She studied me. “If you don’t know, then you don’t work for Lilith.”
“Indeed, I do not,” I replied. “But I am very much your superior.”
A flicker of wariness entered her gaze, and the two beings behind her shuffled nervously. I glanced around her to take in the two beings at her back and noticed the little bundle of fluff in the female’s arms. She clutched the little wolf tighter to her chest, the move distinctly maternal, suggesting the pup was her child.
Was this a breeding center of some kind?
I took in Calina again, noting the flatness of her stomach. She certainly had the hips designed for fucking, but she didn’t otherwise appear to be a lycan breeder.
No, this one was built for a vampire, I decided, that natural perfume of hers reminding me of a drug. Damien appeared to be impacted by it as well, his nostrils flaring as he inhaled deeply.
It seemed it wasn’t something he wanted me toseeso much assmell.
Something buzzed, causing Calina to glance down at her watch. Numbers scrolled across her screen, making her flinch. “We need to get as far away from this place as possible,” she said urgently. “It’s going to self-destruct in less than fifteen minutes.”
Damien kept his gun pointed at the doctor while he pulled Lilith’s phone from his pocket to show me the same countdown. They matched.
“Why is it going to self-destruct?” I asked her. “Who initiated the protocol?”
“If you’re truly my superior, then you should already know that,” she replied in that regal tone from earlier, like she was in charge of me and not the other way around. “But I’m telling you if we don’t run now, we’re going to die here.”
My eyebrows flew upward. “Not much can kill one as old as me.”
“Then you’ll live in agony beneath the rubble of this bunker for all of eternity,” she returned without missing a beat. “If that’s your chosen fate, then so be it. But I would prefer to die by a bullet than suffer the same.”
She started forward, ignoring the gun pointed at her head.
Damien flashed me a look, his surprise evident.
“Where are you going?” I demanded.
She pointed around me to the exit and followed the path with her feet. When she reached my side, I grabbed her hip, halting her. “What part ofI’m your superiordid you miss?”
“The part where you proved it,” she replied, meeting my gaze once more. “And as I’m clearly the one with more knowledge of this particular situation, that marks me as the leader, not you.”
Damien snorted, his gun dropping to his side. “I think I’ll let you handle that.”
I ignored him, my focus entirely on the overly confident female in front of me. “You want a lesson on my superiority?” I asked, my tone darkly quiet.
Anyone else would know to bow right now.
But not this female.
No, she merely raised a brow, the invitation to act clear in the defiance of her pretty blue irises.
I smiled. “All right, Doctor.” I tightened my grip on her hip and tugged her closer, my opposite hand going to the back of her neck. “I’ll—”
Ding.
“Louis,” the male behind Calina said.
She flinched, trying to find a way out of my grasp. “Run,” she commanded.
The male and the female holding the lycan pup took off toward the exit. Damien immediately lifted his gun, taking aim.
“Don’t.” The word left my mouth on instinct, my focus falling to the opening elevator door.
Damien shifted with me, his pistol aimed and ready. “Drop—”
