“Kiara,” I said and pushed the handle of my blade into her fingers. “Take it, clothes at the door, defend it.”
Her eyes flickered with pain and then I saw a spark of something she’d never carried before. Rage mingled with the pain. She drew a slow breath. “I want to kill them all, Zam.”
I tightened my hold on her. “Wait for me. We’ll do it together.”
A tear slipped down her cheek. “Yes, Alpha, together.”
She walked away, ignoring the cuts on her body, on her feet. I turned to face the last of my pride members.
I stood over the final box to see Steve glaring up at me. Yeah, glaring, like it was my fault he’d been caught.
Then again, I had sent him after Kiara.
I lifted the flail above my head and gave it a slow swing. “Close your eyes, Steve-O.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Steve’s head tipped, and for a moment, I thought his mouth was moving but I couldn’t hear a word he was saying inside the magic glass box. For just a split second, I thought how nice it was not hearing his voice.
But he was part of the pride, even if he was a limp dick. I brought the flail down on the corner of the box, behind his shoulder like I’d done with Darcy and Kiara.
The glass exploded and he came out swearing a blue streak. But for the first time in a long time, it wasn’t at me.
“Those motherfucking Jinn!” he roared, and I held a hand out to him. He took it and I yanked him up and away from the shards of glass. He landed lightly beside me and I didn’t let go.
“We have to get them out of here.”
His whole body tensed. “You are not my alpha.”
I nodded. “Then perhaps you are not part of this pride. But how about we discuss that after we get the hell out of here?”
There was a scream from the hall and Lila let out a tiny roar. I left Steve standing there and ran for the door.
Kiara and Darcy circled a Jinn, and another body was on the floor. “Take his head,” I said.
The Jinn’s eyes shot to me and he went to his knees. “Please, I don’t want to be here. I’m like you.”
And then he shifted into a lion, his fur a ruddy gold. He stayed on the floor, his body in total submission. Darcy and Kiara stumbled away from him.
Steve snarled behind me and came out of the room in full-on lion form. I put a hand out. “Steve, if you attack him I’ll drop you with this flail right now and just count the loss as necessary.”
The Jinn, or lion shifter, trembled on the floor. Golden eyes rolled up to look at me. “Please don’t leave me here. Please.”
Well, shit, this was not as I’d planned. I reached out and held a hand to him. “Swear your loyalty on your life.”
He shifted back to two legs, clothes intact. Just like me. I fought to keep my face neutral.
“I swear it on my life, to give you my loyalty until death.” He put his hand in mine and without even realizing what I was doing, I took hold of his energy and wrapped it into the pride. He sucked in a sharp breath.
I blinked once. “Okay, kid, let’s go.”
Steve grabbed my arm and spun me around. “Are you insane? He’s one of them!”
Darcy thrust clothes at Steve, and he took them, dressing as he glared. I waited until the three of them were clothed. I pushed Steve out front, still not acknowledging his questions.
“Lila, ride with Steve, direct him back to the escape hatch. Darcy and Kiara, go with him.” I did a quick calculation of the time. We’d be coming up on dawn soon, which meant we had to move.
Lila shot a look at me. “Where are you going?”
I looked at the kid. “What’s your name?”
“Benji.” He stared at me.
“Benji, are there others like you, part Jinn, part shifter?” Like him. Like Maks.
Like me?
He bobbed his head. “Yes, and they don’t want to be here either.”
I looked back at Lila. “Benji and I are going to get who we can.” I shook my head at her before she could argue. “It will be easy with two over five, you know that. Go. We’ll be right behind you.”
Steve didn’t wait, but I grabbed at him. “Hold. I have something for you.”
I pulled the diamond out from under my shirt, still wrapped in leather, and slid it over his neck.
“What is it?” He touched it and frowned at me.
“Lila, you explain it to him,” I said. There was no time for more than that. I could feel the clock ticking down.
Benji and I followed the four of them up the stairs. They turned to the right at the top and Benji beckoned me to the left. We hurried, and even so, we were lucky not to run into any Jinn.
“Where is everyone?” I asked the gangly youth at my side.
“Marsum called them to the main council hall. Except for those of us who are half-breeds. Minus Maks, of course. He’s . . . they don’t treat him like a half-breed. Not like us.” He glanced at me and then stopped in front of a door. “There aren’t many half-breeds left.”
I motioned for him to go ahead and open it. The door swung inward and Benji went first. His voice was low, but I could still hear his words, hushed and filled with anticipation.
“We’re going. Come on, get your stuff, quick. Just like we practiced.” There was a shuffle of bodies and the sound of cloth being rustled, the sharp intake of breath.
I stayed just inside the door, watching the hall to either side, glad it was empty, and . . . still bothered by that very emptiness. Even with all the Jinn being called away for a meeting or some such stupidity, shouldn’t there have been someone left to guard the halls? Was this supreme overconfidence on Marsum’s part or something else?
My gut twanged with anxiety because I suspected something else. I just didn’t know what.
“Hurry,” I growled.
Benji came first, holding the hand of a young boy who couldn’t have been more than five or six. Skin as smooth and dark as the night sky reflecting the lights of the torches, and huge golden eyes stared up at me. “Hello, little cub.” I crouched down to him. “We’re going to get out of here, okay?”
His lower lip trembled and then he bit it, holding it still. “Okay,” he whispered. I touched his chin with a finger and stood. I looked over the rest of the escapees and had to do a double take. Nell was behind Benji, her eyes rimmed in red, a bag clutched in her arms.
She looked at me a moment and then looked away. Of course, she hadn’t seen me in Maks’s room.
Two others were next to her, both girls. I drew a quick breath, scenting them. One more lion shifter. Nell was a caracal and the final was a cheetah. I nodded. “Stick close. If any Jinn come, fight for your life. Do you understand?”
They all nodded, and I turned, leading the way through the tower. I kept scenting the air, but it was thick with the soured tang of the Jinn and I struggled to pick up anything past that. A hint of lion, of Steve’s distinct musk finally reached me and I picked up my pace.
Too easy . . . those two words kept reverberating through me, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that perhaps I should slow down. But slowing was bad too. The last thing we needed was to sit around with our thumbs up our butts waiting for the Jinn to capture all of us.
Maks’s door came into view; I jogged to it and pushed the door open. Lila and the others waited inside. “I told you to go.”
Steve grinned. “Lila said she was in charge in your absence and she said we were waiting.”
My jaw dropped. “You actually listened to her?”
Darcy smiled. “She threatened to freeze his balls off and shatter them on the floor.”
That would do it.
I opened the door wide and ushered the newbies inside. “Through the closet, there’s a door. Steve, you pull it open; everyone wait at the base of the tower.”
I stood at the door and did a final sweep of the hall. I should have felt relieved. We were almost out.
But . . . no, there was no relief here. There was no weight coming off my shoulders.
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. The little lion cub looked up at me. I grimaced. “Sorry, kid. Ignore me.”
“They like traps,” he whispered.