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We kept jogging, past the now-empty apartments that had once housed the industrial workers. It didn’t feel safe, not yet. I didn’t stop until we reached the edge of downtown, the parking garages and empty alleys that would be crowded on a weekday. Emily didn’t appear too keen on running down another alley, but she didn’t argue, simply keeping pace beside me until I ducked behind a low bin that would allow me to see in both directions.
Panting, we leaned against the brick wall of an old building, struggling viciously to catch our breath. Emily wheezed and bent over to brace her hands on her knees. Our chests heaved, pulses still racing, limbs tingling and weak. I was certain she’d slide down to the pavement if not for the filth that lined the alley. I’d no idea how far we’d run, but we had farther to go if I were to keep us safe. I glanced at the girl beside me, baggy tee shirt draped as she leaned against herself and the wall, hair a mess of damp curls and loose waves shifting in the breeze.
Morgan had targeted her, not me. He’d known he needed to keep me alive if he wanted to find Brianna, so he’d used her. He’d run from the warehouse and set that human after Emily. To prove a point? To hurt me? It didn’t matter. He’d tried to kill her. Hehadkilled the driver of that car.
The image of the sedan smashing into bricks, nearly grazing Emily as she ran, replayed in my mind and I cursed.
She looked up, still panting. “Okay.” She swallowed hard against her parched throat. “I’ll play along.” She wagged a finger vaguely in the direction of the incident, now miles away. “Who was that?”
I waved away her concern. “Just a commonblood. Morgan’s not wasting any of his men on this.”
Her brow raised in utter disbelief.
“That’s good news,” I explained. “If they want to kill you, then they haven’t found the car, haven’t figured out who you are yet.”
She straightened, but it was only to lean back. Away from me. And then I winced as I realized how it all must have sounded to her.
I didn’t know how to make her understand, so I didn’t try. “I’m sorry,” I said. “But Brianna is safe, I promise you that.”
At the mention of Brianna, something changed in Emily. Her breathing steadied and she became remarkably still.
Motionless, except for the tiniest quiver in the curve of her lip, and it broke my heart.
“Come on,” I said, holding out a hand toward her. “We can walk from here.”
