“Meet Mrs.Barnes,” I said.“She’ll be coming with us.”
“You’ll never get me out of here,” she snapped with sudden defiance.
“Night, night,” I said, my tone dripping with mockery.I delivered a calculated punch to her jaw, watching as her body went limp and slumped to the floor.Her head hit with a resounding thud.Oops.I probably should have caught her.
There wasn’t time to change out of the dress.President Barnes would eventually send people looking for her.I kicked off the shoes as Labyrinth checked the hallway.King cradled Mrs.Barnes in his arms like she was a drunk partygoer who’d had one too many glasses of champagne.
I wiped the blood from her nose with my dress, glancing down to see if it was noticeable.I winked at King, smirking.“It hardly shows.”I turned my focus back to the mission ahead.
We posed as Mrs.Barnes’ guards, holding her upright with her feet barely touching the floor.It was our best chance to get out in one piece.Leaving was always going to be the deadliest part of the plan.
Our target exit was down the third hallway.We made it through one corridor before running into a group of partygoers.
“Mrs.Barnes,” one of them said, stopping abruptly.
He was dressed in a suit, and the women dressed for the party.I hit the woman, who fell down hard and didn’t move, while King broke the man’s neck.We kept moving.The exit was within sight when an ear-splitting alarm blared through the compound.Charging up the stairs, we burst into the camp above.Chaos quickly erupted, and soldiers ran in every direction, assuming the alarm meant an external attack.We ducked behind a line of cargo containers, taking a brief moment to choose the best escape route.
Labyrinth pointed to another group of crumbled buildings in the distance.If we stayed low and undetected, we might have a chance.I took the lead, with King behind me, followed by Alden, who held Mrs.Barnes, and Labyrinth covering the rear.
Twenty yards from our destination, bullets started firing in our direction.We sprinted toward the container.A bullet zipped so close to my head that it scorched my cheek.Now that they’d noticed us, we were sitting ducks, and they didn’t realize who we had with us as a hostage.
The cluster of crumbled buildings was thirty yards away.Vehicle lights flickered on behind us, and the gunfire intensified.We left cover and ran as we shifted form, tearing off our military uniforms that we no longer needed.I pushed past Ms.Beast entirely, going full Nova.She didn’t even grumble.The shift gave us the speed and stamina we needed to keep moving after we made it behind the crumpled building.
The heart of the ruined city was our only chance now.Our rendezvous point was a highway in the opposite direction from where we were running.The hope was that the Federation would lose our trail and assume we were headed for the airstrip outside the city.
We were planning to fly out right under their noses.Once they realized what we’d done and stuck those noses in the air to see us, I hoped they got nosebleeds and bled to death.Nova had no problem with that scenario.
“Marinah, stop!”King’s voice cut through my thoughts.
I turned in time to see Labyrinth stumble and fall.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
King
Marinah hoisted Labyrinth over her shoulder as if he weighed forty pounds instead of close to five hundred.The black dress hung in tatters, barely covering her massive Nova form.
Mrs.Barnes groaned and opened her groggy eyes as I set her on her feet, giving her a moment to steady herself.She stumbled forward, crying, sniffling, and squealing as she tried to run away.All traces of presidential bravado were gone.I met her once when we fought for the Federation.Her superiority complex had stayed in my memory.With an exasperated growl, I grabbed her, flipping her over my shoulder in the same way Marinah carried Labyrinth.Her shriek was music to my ears, but the noise was a liability.I slapped the back of her exposed thighs hard enough to make her shriek again.She quickly decided silence was the better option.
We made it to the buildings, weaved through them, and found a path leading through trees.We took off without stopping.Thirty minutes later, we went in the opposite direction at full speed.Labyrinth wasn’t moving, but it was my hope that he didn’t want to make things harder for Marinah.The woman I carried struggled and received another slap, this one harder.
It took an hour to reach the rendezvous point.Mrs.Barnes crumpled to the ground the moment I set her down.I didn’t bother helping her up.She could rest there and wallow in her misery.
Alden’s gaze stayed locked on the president’s wife.“Don’t eat her,” I said sharply before turning away.
Marinah, still in Nova form, crouched beside Labyrinth.Her top half was soaked in blood where Labyrinth had rested against her during the run.It was too much blood, far too much.
Her jaws parted, and she spoke through them, her voice rough.“Shathow breathing.”
Labyrinth had been shot multiple times, his chest a mangled mass of torn flesh.He shouldn’t even have been alive.I knelt beside him, and his pain-filled eyes fluttered open, locking onto Marinah.
“My queen,” he whispered, his voice weak.
“Reth,” she murmured softly, as if she didn’t even realize she was still in Nova form.
“I’ll rest when I’m dead,” he said, forcing a smile before blood bubbled from his lips.He coughed more blood.
Marinah glanced at me; her grief visible even in her larger, animalistic eyes.I placed my hand gently on Labyrinth’s arm, the weight of loss already settling over me.
