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I dropped to my knees.
My heart pittered, pattered...
...and stopped.
Chapter Forty-Six
*
Aslan
*
(Heart in German: Herz)
“ASLAN. WAKE UP. RIGHT THE FUCK NOW.”
My eyelids rose unwillingly.
I groaned as a rush of nausea grabbed me around the throat. I went to lurch to the side of my bed and retch, but hands grabbed me, yanking me to the other side, not leaving me the hell alone.
“Stop. What the—” I smacked my lips, tasting sourness and sickness.
What happened?
Last thing I remembered was the god-awful pain as my heart gave up, followed by...nothing.
“You need to get up. Right now,” Cem hissed in my face. He hadn’t turned on a lamp, and my room was cast in darkness. I had no idea what time it was or how I’d gotten here. The only illumination came from the security spotlights ringing his immaculate gardens below.
My hearing chose that moment to work, and I winced at the sound of his Rottweilers going berserk. Their barking sounded feral. Loud and incessant. “Can you tell your bloody demon dogs to shut the fuck up?” I rubbed my temples where a headache pounded. “Some of us are trying to sleep—”
“Wake up!” Cem slapped me.
I reared back, blinking.
Memories slammed into me.
The photo.
Ayla.
He’s going to take her and Neri.
Rage thundered through me, and I launched myself at him.
I have to kill him.
“I won’t let you take them!”
“Stop this!” Backhanding me, Cem shot off my bed and ran into my walk-in wardrobe. “We’re under attack. We’ll discuss everything later. Right now, we need to run.”
“Attack? Who’s attacking?”
He didn’t reply, throwing a pair of trackpants and a black hoodie at me. “Get dressed. Quickly.” Tossing me my cane, he barked, “You don’t have time to strap on that pointless leg. I’ll help you.”
His urgency bled through the night, and the parts of me still conditioned enough to obey rushed to slip the pants on and shrug into the hoodie. My core helped me balance easily on one leg as I fisted my cane and hopped toward him.
Without a word, Cem looped his arm around my waist.
My skin crawled. “Don’t touch me.”
“Now is not the time to hold grudges—”
“Don’t fucking touch me.” I shoved him away. “I don’t need you carrying me like an invalid.”
“We need to run.”
“I can run.”
“You’re hopping on one leg!”
“Thanks to you!”
“We don’t have time for this.” Grabbing me around the cheeks, he planted a kiss on my forehead. “Despite everything, Aslan, I love you. I need you to know that. We’ll talk about Neri and Ayla. I swear to you, I won’t harm them. Please don’t fight me tonight. Okay? Just trust that I’m doing everything I can to keep you safe.”
Safe?
Like you kept your promise to that girl and shot her?
The sheen of terror in his eyes was so unfamiliar, so foreign that I softened just a little. “What’s happening?”
“We’re being raided. We need to get to the catacombs. There’s a way out down there. I have men standing by to fly us away when we reach the edge of my estate.”
“Fine.” I clutched my lion cane. “I’ll be right behind you.”
“Don’t lag. If you can’t keep up, tell me and I’ll help.” His eyes narrowed. “Don’t be an idiot, Aslan. You fall behind, they’ll slaughter you where you stand.”
My heart kicked.
I gasped, remembering something else.
“Wait...my heart...it gave out.”
“It was a panic attack. Nothing more,” Cem muttered, moving toward the exit. “I had Çetin check you over.”
“It didn’t feel like a normal panic attack.”
He stuck his head out the door, checking left and right. Looking back at me, he asked quietly, “How would you know? Have you had panic attacks before?”
I smirked meanly. “Thanks to you, I’ve had many. In fact, all my issues are thanks to you.”
He sighed. “We’ll talk. Once we’re safe. You have my word, we’ll talk.”
“Fine.”
“Ready?”
I hopped closer to him, bracing my stomach and preparing to run with only one leg. Was that even possible? “Yes.”
“Follow me. If we get separated, get to the caves as quickly as you can. Keep going past the one you were kept in. There’s a door at the very end.” With another look left and right, he charged down the corridor toward the sweeping staircase.
I chased after him the best I could.
In different parts of the mansion, men shouted, shots rang out, and anarchy echoed.
I wanted to ask who was raiding us.
Who would be that stupid?
But Cem didn’t slow. He reached the stairs and bolted down them.
Gripping my cane with one hand and running my other down the banister, I hopped as fast and as steadily as I could all the way to the bottom.
Cem glanced back, his eyes wide with worry as a gunshot rang out far too close.
Was it another gang?
The police?
He led me toward the back of the house where the locked door waited to slip down to the ancient labyrinths below, but shadows appeared up ahead.
