“That’s what happens when a purebred isenraged,” Ethan replied. “And there is almost no stopping them onceit does. We have to go.”
“No! I came to help him!”
“In this state, he may kill you, and thenthere will benohelping him!” Resting his hand on the smallof her back, Ethan nudged her toward the door, but she stood herground.
“Don’t touch her!” Aiden bellowed.
Metal broke with a pop. One of the chains onAiden’s wrists wrenched free of the wall. Maggie threw up her handsand staggered away from the door when the broken end of the chainsmashed against it.
“Shit!” Ethan hissed.
Lowering her hands, Maggie gawked at Aidenas he tore the cuff from his wrist before turning to grip theremaining chain binding his wrist to the wall with both hands. Thecolor of his skin deepened as he yanked it from the wall. Then, hebent to tear off one of the cuffs around his ankles.
“Go!” Ethan shouted and pushed her towardthe door at the end of the hall.
Despite that she’d come here to help him,fear propelled her toward the door. When she looked back to findAiden’s hands wrapping around the edges of the window, her stepfaltered. She watched in disbelief as the steel door bowed fromAiden pulling it toward him.
CHAPTER 48
“Vicky, get the others!” Ethan shouted as hehurried her faster down the hall.
Maggie’s heart beat so fast she half fearedit would explode. Her fight-or-flight instinct screamedflightat the top of its lungs, yet she knew she couldn’tleave Aiden. Not like this.
She loved him, and she wouldn’t give him upwithout a fight. The bulbs overhead danced and swayed from thevibrations rattling the walls as Aiden tore his cell apart. Aheadof them, Vicky and Brian appeared in the doorway. A black-hairedman she didn’t recognize and Saxon stood behind them.
“What the…?”
The black-haired man’s question trailed offas his gaze went toward Aiden’s cell. She couldn’t hear herfootfalls or breaths over the wrenching sound of twisting metal.Something crashed behind them, and the floor lurched beneath herfeet.
Ethan grabbed her elbow and swung her up toclasp her against his chest. He started running. Over his shoulder,Maggie saw the ruined door of Aiden’s cell falling into the middleof the hall. The door of the cell across from Aiden’s was now bentinward, and she assumed Aiden had thrown his door into the otherone.
Maggie gasped when Aiden stepped out of hiscage and into the hall with his hands fisted, his legs bracedapart, and his red eyes latched onto her. There was no denying thedemon DNA coursing through him as, from head to toe, his skinpulsed with that reddish-black color and the veins in his armsbulged. She wouldn’t be at all surprised if a set of horns sproutedfrom his head.
He’d kill them all, she knew, but she mightbe able to stop this. If Aiden was this crazed because Ethan hadtouched her, it meant he still cared for her, still wanted her evenif he’d told Ethan to take her out of here. She might be able toreach him, somehow.
The others all stepped out of the way whenEthan carried her through the door and set her down. Maggie tooktwo steps forward and spun back. Ethan was pulling the door closedwhen she ducked under his arm and ran back into the corridor withAiden.
“Stefan, stop her!” Vicky yelled.
She realized that Stefan must be theblack-haired man she didn’t know, and she recalled Aiden saying hehad a brother-in-law named Stefan.
A hand skimmed her back, seeking to pull herfrom the hall.
No!Maggie screamed inwardly. Shethrew herself forward, knowing she might be diving toward herdeath, but it was too late to stop her plunge.
Before the hand could get a firm hold on herand yank her back, another hand swung out of the shadows andknocked the first one away. Arms encircled her and spun her away.Aiden’s scent filled her nose when she found herself claspedagainst his broad chest.
Behind her, the slamming of the door echoedin her ears and reverberated down the hall. For a minute, Maggiedidn’t breathe, and she couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes asshe remained unmoving in his arms.
Then she was set down so abruptly that shestaggered to the side. She came up against a forearm as a wall ofmuscle pinned her into a cage made of flesh and bone. The coolmetal door pressed against her back.
Chest heaving, Maggie tilted her head up totake in the ruby eyes blazing down at her. If she hadn’t seen himin his cell, she never would have recognized Aiden now.
He’d planted his hands on either side of herhead, keeping the door closed as the others banged and shovedagainst it. The door opened a couple of inches, pushing her forwarda step before Aiden rammed it closed again. He didn’t look at thedoor as his attention remained riveted on her.
Blood trickled down his forearms from theabrasions the cuffs had created on his wrists. It slid past hereyes and dripped onto the floor. Still, he stared unblinkingly ather. Maggie gulped, but she didn’t dare move. Movement might setoff his predatory instincts; if she tried to run, he would take herdown.
“Maggie!” Vicky shouted. “Maggie, are youokay?”
