Page 76 of Imprisoned with the Vampire King

"Then you just earned a personal guard," the guy told me.

If I wasn't still freaking out, I would've at least tried to smile.

But my heart still beat wildly. The pounding in my ears was almost as loud as the shouted insults, pleas, curses, and demands that filled the air around me as I ran past the people who were locked in my prison. I only stopped when I found another innocent.

"Update me now," Dante commanded, as I released the second prisoner. The fury I could feel radiating from my vampire was reduced, thanks to the magic of the prison, but it was still enough to add to my panic.

"Reaper tried to kill me, but I'm fine. He's stuck in his cell. Gathering the innocent prisoners now. I think it's going to take a few hours, but I should be out before the cells unlock."

He said nothing.

His swell of rage and fear said enough for him. My knees knocked together at the feel of it.

No fighting broke out as me and my temporary crew made our way through, unlocking cells. There was still plenty of yelling, but the more people I collected, the easier it was to deal with.

A few of the guys and the one woman I recognized as being high ranked in River's gang kept everyone in line. The guy I'd found on Reaper's floor was still acting as my guard, too.

No one made a move against me, though plenty of them looked like they wanted to.

Almost all of them were extensively bruised, but I still didn't have the time or energy to focus on that.

Eventually, we made it through the final hallway.

My well of magic was running damn near empty, but I had enough left to get the elevator back up to the surface.

I tried to jog back to the elevator with everyone else, but exhaustion made my jog more of a slow walk.

The bruised guy silently slipped an arm around my shoulders, taking most of my weight.

"You still with Inferno?" he muttered, as we jogged. I glanced up at the clock in the cafeteria when we passed it.

Not much time left before the cells unlocked.

Shit.

"Yeah. Mated now," I said.

He didn't need to know that we'd only mated because we didn't have any other choice.

"Don't let him kill me for touching you," my guard warned.

I managed a tiny smile. "If he kills one of us for tonight, it's going to be me."

As we jogged down the hallway to the elevator, something occurred to me.

Something bad.

Something very, very bad.

We wouldn't all fit up in one trip.

I let out a shaky breath and reached out to the only real backup I had.

"Dante?" I asked.

"What?" He was still completely and utterly furious. Which I probably deserved.

"I fucked up."