Valerie tried to shake off her aunt’s grip, tugging, all while trying to uncap the sedative, but it was difficult to do with one hand. She heard the stunner in her aunt’s hand flare to life, the slim black device glowing blue for a brief moment when she powered it on.
Dravka looked at it and then back to Madame Allegria.
“I have never harmed a female in my life,” he said, his voice quiet, his eyes focused, “but I will make an exception for you if you don’t unhand my mate right now.”
“Your mate?” Madame Allegria laughed, her lips twisting bitterly. “Howcute.”
“If you think you’re leaving here with her, you are very mistaken,” Dravka continued, as if she hadn’t spoken.
Ravu was edging towards them and Madame Allegria’s eyes flickered, retreating farther into the room. Valerie was still struggling to flick off the cap on the sedative, but her thumb kept slipping over it, adding to her frustration.
She must’ve made a small sound, one that Dravka might’ve mistaken for pain, because her male lunged towards Madame Allegria immediately—just as Valeriefinallyflicked off the seal!
She saw a bright flash from the stunner, a male grunt filling the room, and Valerie moved quickly, yanking her arm from her aunt’s grip as she plunged the sedative’s needle deep into the side of her neck.
A gasp came from Madame Allegria, her hand flying up to her throat, her stunned gaze turning onto Valerie.
But Valerie was already rushing to Dravka’s side, the scent of burned flesh filling the room.His flesh. Dravka was breathing hard, his hand landing on the wall to steady himself. But he was still standing upright. In his shirt there was a large hole, the edges burned away, and beneath it was a wound, slightly bloodied, on the left side of his abdomen. Thankfully, it looked superficial, not deep.
“I’m all right,” he assured her, wrapping his hand around her waist, tucking her close. It must take a lot more than one stun zap to bring a Keriv’i down…though the same couldn’t be said for the unconscious human guards.
“What—what was that?” Madame Allegria hissed. “What did you put in me?”
Her stunner had been dropped to the ground in her surprise and Tavak scooped it up quickly, destroying it in the palm of his hand, the pieces scattering across the floor.
Dravka was straightening more by the second, though his wound had to be painful.
Her aunt was beginning to blink heavily, reaching a hand out to steady herself on the window ledge behind her.
Ravu was dragging the guard in the hallway into the room just as Madame Allegria slid down the wall, her legs beginning to give out. She landed in an ungraceful heap on the floor, her head lolling around her shoulders.
Valerie stepped closer, her heart hammering in her breast, realizing that…they’d done it. They just might be free of her.
“It was only a sedative,” Valerie said, crouching down in front of her. “But it will keep you under for a good while.”
Madame Allegria’s nostrils flared, her eyes shutting briefly before she struggled to reopen them.
“Be glad it wasn’t poison. You’ll still wake up,” Valerie said softly, sensing the Keriv’i males hovering behind her, watching the exchange. “And when you do, know this…Celine Larchmont—that bitter bitch of a woman, as you called her—has copies of your business records. The ones you had to keep stored in the Nu terminal in the basement, with all your whips and chains and blood, where you thought no one would find it.”
“Wh…what?” Madame Allegria hissed softly, her eyes going wide with disbelief.
“All of it,” Valerie said, though she didn’t quite know what the Keriv’i males behind her had managed to pull from it. “And I have a feeling she isn’t your biggest fan.”
“You…youcan’t. That’s not…”
Her aunt’s words were beginning to slur.
Valerie stood, looking down at her aunt. The same woman who shared her mother’s blood, who didn’t lift a finger to help her own sister when she needed help the most.
Valerie didn’t feel sorry for her. She never would.
“You deserve every terrible thing that is coming your way,” Valerie said quietly, feeling her throat tighten. “I’ll be reading about your trial and imprisonment in the coming year, somewhere far away, somewhere you can’t touch us. I would say good luck…but I wouldn’t mean it.”
Madame Allegria looked up at her from her position on the floor, hatred and fear and fury burning in her gaze.
Then her body slumped, her eyes closing, her mouth going slack.
Valerie stared down at her, feeling a familiar, warm hand touch her arm.
