And Maks . . . he was there too, only he was on the main floor.
“Should we get him first?” Lila asked and I glanced at her.
“Can you see the energy?”
“I can feel it,” she whispered. “I can feel Maks closer than the others.”
I shook my head. “We can’t.”
And with that, I shot forward, Lila sticking close to me as we raced across the final open space. There was a moment where I looked up and was sure one of the deadshits flying across looked our way and my heart stuttered.
But before I could duck or dive away, he was gone, winging toward the north.
I slid to a stop against the central tower and the smooth glass. Well, shit, I hadn’t considered this.
“How the hell are we getting in there?” Lila whispered.
I gritted my teeth, thinking. “I could use the flail, but that will be loud and we need quiet.”
Lila stepped close and the sapphire glowed between the leather covering as she lifted the tip of her claw and flew upward, drawing a line of blue ice. The glass cracked, but it was quiet, a crackle of freezing water. I shifted to two legs and pushed against the center of the doorway she’d drawn. Four feet high, it wasn’t too big, and hopefully not too noticeable.
I shoved against the glass cube, the edge crackling as it split and the chunk slid inward in one piece.
I went to the end of the chunk and pushed, spinning it open wide enough that we could both slip through. Darkness greeted us, and I put my back against the chunky glass door and scooted it partway closed. I could still get my fingers around the lip, and that would have to be enough for when we came back.
I crouched and shifted onto four legs, a tiny groan escaping me. Too many shifts, too close together were not what I wanted to be doing, but no choice. I bit back on the rolls of pain and let my eyes adjust.
Lila tucked in close. “I can’t see anything.”
“Hold onto my tail,” I whispered and then I took a step forward. We were in a room, and ahead of us was a door with the slightest glimmer of light under it.
“Something touched me,” Lila hissed.
I whipped around. And then snickered. “It’s a dress, I think. We’re in someone’s closet.”
She giggled, nerves getting the better of both of us.
“Maybe Marsum dresses like a lady when no one is looking?” she whispered.
I grinned to myself. “I’d like to see that. Though I suspect he’d make an ugly woman.”
Lila tucked her head against me. “Horribly ugly.”
I hurried toward the door. It wasn’t closed tightly, and I slipped a claw under the bottom edge where there was a good gap and pulled it open. The lights outside the closet were not particularly bright, and we were indeed inside someone’s room. Flowers and perfume, it was a woman’s room. I hurried out and scooted across the room to a large bed. The smell in here was familiar, but I couldn’t quite pin it down as it was mixed with the heavy perfume of what could only be someone trying to hide bad body odor.
I grimaced and went for the main door as the handle twisted.
“Shit.” I hissed the word and shot under the bed, Lila right beside me. The door swung open and . . . Maks stepped in, followed by a curvy blonde woman who pawed at him. “I knew you’d come back. I knew you would.”
He didn’t answer, didn’t so much as look her way. “Go away, Nell. And stay out of my room when I’m not here. It stinks like your perfume.” Well, that explained the smell.
“I will not. I don’t know what happened to you out there, but do you think it was easy for me here without you? You said we’d escape together.”
“And you told Marsum, didn’t you?” he countered as he spun and grabbed her arms. “You are not my mate, Nell. We never bound ourselves together because you always hoped for more. I’m guessing Marsum turned you down? So, now you’ll settle for me?”
I could hardly believe what I was seeing, what I was hearing. This woman . . . she’d been with Maks? I wasn’t even jealous because it was obvious he wasn’t interested, and let’s be honest, he’d had to see me deal with Steve, someone I cared very little for even though he was my ex-husband.
She whimpered. “It’s not like that, Maks. You’re a caracal shifter, like me. I thought . . . I thought you’d be able to protect me. That’s why I came here.”
Maks snorted. “You were a diva from the time you realized what a diva was. Get out of my sight.”
She gave a huff and stomped out of the room. I stared at Lila and her wide eyes said it all. We were alone with Maks. Did we dare try to steal him away?
Would he fight us?
There was only one way to find out.
On my belly, I shifted, cursing that I was doing it again. But if this worked, then I wouldn’t have to shift again.
I rolled out from under the bed and pulled my blades as I stood. Maks lay on the bed, his eyes closed.
“Hello, Zam.”
So much for surprising him.
Chapter Twenty-One
I pressed a blade to Maks’s throat while he lay on his bed with his eyes closed. “You ruined my surprise, Maks.”
His lips twitched, but his eyes didn’t open. “Did I?”
Lila sucked in a sharp breath. “Zam, you don’t want to kill him.”
I didn’t dare look at her. Here, deep within the Jinn’s Dominion, well inside the enemy’s territory, I didn’t know what to expect from Maks. “I love him, Lila, but he could still turn on us. Marsum could come through him, just like before. And if Marsum dies, then his power and assholeness goes straight to Maks.”
“If he’s not possessing me, he can only see through my eyes. If he’s possessing me, he can hear and feel everything I hear and feel,” Maks said softly. “So right now, he thinks I’m sleeping because my eyes are closed. He can’t hear me.”
That was good enough for me. I dropped the knife to the floor, and jumped on top of him, planting my mouth over his. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me back, rolling me over so he was on top of me, taking the kiss deeper. Lila groaned and I caught movement from the corner of my eye that told me she crawled back under the bed. That and her voice.
“You two . . . seriously? We are in deep shit and you two are making out like teenagers?”
Maybe she was right, but what was I fighting for if not the ones I loved? I ran my hands through his hair and breathed him in, as if I could hold this moment forever. I made myself pull back, pressing my forehead to his. “Maks. You’re sick. I can see it on you.”
He rubbed his cheek against mine, first one side and then the other, but he didn’t address my concern. “They’re in the third level below. The door to the dungeon is not far from Marsum’s quarters. I can help you get there. He’s leaving me alone for the moment.”
“Yeah, because your eyes are closed,” Lila muttered from under the bed. “Aren’t they?”
I ran my fingers over the closed lids. “Yes, they’re closed.”
Maks smiled, but the tension in his face was anything but happy. “Zam, if you cling to my back, and Lila too, I can keep you covered with my cloak. I can walk you past the door. Next to it is a heavy statue you can crouch behind.”
I kissed him again and he pushed off me, sitting up, eyes still closed. “Marsum thinks you’re faking only being able to shift into a house cat. He believes you are hiding your strength on purpose. He believes you are the female lion shifter he’s been waiting for.”
“I’m not,” I said.
“I know, but it gives you an edge. He knows you will come for the others, but he thinks you’ll come in guns blazing because that’s how lions do things.” He held his hand out and I put mine in it. His fingers closed over mine and he raised my palm to his mouth.
“I need to give you the emerald stone, Maks,” I said. “Maybe it can help you. Maybe it will stop Marsum and you can come with us.”
“No, if he knows I have it, he’ll take it from me,” Maks said.
Lila shot out from under the bed. “But my grandmother said you had to have it. And Zam is right. What if it helps you?”