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“Do you—”

She shut the screen and sprinted to the open door. The hallway was empty. Wasting no time, she dashed to the stairs. In seconds, the sprinkler system soaked her from head to toe.

It was pure chaos downstairs with both the intruder alarm and the fire alarm, but at least the sprinklers hadn’t activated here. The building must have a localized sprinkler system. The fluorescent lights had switched to flashing red lights while emergency lighting lit the floor toward the exit. Leah wiped her eyes as she pushed past the employees streaming outside.

Someone screamed not far away. More screams and panicked shouts erupted as gunshots reverberated down the hallway. She plastered herself against the wall before the employees trampled her in their rush to escape.

Leah, where are you?Julian’s voice was strong but worried.

I’m coming.

Once the crowd thinned, she continued on her way. Between the two alarms and the exodus of people, she passed several unlocked checkpoints. She lost count of the turns, but something tugged her forward.

A sense of purpose. Of rightness.

The feeling of distance closing between her and Julian.

She skidded to a halt at a corner when she saw two Hunters.

Shit. She was so close. The incessant tugging in her chest wouldn’t stop.

Julian was within reach.

She heard gunshots. Cursing. The grunts and growls from a fight, a strangled scream cut short, and then bodies thudding to the ground.

When the only remaining noise was the alarms, Leah peeked into the hallway. Her heart was beating a thousand times per second, but not out of fear.

Julian.

He towered over the dead bodies like a vengeful demon, his claws retracting. When he lifted his gaze and met hers, her chest felt full to bursting.

Love. She loved him. This soul-deep ache inside her, the mixture of longing and happiness, was love.

Leah couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face. Nor could she stop herself from rushing over and kissing him.

He caught her and yanked her against his solid chest. He tasted salty, like blood. Beneath it all, it was him, the wild and untamable forest. The connection between them snapped taut like a bowstring.

This was where she belonged.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“AsmuchasIhate to interrupt your reunion, we need to go before reinforcements arrive,” a familiar voice said with amusement.

They broke apart reluctantly.

Soon.Julian’s gruff voice whispered across her mind. Her nerves singed with awareness of him.

A few feet away, Devon and Marek waited. Dressed in all black—black shirt, black jeans, and black boots—the outfit accentuated the sense of wicked danger and unfathomable power they wielded as vampires. They must’ve freed Julian and fed him; no injuries marred Julian’s body.

“Hello, beautiful.” Devon’s grin made Leah’s heart skip a beat, eliciting a growl from Julian.

Sorry,she grumbled.I’d be dead to not notice.

He’s banned from Vegas for eternity.

“Stop the chitchat. Let’s go.” Marek jerked his head.

In another heartbeat, she was in Julian’s arms. Her vision blurred as they passed one empty hallway after another. A few times, she heard gunshots and someone screaming, but no one accosted them. Marek and Devon must have brought other vampires to the rescue.