Time slowed for a second. Dazed, Dash blinked, watching chaos erupt around them. People ran in all directions. A metal banging sounded from afar. The door? Was the Guard just outside? Were they beating it down? He thought he heard the muted sound of a siren in the distance.
Someone yanked his arm, dragging him toward the stage. He looked over and found Emerson with a panicked expression, screaming for him to run. The alpha yanked his arm. Understanding finally hit, and time sped up really fucking quick. He ran in the direction Emerson pulled him towards. They sprinted through the crowd, side by side. Emerson yanked him through one of the curtained walls, only it wasn’t a wall at all. They emerged in a long, dark hallway behind dozens of other patrons.
At the end, a door was opened and men shoved their way out. Whistles sounded from that end and screams rose ahead of them. The Guard had been lying in wait.
Emerson yanked him through a door in the hallway. They slipped into an office, of sorts, and back through another. He slid a partition in the wall over, and another hidden hallway appeared. Emerson pushed Dash inside and urged him on.
Heart pounding, Dash ran for his life, terrified one mistaken dance would ruin everything.
8
Footfalls echoed around them as they raced down the dimly lit, hidden hallway. Emerson glanced over his shoulder. Where were the others? He’d tapped a couple of the alphas nearest them, assuming they’d follow—but they were alone. No footfalls came to his ears, either. Emerson ran into Dash at the end of the hallway before turning to face forward.
“Where to now?” Dash asked, panting lightly.
Emerson paused, hands on his hips, and contemplated a moment. Did he go back and try to round up some of the others—and chance capture for them both? Or did he get Dash the fuck out of there?
He turned to gaze at Dash, torn.
“Where to now?”Dash repeated, alarm rising in his voice.
After one last hopeful look down the empty hall, Emerson pressed the hidden escape latch. The secret door revealed itself, and he urged Dash out. They soon found themselves in an empty alley a block away from the club. Emerson took Dash’s arm and led him closer to the street, pausing at the end, just inside the shadow of the buildings looming around them.
He scanned around the corner but didn’t see anyone. He heard muted voices and a few yells nearby. The faintest glow of the sirens flashed somewhere relatively close, near enough to spread that light. If they ventured out too quickly, they could be seen. Leaning against the cool brick, he eyed Dash.
“Take a breather while I watch for movement,” Emerson whispered. “But be ready to run.”
Dash nodded, peeking past Emerson himself.
Emerson wanted to give it a few seconds to ensure they wouldn’t be seen once they made it out onto the sidewalk. His heart thudded in his chest, cold sweat forming at the back of his neck. His body strained, on high alert, the adrenaline pumping so fast and furious that it left him trembling all over. Given the fact he’d raced into burning buildings for over fifteen years with nary a qualm, his reaction struck him as odd.
It wasn’t the first time he’d been through a raid, either. Over the years, he’d been through several at the Dragon and hadn’t yet been caught. He couldn’t recall being quite so unnerved as he was then. What was different?
His gaze moved to Dash.
Hewas what was different.
Emerson wasn’t going to let anything happen to Dash, but the fear of failure had him in a vise-like grip.
Forcing a smile in an attempt to calm Dash’s nerves, he said, “Good thing you were with me, or you might not have gotten out of there.”
“I wasn’twith you,”Dash said, glaring. “And we’re not far enough away to claim victory.”
“Yet,”Emerson added, keeping his tone lighter than he felt. He grabbed Dash’s hand. “Come with me. I know these streets better than most.”
Dash yanked it away.
“Do you haveany ideawhere you are right now?” Emerson asked, leveling a hard stare. Too bad it didn’t have the intended impact in the shadows.
“I’ll figure it out,” Dash snapped under his breath.
“Beforeor afterthe Guard catches up to you?”
It was too dark to truly see Dash’s expression, but irritation rolled off him in waves. And fear. A little was fine, it sharpened the senses, but a lot wasn’t good. He needed to keep them moving.
“I’m a firefighter, Dash. I know how to navigate these streets and how to get you somewhere safe.Trust me.”
A flash of lightning rent the night, giving them both a split-second look at one another under its illumination. A frizzle of electricity coiled around them, and Emerson wasn’t sure if it was only the coming storm. The tempest brewing between them was just as exhilarating. Add in the danger of the night and the wild, rampant beating of their hearts, and who knew where their night might end.
