“I’m on camera tracking for this part,” Slater cut in. “I’ll guide you to their command hub. It’s buried, since these assholes hid themselves inside a safe room.Cowards.”
“Lead the way, Havoc baby,” I purred with deadly excitement.
I couldn’t wait to see Allison again.
Dimitri’s hand brushed mine briefly, fingers curling around my own and giving a quick squeeze before letting go.
“You sure you’re good for this?” Jesper checked on me.
I nodded. “I need to do this.”
We slipped away from the chaos of the cell block into a side corridor lit by harsher, whiter lights.
Behind us, the sound of the abducted supernaturals’ rescue filled the halls with voices, sobs, and shouted orders.
Ahead, silence was the only thing that waited.
“Take the right at the end of the hall,” Slater directed. “At the service stairwell, go down to the last level. Security is thin there.”
We moved fast but carefully. Even though this facility was nothing compared to the last, it was still a maze of blind corners and hidden panels.
The temperature shifted as we descended the last level.
“Junction ahead,” Slater murmured. “A cluster of camera feeds are glitching… Clearly, they’re trying to hide something. Give me a sec. Snakey, let’s go say hi.”
Chaos magic briefly crackled on the comms before stopping.
“Thatdoor on your left,” he said suddenly, tone sharpening. “The feed there just did a hard flicker. It’s the safe room that they’re hiding in.”
The door itself looked unremarkable, with flat matte metal and no label. Without Slater, I wasn’t sure I’d have recognized it as a safe room at all.
Zuko grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “You still feeling okay, pretty little poison?”
“More than okay,” I told him honestly, pulling my dagger out.
“Let’s approach,” Jesper guided us, but before we even reached for the handle, two large metal slabs slotted down in the hall, blocking us in from two sides as we stood in front of the door. The rumble of machinery above us reverberated with an annoying hiss.
“Oh, shit,” Slater breathed. “Jesper, they just activated a secondary security protocol from that room. Tourmalyke dispersion, and it’s gas, not liquid. The vents?—”
A mist seeped from the ceiling vents.
This dose differed from the one they used at the formal. It was heavier and more concentrated.
My mates’ bonds flared with pain, dizziness, and a sudden lurching weakness.
The gas rolled down like fog over a river, but I didn’t feel any difference. Tourmalyke slid into my lungs as harmless as air. My immunity held firm.
“Not again.”Dimitri staggered beside me, one knee hitting the ground, eyes flaring with rage as his body tried to fight the toxin.
Jesper swayed, meeting my gaze as he braced himself against the wall. “Go, honey drop. We’ll be fine.”
“You don’t know that!” I shook my head. “I can’t leave you.”
Zuko’s trembling hand circled around my wrist. “Rune, go kick their asses.”
Two thuds hit the ground.
Koa and Dimitri.
