Carina spots me and slips away from her assigned guards, racing across the path of spaced out stones and abruptly stopping in the middle. “Fancy meeting you here, pretty lady. Playing ‘kitten in tree waiting for her fireman to rescue her’?” she asks, having the time of her life.
“I couldn’t let you have all the fun, you sounded so excited when I called.”
Gage curses as Carina precariously balances on one foot, leaning over the bed of coals, and jogs over. Snatching her around the waist without breaking stride, he comes to a stop on the platform and glares daggers at her. “Fucking hell, Rina,chill.I’ll never get this job if you keep screwing around and hurt yourself before we can deliver you to the drop point.”
She and I both stare at him unrepentantly, and have the lovely view of seeing it click in his brain, eyes widening then immediately narrowing on her face. “You’re sabotaging us, intentionally pitting us against each other.”
Carina gasps, fluttering a hand to her chest. “Me? I’d never!”
Jasper scoffs. “You sure as shit would. Probably bribed the judges to give you the role.”
Shrugging, she doesn’t deny it, even if it’s not exactly how it happened. Looking up at me, she makes grabby hands. “Well, no worries, your fireman’s here to save you now, kitten. Come on me, I mean, cometome.”
I snort. “I’m not jumping, are you crazy?” I cut her off as she opens her mouth. “Scratch that, Iknowyou’re crazy, and that’s why I’m not jumping. You don’t want to save me, you want to cop a feel of my ass and then extort a ransom from your brother to get me back.”
Her grin splits her face, blue eyes morphing to smoky grey. “You know me so well. Fine, stay on your perch, little dragon.” She turns her attention back to her guards that she’s content tormenting for the time being. “I’m still waiting to be whisked away to safety myself.”
Jasper sends Gage a pointed look. “I told you you were reading too much into things.Nowcan we make our way out?”
Before Gage can agree, Liam and Roman burst into the room. Both of them go on the defensive instantly, Gage tucking Carina behind his back. The other two candidates smirk, assess the scene, and share a loaded look. They may as well share twin telepathy, conveying their plan with each other silently, and then they’re moving.
I give myself a pat on the back for staying put, remaining out of the fray and having a perfect seat to watch them all. Jasper intercepts the first threat, but it was clearly a planned sacrifice as Roman shifts into a hawk and makes a beeline for Carina. Gage takes a swipe, adjusting his fighting style to accommodate a smaller target, but doesn’t expect him to shift back, taking the hit to his bicep without flinching and using his momentum to take his opponent to the ground. One swift knee to the temple has Gage out cold, and Roman rises to his feet in all of his naked glory.
“Sorry about this.” Smirking, he doesn’t look sorry at all as he throws Carina over his shoulder and races back to where his teammate has Jasper locked in an epic battle with fists and blades flying so quickly, my eyes can’t track them.
Bypassing them both, Roman bolts out the door, Carina sending me a two-fingered salute and a wink as she’s stolen away from her guards. Cursing, Jasper feigns left, swipes Liam’s legs out from under him, and palms the side of the guy’s head as he slams him down, cracking the tile. Without sparing a glance behind him, he races out the door in a flurry of motion. Before it swings shut, I get a brief glimpse of clothes shredding over a massive feline body with black fur, followed by an eardrum-shattering roar that rattles the walls.
Maybe Carina has reason to worry about Torin not being her fated mate, because the look on Jasper’s face was damn near feral when she was taken from him.
A few minutes later, Torin arrives with a few cuts on his arm like something clawed at him, but he doesn’t act like he even feels the wound. Searching the room, when his gaze falls on me, he sighs softly in relief, shoulders slumping slightly. Checking both fallen bodies for a pulse and nudging them with the toe of his boot to check for consciousness, he leaves them behind, making quick work of crossing to the platform beneath me.
“What happened to those two?” he demands, in full risk-assessment mode.
Studying his reaction closely, I point to the closest. “One of Carina’s guards.” Gesturing to the other, I say, “Jasper’s victim before he went after her.”
Torin’s expression darkens. “So thatwashim I heard. Was she hurt?”
“Honestly, I cannot imagine a soul that would be suicidal enough to try; she’d eat them alive. No, she’s fine, they’re just playing hot potato with the hottest dragon in Khalida.”
Relief flashes in his arctic gaze, though the undercurrent of anger lingers. Lifting his arms, he gestures for me to jump. I hesitate, looking at how far down it is.
“Umm, how about I come down the long way instead?” I get up to do so when he whistles a sharp sound, recapturing my attention quickly and shaking his head.
“The angle favors an upward jump, not a return trip. Way easier to roll an ankle or slip, and I won’t be able to catch you without dive bombing right into the bed of coals. I will if I have to, but I’d really rather not if I can avoid it. Seems stupid to risk unnecessary injuries when I still need to get you out of here. Just jump, I promise I’ll catch you.”
Swallowing my nerves, I rip off the band aid and close my eyes, making the leap. The air rushes out of my lungs as he catches me, immediately setting me back on my feet.
“You good running across, or do you need me to carry you?” he asks.
“Yeah, I’ve got it.”
Shaking out my hands, I take off at a sprint, not giving my doubts a chance to poison my confidence. He waits a few seconds before he follows so that we won’t trip over each other, but can stay close enough to snag the back of my shirt if necessary. Once we reach the door, he signals for me to wait, ducks his head into the stairwell, then immediately draws back and holds his finger to his lips as he braces his back against the door. When nothing happens for two minutes, he repeats the process, but this time, gestures for me to follow.
“Stay close to me,” he whispers, and I read his lips more than hear anything with as loud as the music is blaring. “Tap me if you need my attention, and point if possible so we don’t have to shout over the music and announce our position to everyone. Let’s go.”
We make it down to the fifth floor before a huge fight breaks out on the stairwell above us and a tangle of massive, furry limbs come tumbling down the stairs. “Shit!” Torin yanks open the door and grabs my arm, all but flinging me inside and diving in behind me.
I’m pretty sure he tossed me through a portal into Hell.
