Chapter Twelve
Damn, that woman was gorgeous but irritating as hell. Shit. She smelled so fucking good. He was tempted to take her to the comforter and tear all her clothes off. They were on a bed. Fuck, he started getting hard. Couldn’t have that.
The prince moaned. Shit. He looked around for something to tie him up with. Kari hurried around the bed. She opened the drawer on the side table farther out and shoved around things inside.
“Here,” she said and tossed him handcuffs. He rolled the prince over and restrained his hands behind him. “You can use this too.” Something landed on the bed beside him. A gag with a red ball attached to elastic lay at his knee. His brow raised. What else was in that drawer?
She pulled out rope and sleeping mask. “You can tie his feet, then we can put him under the covers with the mask so if anyone looks in on him they can’t tell if he’s awake or not.”
That was a good plan. Maybe this little lady wasn’t so bad. He followed her instructions and the prince was soon under the covers with pillows around to hide him a bit without looking like they were hiding him.
“Perfect,” she said. “Now what?”
“Now we get the guard in here so we can kill him and get the hell out of Dodge.”
She cringed. “Do we have to kill him?” she whined. “Can’t we just go out the window or something.” Oh, no. She was one of those—a save-the-world kind of agent. Give-the-benefit-of-the doubt agent. Get-herself-killed-because-of-that agent.
He lifted his arms. “Sure. You point out the window and we’ll go through.” She looked around then dropped her chin to her chest. He smelled her embarrassment.
“Sorry,” she said. “The room is so dark, I didn’t realize there weren’t any windows. I don’t have shifter eyes that can see in the dark, like others in this room.” She looked around again. “Besides, I was distracted.”
Her arousal wafted lightly on the air. He grabbed her arm and turned her around. She wouldn’t look at him. He lifted her head with a finger along her jaw. “It’s okay, beautiful. I was quite distracted, also.”
Her eyes got big then returned to normal and she smiled. That’s what he wanted. She was breathtaking. He shook his head. Now wasn’t the time for hitting on his mate. He had to get her out of danger.
“Here’s the plan,” he said as he searched the drawers for clothes to put on. “You scream for the guard. I’ll stand behind the door and when he comes in, I’ll knock him down—” she tried to interrupt, but he knew what she wanted, “But not kill him.” She nodded and smiled again. He would do anything to keep her happy.
After dressing in what he knew as parachute pants from the eighties and the shirt with fewest sequins he could find in the closet, he slid behind the door and she stood next to the bed. He nodded to her.
“Oh, no! Prince, Prince, wake up. Wake up! Guard, something is wrong with the prince.” He thought she’d do well for a Shakespeare play, but not acting.
The door opened and the guard rushed in nonetheless. He took the man down as he was trained, with nonlethal force, then grabbed her hand and hurried to peek out the door. No one was in the hallway. Since he had come to this room from the dining room, he didn’t know where a door to the outside was.
He looked back at her. “Do you know where an exit is?”
“The only one I know is where the caterers bring in the food,” she said.
“Where’s that from here?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you just said you knew,” he commented in a huff.
“You asked if I knew where it is, not if I could get to it,” she replied in a mimicked huff. He wiped a hand over his face. This was going to be rough. Smells of humans were thick everywhere. He couldn’t discern if one hallway was any better than the other. A side door opened and a guard stepped out. One he recognized from the dungeon. Fuck.
He stopped and she bumped into the back of him. “Ow, warn me next—” He grasped her hand as he whipped around and ran down the hall. The guard yelled behind them. She was much too slow as a human. That wasn’t going to fly. He stopped, she ran into him, and he used her momentum to toss her over his shoulder.
He expected a surprised noise from her, but not the high-pitched squeal he got. He picked up his own scent. It was either from the dungeon or the dining room. Sifting through the scents, he noticed mold and mustiness. It had to be from the dungeon. He followed that smell like a string through a maze.
The guard was still behind them. It would be hard to lose him. He had only one option since the guard would pull a gun. Stopping in the middle of the hall, he put his mate on her feet and raised his hands. The guard came closer, gun aimed at him. With shifter speed, he rushed the guard and knocked him out. Picking up the gun, he stuffed it in his waistband and ran for his mate.
“You didn’t kill him, did you?” she asked.
“It’s his lucky day,” he said. “Now come on.” With her hand in his, he led.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“To the dungeon.”
She pulled back on his arm. “What? The dungeon? Are you crazy?” He yanked her back into motion. From other parts of the palace, he heard scuffling. The guards were on to them.
“I know what I’m doing. They know about us missing.” She didn’t fight when he pushed forward. He was close to the dungeon door. He remembered seeing the familiar painting on the wall. He turned at the corner and saw a couple men down the way. The guards hollered, telling them to stop or they’d shoot.
He snatched a vase off a side table and launched it at them. Being a shifter, the throw was direct and very fast. It smashed into one of the guys’ head, knocking the guard down. He picked up a small, decorative box on the same table and threw it, then grabbed his mate and continued on.
The remaining guard was ready for the attack and ducked under the missile. On the go, Day chucked another vase behind them, hoping to slow them down. Didn’t really work, but whatever. They were at the door.
It was heavy, thick metal and he had to lean his weight into it to open it. A bullet dinged off the door close to his head. He bent forward, shoving his mate through the doorway. From the shelf beside the entrance, he snagged two flashlights and a cigarette lighter. That’s all he had time for. The door opened.
Training instincts kicked in and took out the guard. They were safe for the moment but he felt the floor vibrate from others running.
“I really hope you know what you’re doing,” Kari said. He handed her a flashlight and directed her down the center aisle. So do I, he thought.
“Trust me,” he said.
This would lead them to either safety or their deaths.