It took me three tries before the door became loose and my boots slipped on the ledge.
"Where the fuck is she?" I shouted, stumbling over Nathem, who was just inside. "And who fired that shot?"
"One recruit got spooked. Shot a damn blanket! Have you heard from Wolfe?" Nathem's anxiety was blood-thick, and the way the newbies clung to the walls like children to their mother's skirts made my stomach wrench.
"Where the fuck is she, Nathem?" I snarled, grabbing him by the shirt and hauling the behemoth to my eyes.
"Wolfe?" he ground out. "Did he give us the clear?"
No, we weren't fucking clear. The asshole wasn't responding, and the house felt off when I left. But there was no use shoving my unease into Nathem's already imploding chest.
"I don't know. He went silent and isn't answering shit. Try Jessie. Now tell me where she is, Nate."
"Upstairs with Blade. You said she was in Maine."
I launched up the staircase, my mind in such a fog that I was unaware of my body moving until I punched straight through Blade's door.
"Daphne?" I searched the pitch black until I found her, shaking in the red glow of Blade's heart monitor.
"Thay?" she whispered, squinting at me in the dead light.
I didn't have to speak. Daphne's body already knew. And it was mere seconds before the warmth of her chest flew into my arms, and I squeezed.
"What is going on, Threx?" Blade rasped, the sleep still heavy in his throat. "I heard gunfire."
"Yeah, that's what happens when you give babies guns. A damn recruit shot a blanket."
"Fuck," Blade groaned, dragging in a breath. "What's the word with Wolfe? Is Marianne off our back?"
Daphne winced at the mention of her name. Of all the kings and queens in the Underworld, this one was the most real to her. It's really too bad Blade didn't know how to keep his damn mouth shut.
"Honestly," I swallowed, throwing my weight over her shoulder until it anchored, "I am unsure. The house was quiet when I left, but you know him. There's no telling what he chose."
"Fucking hell," Blade coughed. "You need to get Daphne out."
It was too dangerous to leave with her now. Especially knowing she was one of Marianne's targets.
"Thay?" her voice cracked as I led her into the hallway. I wanted to yell at her, teach her a goddamn lesson about notlistening, but she'd been through enough, and the night was far from over.
"Come on." I pulled her into my room, the alley lights catching the fire escape outside. She paused in the dark, inhaling the scent of me before dropping her head.
"Is he dead, Thay?"
"I honestly don't know."
"Are they coming for all of you?"
I hated the way her shoulders sagged, the sadness in her limbs carving her out. It took everything in me not to touch her, but her body hadn't called for me yet. So I stayed by the door and watched her in the pretend moonlight.
"Maybe. You're supposed to be in Maine."
She turned, the lines in her face harder than I'd ever seen them.
"And your plan was what, to die?"
Life moved too fast down here. You didn't get the luxury of goodbyes. And if I were being honest, there was no fucking way I would ever give her one. Leave her with some sobbing message or the sound of me choking on my last breath? Alone in that shitty cabin? She might think I was being an asshole. But I knew her. Every heartbeat. All the colors of her soul. She wouldn't survive it.
"Answer me, Thay."
