As Darkness Falls by Riley Storm

Chapter Nineteen

“If you could please be a good shifter god,” I said to Vir, gesturing at the door.

“Glad to be of some use besides pack mule,” Vir said with a wink.

“But you make such a good ass,” I fired back.

Vir paused to stare at me, then sighed. “I really should have seen that one coming.”

“Probably,” I said. “But that’s what you get for staring too long. Now, the door?”

“Hard not to stare at something so eye-catching,” Vir whispered under his breath.

I blushed at the unexpected compliment, staring hard at the door. I didn’t want to turn around to see if anyone else had heard. Now was not the time for banter like this. We needed to focus on getting Jo out of there, not on how my body continued to tingle even though I was dressed.

Was it from the looks Vir had given me? Or was it that I knew the suit was riding up a bit high and Aaron was getting a nice view of my ass? I couldn’t decide.

“Ready,” Vir growled.

“Do it,” I commanded, snapping back to reality.

Though the metal door was locked, that didn’t stop Vir. Golden spear in hand once more, he inserted it into the space between the top of the door and the frame. Since this was a prison cell, the door was designed to swing outward so that nobody inside could hide behind the open door.

Now, Vir used that against the Aldridge’s, digging his spear in and thrusting, using the stone wall as leverage. The metal door groaned, and bit by bit, it bent down. Vir repeated the act several times, inserting the spear farther each time.

Once he’d created a large enough opening, the spear vanished.

“Stay alert,” I muttered. “If they didn’t already know we were here, they’re going to soon.

Vir grabbed the opening on the door, and with a deep, powerful grunt, he tore the door out of its frame.

I charged past him while Aaron’s team guarded the hallway behind us. There was no time to stop and look. Lars could be waiting with a dozen guards in there, but my priority was Jo. She was my friend, and I wasn’t about to let anyone else go first.

“Jo!” I gasped, finding my short, stout friend hanging forward limply from the chair she was bound to.

Stopping by her side, I felt her bindings. Solid silver, just as I’d suspected.

“Pieter,” I snapped. “Get in here and get these off her. Now.”

The smallest and possibly least sane crew member hurried into the room, removing metal shears from his gear and going to work. In seconds, Jo was free and falling into my arms.

“Come on, Jo, wake up,” I said, giving her a gentle shake before feeling for a pulse.

“It’s still there,” I said. “We’re leaving.”

Although the plan had been for Vir to carry Jo, I hoisted her into my arms and headed for the door. She felt dangerously light to my touch. Was that because she’d been mistreated so badly? Starved, perhaps? She was filthy, clad in the torn remnants of a shirt and pants, but she didn’t look like she’d been majorly deprived of food for a month.

“Dani?”

I stumbled, my heart nearly breaking at the weakness in Jo’s voice.

“Hi,” I said quietly.

“I like that shade of blue on you,” Jo said, staring at my hair. “I’m glad you still have it.”

“Thanks,” I said, chuckling, trying not to let that bounce the precious cargo in my arms. “I’m Dani Wetter. I’m here to rescue you.”

Jo sighed, lucidity returning to her as we moved through the exit, Aaron and his team waiting patiently for us. “You are so lame. You always quote movies at the most serious of times.”

“Keeps me from getting too nervous,” I muttered.

“Dani?” Jo asked in a strange voice.

“Yeah?” I replied, glancing down to see her staring at Aaron and the others.

“Who are all the men?”

“That,” I said with a chuckle as we hit the stairs, “is a long story.”

“I’ll bet,” Jo said. “You were single when you left town for Kellar. The city has changed you.”

I sputtered while someone on Aaron’s team snickered at the sexual implications of Jo’s comment, up to and including her tone.

“They are not my lovers,” I ground out. “I don’t have a harem of dudes, Jo, come on. You know me better than that.”

“Mmm,” she said. “You seem happy.”

“Some of the changes have been good,” I said, thinking of the fact that I was no longer Soulbound to Johnathan. “But I’ll be happier when we have you out of here safely.”

We reached the top of the stairs.

“Here,” I said, giving Jo to Vir. “You should probably take her. I can carry her, but you can do that and move fast, and I think we might need that.”

Vir took her without a word, holding Jo tightly to him. I tried not to get jealous at the way she curled up into his massive chest, secured by the sinews of his arms, but it was tough. Far tougher than it should have been.

Focus, girl. Focus.

We made our way as quietly as we could down the hallway, heading for our exit door. I couldn’t believe it. We were going to get away with this.

Alexi, in the lead, as usual, halted near the door, fist in the air.

Shit, I mouthed to nobody in particular as the team froze. We stopped moving, and the sound of voices in the distance reached my ears. That must be what Alexi had heard. Someone was outside the door.

“The back,” I whispered as quietly as I could, pointing. “Let’s go.”

We doubled back and took a left, heading for the rear of the house to try and avoid whoever was there. It would add fifty or sixty yards to our trek but wouldn’t encumber us otherwise.

Alexi reached the door first, nodded, and pulled it open for us. Aaron led the way, then Pieter, then me, followed by Vir with Jo, Fred, and the others. We raced outside—

And came to a stumbling halt as we found ourselves face to face with Lars and a cadre of his top enforcers. Both sides froze. Judging from the looks of shock on Lars and his men’s faces, they hadn’t been coming to intercept us. Until we’d walked right into their path, they hadn’t known we were there.

We’d come that close to leaving easily.

Only to be caught red-handed via fluke accident as Lars and his inner council returned from somewhere out on the property together. I briefly wondered what the hell they’d been doing, but Lars started speaking before I could get very far.

“How dare you bring that kind of filth onto my lands,” he snarled, stabbing a finger at Aaron.

I stared at him for a moment, then threw back my head and laughed harder than I’d laughed in a long time.

“Filth?” I sputtered out eventually. “Filth? You call them that, and yet I know you have mirrors in that mansion of yours, you piece of shit. The filth is already here, and it calls itself leader of this town. We’re just here to class up the joint a bit.”

“We’ll see about that,” Lars said icily, snapping at his enforcers, who fanned out, though they were all looking warily at Aaron’s men and their guns.

“Remember,” I said quietly. “Minimal casualties, except for that asshole. He’s mine.”

“We don’t have time for this, Dani,” Vir said. “He will summon more men.”

“You just worry about keeping Jo safe,” I ordered, keeping my eyes focused on Lars.

“He’s right, Dani,” Aaron added.

“Just think of the bonus you’re going to earn,” I told Aaron. “Paid straight from Vir.”

Aaron brightened. “Right. Well, perhaps there’s time for a quick dustup. But not long. Not if you want us to avoid casualties.”

Lars’s men, who outnumbered us by three, waited for us to make the first move.

I grinned. “Well, come on, let’s get this thing started!

And I ran at them.