electricity crackling along its length in blue arcs.
Knight freezes.
His entire massive frame locks up and he flinches so hard, he's practically caving in on himself, blue eyes going wide and blank with terror. He's not here anymore. He's back in whatever nightmare those monsters put him through, whatever had him in its grip when he saw Cosima on that table.
The guard sees the opening. Raises the baton. Aims for Knight with a vicious sneer like he's about to beat a fucking animal and not a traumatized human being who's been through hell and back.
I throw myself in front of him and take the hit. The baton connects with my shoulder and white-hot agony explodes through every nerve. My muscles seize, lock up. I taste copper. Smell my own flesh burning.
Can't breathe. Can't even fucking think. Just pain radiating out from the point of impact like lightning through water.
Knight's metal claws slash out. The guard with the baton goes down in pieces before his severed hand even hits the ground. Knight passes me on the right, and for just a second, those blue eyes meet mine.
He looks… confused. Confused someone stood in the way and took a hit for him.
"Alright. We're even," I grit out, forcing myself upright despite my heart still trying to find its rhythm. My chest is still screaming, muscles twitching with residual electricity. "Now let's move."
Knight growls his agreement.
Even drugged and broken, he's still a formidable weapon. Those metal claws slash through the air in a sweeping arc. Two more guards coming at us go down in one swipe. Another makes it three steps before Knight's human hand closes around his skull. The crack echoes through the dungeon.
Knight sways, panting. Blood—not all of it his own—drips from his claws. His eyes are still empty, but there's something there now. A spark of the killer they made him into.
"Come on." I grab his human arm again, pulling him toward the doorway. He staggers after me as if he's drunk. "We're almost there."
We move through the dungeon corridors, following the slope upward. More guards appear. More bodies fall. I lose track of the count after six.
The dilapidated stone walls give way to finished corridors. Torches become proper lighting. We’re getting close to the exit.
Familiar voices echo off the stone.
Multiple alphas, speaking in urgent tones. I recognize my brother's clipped cadence immediately, along with the rougher voices of Cosima's pack.
We round the corner and freeze.
My brother stands at the front of a group that includes Nikolai, Raven, and guards with weapons drawn. But what stops me cold is the sight of Geo carrying something limp and bloodied in his arms.
Someone.
Cosima.
Chapter 46
GEO
Cosima weighs nothingin my arms.
That's the first thought that cuts through the haze of self-loathing threatening to drag me under. She feels insubstantial, fragile, like if I don't hold her just right she'll slip through my fingers and vanish entirely.
Blood seeps through the thin silk of her dress, warm and wet against my forearms. From her nose, her ears, between her thighs.
Still breathing.
I cling to that like a lifeline as we move through the palace corridors. Each shallow rise and fall of her chest is a miracle. Proof that I haven't completely fucked this up beyond repair.
Yet.
