A soft cough alerted her that at least one of the Savages remained below. She imagined them standing by the door, waiting for whoever went onto the floor to return. The Savages had no idea they were waiting above. The seconds stretched into minutes and Elyse thought she might scream from the tension before the door opened again.
“Clear,” someone said, and the footsteps started on the stairs once more.
Saxon jerked his head back toward the door behind him, and Lucien opened it. When they returned to the hall, they nearly walked into a nurse. Her jaw dropped, but before she could make a sound, Lucien placed his hand over her mouth and drew her against his chest while Logan closed the door.
The woman’s eyes widened over Lucien’s hand as he bent to whisper in her ear. “You saw nothing. Now get out of here as fast as you can.”
When he released the woman, she scurried away and vanished around the corner.
“I have to put you down,” Saxon whispered to her. “Will you be okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” she assured him.
She wasn’t so sure, but it didn’t matter; she’d make her legs work if it meant helping to keep them safe.
Saxon carried her a few feet away and reluctantly set her down. He’d prefer not to let her out of his arms with Savages close by, but there was no choice. She smiled at him as she rested her hand against the wall and assumed a casual posture he didn’t quite buy.
Drawing her close, he kissed her forehead. “Stay here.”
“Stay safe,” she whispered.
He pulled away so abruptly she swayed toward him before catching herself. She hated the stiff set of his shoulders when he stalked away to rejoin his friends. He stopped behind Lucien as the door opened and a Savage stepped through.
Lucien didn’t give it time to react before he lifted it off the ground and charged through the door. As Saxon followed him, he grasped the edge of the door and smashed it into the face of the one standing behind it. The Savage staggered back, and its hand flew to its battered face as Lucien bent his captive over the railing until its back broke.
Saxon yanked the Savage out from behind the door as he pulled a stake out of his jacket and plunged it into the thing’s heart. When the third Savage turned and fled, Logan took off after it. The young hunter disappeared around a bend in the stairwell.
Saxon turned to Lucien as he tore the heart from his Savage. “Help Logan while I get Elyse,” Saxon said.
Lucien bounded down the stairs as Saxon returned to find Elyse standing where he’d left her. She smiled at him, but she couldn’t hide the strain on her face or the sweat beading her forehead.
“Are you okay?” he demanded.
“I’m great,” she lied; she was beginning to feel her arm again and felt so queasy it was taking everything not to vomit on his sneakers. She suspected it was the lingering effects of the anesthesia, but she felt incredibly weak. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. We have to go.”
“Lead the way.”
Saxon gave her a look before bending to lift her into his arms. He carried her into the stairwell and closed the door as Lucien returned. “Logan took care of it,” he said. “He’s staying with the body.”
Carting three dead bodies around with them wasn’t the best way to go incognito, but they couldn’t leave these things behind to be discovered by humans. Lucien grabbed the Savage he’d killed by the shirt collar and tossed it over his shoulder.
When a door opened below, Saxon leaned over the metal railing running along the stairs to peer down. His stomach rolled as he stared at the stairs winding below them, but he kept his face impassive.
He’d hated heights ever since he fell seven stories while battling a Savage on a rooftop. The fall broke almost every bone in his body, and it took him a week to heal. Ronan and Killean practically scraped him out of the alleyway to carry him to the car. Thankfully, he’d fallen on top of the Savage, with his stake in its heart; otherwise, it would have been worse.
He couldn’t see anyone moving below but their steps reverberated off the walls as they climbed to the second floor before exiting. Saxon stepped away from the railing. “They’re gone,” he said to Lucien.
Lucien grasped the other body by the back the waistband of its jeans and lifted it off the ground; Saxon held Elyse as he followed his friend down the stairs.
Chapter Thirty-Four
“We should exit here,”Logan said when they arrived at the door to the second floor. “There’s no way we’re getting past everyone on the first floor with three bodies.”
“How are we going to get these bodies off the second floor without being noticed?” Lucien asked.
“If we expose them to some sunlight, they might go up,” Saxon said.
