Remembering the scissors, I desperately feel around me and find them underneath my feet. In one motion, I bend towards my heels and snatch them, driving the blades below his last set of ribs. He roars in pain.
But he doesn’t get the chance to retaliate, not as a stream of bullets rip through his face. In the doorway, Demi Skornokovy holds a hefty rifle.
A ragged whimper escapes me. Finally. A moment of relief.
“I thought you’d be happy to see me.” She winks, helping me to my feet. If I had the capacity to laugh, I would. Instead, I throw my arms around her.
“Later,” she whispers, peeling my arms away. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Outside, her mate covers the exit. Beside him, a lycan in wolf form watches over the hallway, blood already coating its pale brown maw. “Take the stairs to the ground level,” Chris tells us. “We’ll cover from higher ground. Dom will catch up.”
Demi takes a moment to load her next round. I stick close to her as we descend the stairs. Chris takes out one guard as he swings open the door to the stairwell. Demi eliminates another just three paces behind his partner, ducking just in time for his bullet to whizz overhead. An alert comes through Chris’s earpiece, prompting him to fall back. With the area clear tocross, I scoop up a fallen pistol, holding my breath as we scurry past Kiersten’s lab and its observation rooms.
Her nose wrinkles. “What is that horrific smell?”
“You don’t want to know,” I mutter.
When we near the corner at the end of the hall, a fresh batch of shooters engage us from behind. Demi whirls to shoot down the assailants. At the same time, I fire a shot in their direction, nailing the shorter one in the upper arm. But that’s the only shot I have. My cartridge is jammed.
I discard the gun and curse myself. When I turn around, my stomach plummets. An armed man swings around the corner and strikes. In a blur, Demi pushes me aside with the butt of her rifle. Her finger finds the trigger, hitting the man in the shoulder.
But not before his bullets shred through her abdomen.
Time comes to a stunning halt.
The gun slips from Demi’s arms. Gasping, I reach for her, just before her helmet smacks against the cold ground. My heart pounds so hard it hammers in my eardrums as I tug off the lab coat, bunching it up and pressing it just below her cropped bulletproof vest. Too quickly does it saturate with blood.
Shit.
I glance up to make sure the shooter hasn’t moved. He hasn’t. Axe’s sister groans, placing her hands over my bloody ones.
“Tell me what to do, Demi. Is this enough pressure?”
She nods and I watch her eyes roll back into her head.
“Oh no, you don’t.”
Behind me, the lab door is propped open. Perhaps if I can pull her into the room I can find something else to cauterize the wounds. But I can’t?—
“How bad?” she wheezes.
Tears leak from my eyes as I lift the soaked coat. Though a cropped bulletproof vest guards her heart, there is minimalcoverage over her stomach. Three shots tore clean through her middle. One through her pelvis, the second and third just a few inches above it.
I choke on a hearty sob. “You didn’t have to come, Demi. You have a family.”
Demi winces in protest. “Youaremy family.”
The wrathful snarl of a wolf sounds from the floor above us. “We’ll get you out of here, okay? Everything will be alright.”
Stay calm, Ves, stay calm.
"I can't—I can't feel my . . ." Her face blanches at the holes in her abdomen. "My baby!” Demi cries. Coughing up a spurt of crimson, her eyes flutter.
I curse, tilting her head up, whipping mine left and right. Is it too grave a risk to call out for help? I’m losing her with each second that passes . . .
When Demi’s eyes open again, she reaches out to cup my cheek, staring into my eyes with wonder. “Hester," she marvels. I think she almost laughs. "It’s you. It’s always been you."
I shake my head, confused as her eyes well up with shiny tears. “No, it’s Vessa. I’m right here. Just hold on.” I look down at her swollen belly, fighting the urge to gag.
