Jonas guarded me like a dog, pacing back and forth as he texted his colleagues and got no answers. The light on his phone swung across the floor as he walked, paying me no attention while I eyed his creepy facial hair with my upper lip peeling back.
“If you can’t grow a beard, you shouldn’t try,” I told him lightly and he shot me a sneer as he continued his pacing.
“Keep your whore mouth shut,” he barked.
“Keep your pube face shaved,” I tossed back and he ignored me, shaking his head in irritation.
I slipped out of bed into the cool air, the bland white sweats they gave me to wear not nearly thick enough for this place.
“Get back in the bed,” Jonas snarled, pointing a finger at me in warning.
“No,” I said evenly. “Did you know I have four boyfriends?” I questioned lightly.
He sniggered. “Doesn’t surprise me. I could tell you were a slut the moment they brought you here.”
“Oh Jonas, you poor, sad little dead man,” I purred and his eyes flickered with uncertainty for a moment as I slowly approached him. “On a healthier day, I could gut you myself, but I’m quite looking forward to watching them do it for me.”
“Get back in the bed or I’ll make you,” he warned and I ignored him, continuing on.
“Saint’s the brains, he’s the one who will have found you. He was who I called from your phone by the way.” I smirked as his brows pinched together.
“You fucking-”
“He’s got a real psycho streak too,” I spoke over him. “Then there’s Nash, my beautiful knight looks like an angel but he will have left his heart at home for this job. And Blake? You don’t wanna see him scorned, Jonas. I’ve seen him kill and he goes to a dark, dark place that still surprises me every time. And Kyan, oh Lord, you don’t wanna meet Kyan.”
“Who’s that?” he murmured, like he just couldn’t help but ask.
“Kyan’s vengeance embodied,” I breathed. “He makes men far bigger than you bleed just for fun.”
Jonas swallowed hard, then straightened his spine and fixed on a mask to hide his fear. “So which one pimps you out to the others then?”
I laughed coldly even as my head started to spin with dizziness. “If I’m a whore, I’m the whore of four demons. And they really don’t like when people try to take me from them. I wonder what they’ll do when I tell them how nicely you’ve been treating me.”
A buzz sounded and the door unlocked behind him, making him nearly jump out of his skin but no one came in. He wheeled the flashlight toward it and I gazed out into the corridor where the lights were turning green on all of the keypads beside the other rooms.
My Night Keepers were close, I knew it. I could feel my connection to them thrumming in my chest like the wings of a dragon. They were coming for me. They’d found the viper’s nest and were no doubt cutting off the heads of every snake they found to get to me.
My limbs prickled with anticipation and my breathing laboured as I moved toward the unlocked door.
Jonas stepped in front of it, barring my way forward and angling the flashlight on his phone at me.
“Your best bet is to let me go,” I reasoned. “If you want to live, let me walk out that door.”
“Ha,” he spat. “Get back into your bed, bitch. And keep your mouth shut.”
I stepped closer to him, ignoring his words. “They’re going to gut you,” I warned. “I’m going to see the whites of your eyes as they roll up into your head.”
“Get. Back,” he snarled.
“I’m giving you an out,” I said, lifting my chin as my legs shook beneath me. My mouth was parched and my lungs felt bruised from so many days of coughing. But I’d find the strength to run today. I would be leaving with my men.
“Shut up,” he snapped, lunging forward and shoving me back.
My legs gave out and I hit the floor with an oomph, cursing as I fought to get up. Fuck I hated feeling like this. This weakness that gripped my muscles was insufferable. But I would get up. I had to get up.
I fought my way back to my feet and Jonas shoved me again, a rumble of amusement in his chest.
“You’re dead,” I laughed. Screw this asshole. I’d given him a chance. Which was more than he deserved. “They’re going to make you scream and bleed and-”
“Shut up!” he threw a kick at my side and I doubled in on myself with a groan of pain.
Heavy footsteps pounded into the room and I looked up with my heart jumping hopefully. Jonas whipped around in fear, but it wasn’t my boys. It was four armed guards and the lead doctor in his long white coat.
“We have to evacuate the asset,” the doctor spoke, his gaze skimming down to me on the floor before he clearly decided not to comment on it. “Now.”
Two of the guards stepped forward, lifting me off of the ground and pushing me down onto the hospital bed. I thrashed with all the strength I had as fear took hold of me. I bit and kicked but in my weakened state, my blows felt as hard as feathers and exhaustion crept up on me like a beast in the night. They forced me down beneath them, pinning me in place before one of them pulled strong straps over my body, securing me to the bed.
My heart sank into the depths of my stomach as panic found me. They couldn’t take me from my boys. Not again.
Jonas started wheeling me out of the room and the guards clustered around me with face masks in place and guns in hand.
I did the only thing I could do and started screaming, crying the names of my boys in hopes that they could hear me and find their way here. I couldn’t let these assholes take me. I couldn’t come too close to salvation only to be stolen away into the night once more. My men were so near I could taste them on the air. I refused to be torn away from them again without so much as seeing their beautiful faces.
“Get her to the roof,” the doctor barked, directing us down the corridor. “The emergency generator on this level will have kept this elevator operational. A helicopter is on the way.”
Dread seeped into every inch of my flesh and I bucked against my restraints, screaming louder even though it pained my insides to do so, scorching my lungs like fire.
“Nash!” I yelled. “Blake, Kyan, Saint!”
I was wheeled into the elevator and planted at the back of it as the guards all took up position in front of me.
Jonas pulled his face mask down under his visor to smirk at me. “What was that about me bleeding?” he mocked in a quiet voice.
This fucking guy. I wriggled a hand free of my binds, reaching out and snatching a tactical knife from one of the guard’s belts with a surge of adrenaline. I twisted it around and stabbed at Jonas, missing his gut as he lurched away, but it drove deep into his forearm instead, spilling blood everywhere. He shrieked like a new-born baby, clutching the wound as one of the guards grabbed the blade from my hand and strapped me down tighter on the bed so I could barely move my arms at all.
“Calm down, put pressure on it,” a guard barked at Jonas as he leaned against the wall whimpering and the elevator soared.
“If they don’t kill you, I will,” I promised Jonas and he had the good sense to finally look afraid of me.
Because I refused to believe they wouldn’t get here on time. I had faith in them. They had my scent and they wouldn’t stop tracking me until we were reunited.