Shit. I’d almost forgotten about Maz! That meant…
“Liv!” I ran through the tightly-packed crowd with Luka hot on my heels. Bursting into the kitchen, I turned the corner and yelped at the sight of Liv crumpled into a ball, unconscious. I bent and put my fingers to her neck and then realized I could still hear her heartbeat. She moaned and I sighed in relief.
“I got her. Let’s go.” Luka swooped his hands under her legs and the rest of our crew filtered into the house.
“Let’s get out of here,” one of Luka’s guards said, and we nodded.
We raced to the line of tuk-tuks. Luka’s guards jumped behind the wheels and took off, not even waiting for drivers. I leapt into the back of one and Luka slipped beside me with Liv still in his arms.
“You can put me down, Romeo,” Liv grumbled.
Luka rolled his eyes. “You’re welcome.”
Liv slid off his lap and sat next to me. I pulled her in for a side hug. “You okay?” I asked as the tuk-tuk barreled toward our planned escape exit.
Liv grabbed the side of her head and looked up at me. “She cut the collar off like it was made of butter.”
“I’m going to take care of her,” Luka told Liv with a growl.
The king was dead. We had nearly freed the people. The pit in my stomach should be gone, but it wasn’t.
Chapter Fourteen
The exit planthat we had in place was to ferry the women and children out of the southernmost exit of Night City. According to our maps, it was a pizza shop on this side that came out in a seedy little clothing store in the fashion district in Downtown LA. It was the least guarded and the least well known. We barreled toward that area, passing supernaturals left and right. Seeing the wolves and trolls still chained broke my heart, but I knew it would take time for the revolution to spread in this city.
As we turned the corner and made our way to the pizza shop exit, I gasped.
There was a standoff. The House of Rose hunters and Maz were standing in front of the pizza shop, weapons drawn, while the five House of Thorns hunters we’d brought, mixed with a handful of Luka’s vampires, tried to pass them with the dozens of women and children they had freed.
Anger shot through me at the sight of it, and I leapt out of the moving vehicle, barreling toward the hunters. I zoomed down the street and skidded to a stop before House of Rose.
“How dare you!” I shouted at the hunters I once trusted. “I showed you evidence. Howdareyou side with her.” Bridgett, Nathan, Kyla … all of my supposed friends were standing with Maz, their weapons drawn.
Bridgett’s face faltered. “You’re kidnapping these poor women and children.”
I chuckled. “Is that what she told you? These children are future hunters, and we’re freeing them.”
One of the women held a newborn baby, only days old. “That’s right,” she called out. “So let us pass!” She looked paranoidly over her shoulder as if she expected the king to come after her any moment.
Bridgett frowned, lowering her sword.
“Don’t listen to these lies!” Maz screamed, raising her blade. “Aspen has been fornicating with a vampire and now she’s one of them!”
It was as if she’d desecrated my honor or something, because Luka went ballistic.
Charging forward, he knocked right into her like a bowling ball, throwing her back onto the concrete. The House of Rose hunters spun on Luka, weapons raised. And that’s when Maz lost the hold she’d had over her illusion.
Gasps rang out across the street as for the first time they saw Maz for what she really was. A black inky net flew from her mouth with a scream and wrapped around Luka.
“Help him!” I shouted to his guards. I was unable to fight Maz, but they could.
“Go on!” I told Ruby and the others. “Get them out of here.”
If Maz heard that we’d killed the king and upset the balance here, I wouldn’t put it past her to take over this place and make it more evil than it already was. Luka needed to end her. Now.
House of Thorns pressed forward with the women and children, and the House of Rose hunters just stared dumbfounded at the woman who’d raised us—the woman who’d always had short salt and pepper hair and a kind smile was now flinging living black shadow bombs and snarling like a demon.
I stepped forward and grasped Bridgett by the arm and she stiffened, looking at me in surprise.
