Page 81 of Israel

Locked.

Holding his flashlight in his teeth, he picked the lock and turned the knob slowly until it disengaged. Then he moved the door just a fraction, enough that the latch stayed disengaged without, hopefully, triggering anything nasty.

He moved to the side, holding his rifle out at arm’s length, butt towards the door. He hit the door sharply and then dove to the side, using his shifter speed to get the hell out of the way.

For a half a second, nothing happened. Then, with a rush and a whir of steel, a metal contraption like a giant pitchfork swung across the inside of the door, blades flashing dully in the light from the parking area. It rushed past and thudded point-first into a thick wooden board to one side of the door, and stuck.

It had four parallel blades, razor-sharp, each the size of a sword, set about eighteen inches apart. If Israel had stepped through the door, he would have been impaled in four places and pinned to the board like an insect specimen under glass.

This was one sick motherfucker. And he had Israel’s mate.

Gingerly, he ducked between the blades and entered the building. Enzo had disappeared—presumably to find his “other way in.” There were windows set high in the walls—maybe he planned to go in that way.

Israel couldn’t worry about him.

He had to find Ashley.

He stood still and scented the air. Ashley’s scent came faintly to him, plus the scent of sweaty male. But overlaid on top of that was the smell of lilac.

He’d never smell that again without wanting to bleed someone.

The warehouse floor was scattered with old machine parts and dusty cargo crates, with a row of heavy machinery parked along one side. Israel made his way across as fast as he could, slipping from shadow to shadow. The smell was coming from the far end of the building, where there was a set of stairs going up to a balcony with office doors off it. Behind one of them seemed to be a faint flickering light.

As he watched, the door opened and Ashley ran out, her dress trailing flames.

“Ashley!” Israel yelled.

She looked up, startled, and then ran for the balcony stairs.

Behind her, he could see the whole room was in flames. Malone staggered out after her, screaming about a ring. Israel drew his sidearm and shot at him, and he ducked down. When he came back up, he had a gun in his hand.

Fuck.

Israel dove out of the way of Malone’s bullet, ducking behind a crate. He wasn’t hit, but the fucker was pinning him down. He couldn’t get to Ashley. He hoped she’d have the sense to head for the door.

Malone shot again, and Israel put his head up and let off a couple of shots of his own, with no luck. This could to on way too long.

Then he heard a loud “caw” above the gunfire. One for yes? A small round object hurtled down and hit the balcony hear Malone’s position.

With a feral grin, Israel hit the detonator.

The balcony exploded, half of it collapsing in Israel’s direction. He threw himself out of the way of the falling debris, but a chunk of concrete bounced off a stack of crates and hit him in the head, momentarily stunning him.

He shook his head, trying to clear it, trying to see through the dust. Ashley had made it across the warehouse and was almost at the door.

The wrong door.

He tried to shout at her, but dust choked his throat.

She reached the front door and twisted the knob.

Ropes twanged, and another huge set of blades scythed through the air.

Ashley!

There was a loud screech, and a black-winged form dove out of the shadows overhead. With his huge talons, Enzo severed one of the ropes holding the blades up, throwing it off-course.

It almost worked. The blades thunked into the board, all of them missing Ashley by inches—except one. It drove straight through the upper part of her outstretched arm, pinning it to the board.