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Evie tried desperately to recall what little she knew regarding the layout of this place. Which turns did she make before she was in the correct hallway? Left or right? Was the door at the end of the hall, or in the middle? She thought she knew, but she was so panicked, she could hardly think straight, terrified of the knife-wielding psycho behind her. What if she went the wrong way? She could be trapped!
She cast a frantic glance over her shoulder, but Stephen was nowhere in sight. She just needed to make it to the tunnel. She could hide down there for several hours until Tristan or Cazar’s family noticed their absence. They’d come looking for them. She just had to wait.
But what if Stephen caught up to her, or he saw her open the entrance to the tunnel? He’d follow. He could outrun her easily enough down there, even with a broken arm, and no one would be able to help her. What if she didn’t make it to the tunnel’s exit before he caught up to her?
She’d be trapped and at his mercy. No, she couldn’t risk that.Fuck! What should she do?
Stephen’s manic voice echoed in the distance behind her, and Evie panicked, racing past several benches lining the wall. Turning down a corridor, she nearly slammed into a trash compactor as she flew by, refusing to stop for anything. Another hallway revealed a set of bathrooms on the right.
The further Evie went, twisting through hallways, the more she felt like a rat in a maze, not knowing where the hell she was going. It felt like she was heading further into the building, and the halls all began to look unfamiliar. As faint echoes of Stephen’s voice trailed along after her, increasing in volume the longer she searched, she grew less sure of finding Cazar’s lab. Her heart caught in her throat. This wasn’t working, and now she had no idea where to go! She needed a new plan.
A few doors to the left caught her eye. Maybe she should pick one and hide inside? She had a head start. What were the odds he knew which door she would be crouched behind?
But none of the doors in this hallway had the holoscreen set into the wall beside the door frames. No holoscreen meant no palm scan, and if a scan wasn’t required, anyone could step inside.
Evie continued down another hallway, trying and failing to ignore the shouts from behind as Stephen screamed after her.
“You aren’t getting out of here, Evie! The longer you make me wait, the worse this will be for you. Come out!” The sound of his footsteps were now echoing all around her.
He was getting closer!
Finally, she saw a closed door with a holoscreen to the left and ran at it, smacking her palm onto the scanner. She felt a brief flare of fear, wondering if her prints had even been uploaded to this database yet. What if Cazar hadn’t uploaded them yet and she couldn’t access any of the rooms?
God, she needed to be let in! If she could get inside, maybe she could see if there was a way to contact someone. Jakkar, Sahin, Kylok–anyone!
Evie’s heart clenched. But how was she going to tell Cazar’s family what had happened?
If she’d never mated him, Cazar would be alive and well, out of harm’s way from the past that had caught up to her. His death was her fault. Tears streamed down her face and her arm ached, but not nearly as much as her heart, which had shattered into a million pieces only minutes ago.
The holoscreen began scanning, taking forever to read her palm through Cazar’s silver blood. Her breath hitched as she watched, her entire body shaking even more the longer she stared, more tears threatening to spill. “Please work,” she begged quietly, close to sobbing. “Please.”
“I can hear you!” Stephen shouted, sounding so much closer than he had before. Just when she thought she was fucked, the door mercifully slid open, a light flickering on overhead to show a fully furnished bedroom.
Lab coats were hanging up just past the entryway, and a bed was set on the right side of the room. The furthest wall was made entirely of glass, displaying the interior of Cazar’s lab.
All the twists and turns had brought her back toward the front of the building, but she didn’t know what to do with the information in front of her. The glass must have been one-way because she definitely would have recalled seeing an entire bedroom from inside Cazar’s lab, but all she’d ever seen were white walls.
This was where Cazar had lived before? Her heart stuttered in agony but she breathed through the bite of pain, needing to focus.
Was there a door leading back into the lab? She was certain she could retrace her steps from there and make her way back to the front door and freedom. Just then, she noticed a door handle sticking out discreetly from part of the wall next to the one-way glass. There! That was her entry into the lab.
Rushing inside the room, Evie was unprepared for the bellow erupting from behind her, or the body that slammed into her back before the door could slide close behind her. She pitched forward with a shocked cry, hands bracing in front of her as she fell.
Pain radiated from her hands up to her shoulders as she caught herself before her face hit the floor. On her hands and knees, Evie shuffled toward the glass wall. She rose to her feet a moment later, her aches and pains forgotten as fury burned through her veins, her blood absolutely boiling.
“You’re mine now.” A foot to her back sent her sailing forward again. Evie collapsed onto her stomach, jerking away from the hand that grabbed at her waist, but not fast enough. Stephen used her momentum, flipping her over like a rag doll until her back hit the carpeted floor.
He dropped down on top of her, straddling her waist. Pressing the side of his knife against her throat, he smiled. It was unhinged, the corners of his mouth spreading widely.
“Get off of me,” she bit out through clenched teeth, pushing at his body, desperately trying to shove him away.
“Touch me like that again and I’ll slit your fucking throat,” Stephen hissed, digging the knife in until sharp pain registered. A line of warm blood slid down Evie’s neck and collarbone. Her heart skipped a beat, her fury melting under a heavy dose of fear as a fresh wave of tears replaced the old.
He’d just cut her throat!
“Relax, I’ve barely sliced you.” Stephen eased up on the knife’s pressure, his face softening to a sickening version of affection. “Why do you keep making me do this? I don’t want to hurt you, Evie. I want to love you, but you just won’t let me.”
“I-I’m sorry,” she stammered, hoping to placate him. She just needed to buy some time to figure out what to do. How to get out of this. Stephen had been a serious stalker and frightening back on Earth, but the man holding her down now, thekilleron top of her, was a side of him she’d ever seen before.
