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“Yes, it’s me, please.” The pounding grew louder. “Casimir? Is it you?”
“Hang on, mate.” I jerked at the knob, but it didn’t turn. “I think it’s locked. Let me look around for a key.” I didn’t know any door locked from the outside like this, but maybe a storage closet? “Oh, enough of this.” Bracing my feet, I gave a tremendous yank on the knob, but nothing. If the door opened out, as I could see from the hinges it did, then throwing myself at it would probably not work, but I had to do something. I stepped back across the hall, prepared to destroy my shoulder if necessary, when something glinted in the low lighting. I couldn’t be that lucky. Dropping to one knee, I fished behind a fat planter to find…a ring of keys!
“Mate, I’ve got this. One second.”
It took a lot longer than one second, mostly because there were about fifty keys—well, maybe twenty—on the ring, and I had to try nearly every key before I found the right one, but when I got the door open, the sight before me enraged me and broke my heart at the same time. Karelis knelt on the floor of the janitor’s closet, surrounded by shelves of supplies. Her face was tearstained, but her eyes held pure determination. I reached out, and she took my hand, her fingernails chipped and broken, but rather than allowing me to help her up, she surged to her feet and dove past me, out of her prison and into the hallway.
“Let’s go home.”
I let her lead, knowing she needed that, but I desperately wanted to carry her, to fix this…to make it never have happened.
When we got back to the room, I sent a text to the guys, and they joined us in a matter of moments. They hugged her and kissed her and generally handed her back and forth until she flapped her hands. “Please, let me breathe.”
I told them about where I found her and under what circumstances, and they reacted with outrage.
“How did you get there? What happened?” Adan demanded.
“Did they come in here and kidnap you?” Blaze flexed his fists at his sides.
“No.” She dropped her gaze to the floor. “I followed you.”
“Karelis!” I don’t know why I was so shocked, but I was. “You said you’d stay here. It was for your own safety. Anything could have happened.”
“Something did,” Adan gritted out. “And maybe it’s time you told us what that was.”
She nodded but glanced down at her hands and grimaced. “Would it be all right if I gave myself a manicure while we talk?”
The other guys followed her gaze and paled. “Oh, your poor fingers,” Blaze murmured.
“I can fix that for you.” Adan’s offer had Blaze and I gaping and Karelis giggling. “No, really. My sisters are all older than me, and they used to make me play beauty parlor with them. I can do it.”
“This I have to see.” I settled on the couch and pulled Karelis down next to me. “Do you have a full manicure set, Adan?”
“No, but I can use whatever Karelis has.”
She directed him to her toiletries bag where he found nail scissors and files and polish and I didn’t know what all, and while he clipped away the damaged tips and filed her nails to smooth edges, Karelis filled us in on what happened to her once she left the room.
When she finished, silence reigned for a few minutes.
“We have to go to admin.” Blaze was already starting toward the door when she stopped him.
“No.” Our mate lifted her face, eyes narrowed and jaw tight. “We can’t. We were all out of the room after curfew and we moved Teresa and generally did things that would get us stuck here forever at best and expelled at worst. Didn’t I hear someone say there was an even worse school if that happens?”
“It’s not a school,” Blaze muttered. “That one really is a detention center with a few classes, probably in lock picking or something.”
“Then it’s settled. We stay here and go to bed. Wow, my nails look nice.”
They totally did, and I was willing to focus on her pretty hands and our time together, but that didn’t mean we wouldn’t track down those females who locked her in the closet and make sure they regretted their actions.
Chapter Fourteen
Blaze
Our mate took another shower and when she came out with fresh pajamas, I had to admit, she looked worse for wear. I’d hoped that tonight would be a slow one. Calm and without pressure for all of us but instead, it had turned into a nightmare.
Dark shadows hung below her brilliant eyes, and her face appeared a bit paler.
It killed me that it took so long for us to find her. Whoever took her, if I had my way, it would be their last night breathing.
