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Suzette’s heart slammed against her chest wall. Her throat constricted. She felt sick, dizzy. Was she losing consciousness? Her airway seemed blocked and she gasped for her next breath. Her children’s parents were doomed for death.
Blaez came to an abrupt halt. “Oh my God.”
“What’s happening?” Suzette held fast to his shirt. At this point, he was her only hope and the truth of the matter was as frightening as the beast they were trying to evade.
As long as Blaez held her in his arms, he was her only protector. She couldn’t fight what she couldn’t understand let alone see, but Blaez might be able to keep her safe.
“He’s like a ghost!” She felt a strangling sensation around her neck. “I can’t…breathe! I…can’t…breathe!”
“Damn it! Keep your head down!’ Blaez seemingly struggled to shake free of a confining grip, one she soon realized was not at all imagined. Large bolts of light blue rods wrapped around Blaez’s arms and throat before he successfully ripped them away.
A wave of flames shot before her face and Suzette soon realized the supernatural happenings were a combination of illusions and reality.
This extortionist was calculated. He enjoyed taunting them. He’d drag this out for as long as possible.
“We won’t make it!” She stifled a cry, unable to come to terms with leaving her children behind. She would meet her demise. “Oh God! Why didn’t I take my kids and run?” She was a bad mother. That’s why. She’d sent her children away to protect them but she should’ve gone with them. She should’ve remained steadfast in her need to keep her young safe, not her desire to face off with an overpowering enemy!
“Keep your voice down,” Blaez said, his deep baritone pitch soothing her.
“We’re going to die.”
“No, baby,” he whispered, his fingers locking in her hair as he held her head against his chest. “Our pack, our brotherhood…we’re survivors. And our women are strong. We will make it out of here!”
She wrapped her trembling arms around his waist and held on for dear life, for her right to live that life. She forced herself to believe in him, desperate to trust in him as her safe haven and maybe even her only way out.
The emergency exit light at the end of the hall seemingly held Blaez’s devoted attention. He dodged an onslaught of bricks and sheetrock as the high-pitched clamoring dropped an octave.
It was the calm before the last of a devastating storm. Blaez’s short breaths rang out in her ear as he worked his way through a maze of rubble.
“Listen to me,” he whispered, seemingly struggling to speak. “Kurt and Marcus will stick together and draw out the extortionist but their efforts will likely fail.”
“What?” Why was he telling her this?
“Listen, Suzette,” he stated firmly, taking long strides to the back of the building. “We’ve been analyzing this creature since his first appearances down in Alabama.
“The extortionists appear when they’re threatened. Sometimes they come for their mates when the pack members are mere days away from claiming theirs as well.”
“Are you saying those mates are one in the same?” Didn’t he realize she already knew she belonged to him, to Kurt and Marcus as well?
Blaez held her closer, tighter. “Just as you’re my mate in this world, the extortionist may believe you’re his, too.”
“No.” She refused to believe such a theory.
“Yes.” He forced her to look at him. “Just as we’ll do anything to protect you, the extortionists will do whatever necessary to apprehend you.”
“Don’t let me go,” she whispered, praying he already cared enough to fight for her.
“I’ll never let you go,” he assured her, hoping she already realized he was willing to die for her.
A loud crash resounded around them. Eerie sounds filled the room with the same word. “Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine.” It was as if they were listening to a heartbeat in a hollow tunnel.
“Get her out of here, Blaez!” Marcus sounded desperate.
Blaez was just as desperate. Marcus was relying on someone else to do the job he would’ve likely preferred to do himself.
He was entrusting Blaez to save her and while Marcus and Blaez were as close as brothers and had faith in one another’s abilities, it was hard to hand over a loved one to someone else. Harder still, to pass off one’s mate.
“We’ll never make it out of here alive,” she whispered, her tears burning his flesh as they seeped into his shirt.
