Page 37 of Kingdom of Chaos (Creatures of Chaos #2)

I turn away and head for the fire escape we used to climb onto the roof. Behind me, I hear Talon’s frustrated sigh, followed by the crunch of his footsteps as he moves to follow.

“Wait up,” he says, and when I peek over my shoulder, he’s jogging to catch up with me.

“Glad to see you’ve come to your senses,” I say with a grin, knowing I’ve won.

He chuckles and rolls his eyes. “You’re going to be the death of me, Freckles.”

My insides clench, feeling like my breath was stolen from me. I know he meant it as a joke, but Imogen’s warning that I’m going to get Talon killed is still fresh in my mind.

“What?” he asks, noticing the change.

I shake my head. “Nothing. Just, don’t do anything stupid when we get in there.”

His eyebrows shoot up. “Me?”

“Yeah,” I say, my mood dipping. The last thing I need is another creature’s life on my conscience.

Short hairs that have escaped my ponytail cling to the sides of my damp face as I haul myself through the window and into the Order’s headquarters.

I’m drained, both physically and mentally. Climbing the drainpipe without being spotted by either passersby or any of the security cameras we identified meant I had to keep us hidden in shadow the entire way.

It took nearly half an hour just to summon the shadows, even with Talon’s help, and even longer to hold them steady as we climbed. The strain of holding the shadows in place has my limbs trembling and my head throbbing.

I glance up and look around the room I’ve just dropped into.

I think it’s a small office. The lights are off, but city glow spills through the window, enough for me to make out two desks pushed against opposite walls of the narrow room.

One is immaculate, the other buried under a mess of papers and candy wrappers.

I lean against the wall to catch my breath as I wait for Talon to slip through the open window behind me. The moment he does, I release my hold on the shadows cloaking the alley and let out a quiet sigh of relief.

When he glances over, concern flashes in his eyes, but he doesn’t say anything. There’s nothing to say. We’re in the building now. There’s no turning back.

With a quick nod in my direction, Talon steps past me and presses his ear to the door, his brow furrowed in concentration. He listens intently, using his heightened hearing to judge if the coast is clear. After a moment, he gives a short wave, signaling me over.

“I think the hallway is empty,” he whispers. “It’s quiet out there, but even so, we have to be careful. We need to get in and out without them ever knowing that we were here.”

If we find Becks and leave with him, they’ll know we were here, but I don’t bother saying that out loud. I just nod.

Talon carefully opens the door, peeking out to scan the hallway before slipping through, with me right on his heels.

Without any exterior windows, the hall is even darker than the office we just left.

I can barely see a thing, but I know Talon can.

He saw perfectly in the underground caves during the first Chaos trial.

I place a hand on his back to guide myself. He glances over his shoulder, then reaches back and takes my hand. My heart is pounding, but his cool, steady grip is grounding.

We move quickly, checking each room along the hall.

A bathroom, a broom closet, a few more identical offices.

Nothing useful. Only one door remains when Talon suddenly stops.

I’m about to ask what’s wrong when he spins toward me and quickly ushers me back into a small office we’ve already searched, closing the door behind us without a sound.

“Talon, what the—?” He slips a hand over my mouth and holds a finger up to his lips, telling me to be quiet.

I nod, and he pulls his hand away just as the door next to us creaks open.

My eyes widen. We were nearly caught. I press my ear to the door, heart pounding, and catch the low rumble of a male voice on the other side.

“No, no, everything’s been quiet. It was weird though. Cameras five and six seemed to glitch for about ten minutes. There were dark spots in part of the feed.”

He’s quiet for a bit before saying, “No, it was just the cameras in the side alley. I’ve never seen a malfunction like that before. They’re working fine now, but I want to see if there are any loose wires or faulty connection.”

I assume the male is talking about the shadows I pulled around Talon and me while we were climbing the drainpipe to get inside. I glance at Talon and catch his eye. He gives a small nod, letting me know he heard it too.

“I’ll call Drew if we need a replacement,” the male says. A door slams shut, muffling his voice until it fades away entirely.

Talon and I slip back into the hallway to find that the male left the door to what looks like a security room ajar. Inside, several computers hum softly, and rows of monitors display surveillance footage from around the building, both outside and within.

“We have to be fast,” Talon says, keeping one eye trained on the hallway.

I nod, nerves tightening in my chest. We have no idea when the human might come back.

“Let’s check the monitors. At the very least, we’ll be able to see where the cameras are so we know which areas to avoid.”

“Go ahead,” Talon says. “I’ll keep watch.”

I rush into the room, scanning one monitor after another as they cycle through different camera feeds.

Most of them appear to be trained on the building’s exterior, but a handful show the inside as well.

I spot what’s likely the front entrance, then a hallway, and a conference room, each flashing by in seconds.

Then one of the feeds shifts and my heart stumbles, pounding violently against my ribs.

I lean forward, holding my breath as I try to make out the grainy image on the screen.

It looks like some kind of hospital room, stripped down and sterile, with little more than a narrow bed and an IV stand.

But it’s not the setting that holds me, it’s the blond-haired male pacing away from the camera, his back broad and familiar even with bandages wrapped around his torso.

The slope of his shoulders, the shaggy blond hair, even the way he moves—it all sends a jolt of recognition through me. My breath catches. It could be him. I’m still not sure. Until he turns. And then, as if he somehow knows I’m watching, he lifts his face to the camera.

I gasp.

Even through the pixelated screen, I can see his green eyes flashing.

Becks. I’ve found him.

“What’s wrong?” Talon asks, turning from his lookout post to find me standing with a hand over my mouth and watery eyes.

I point to the screen, unable to speak around the lump of emotion in my throat. Talon comes up beside me, his gaze going to the monitor and then widening when he sees Becks.

He smiles down at me, but there’s a touch of sadness in his gaze when he says, “You did it, Freckles. You found your princeling.”

I start to tell him we need to figure out where that room is when there’s a sudden pop, followed by a sharp, stabbing pain in my side.

Before I can even draw a breath, electricity rips through me from the point of impact, seizing my muscles and locking my entire body in place.

I can’t move. I can’t scream. I can only stand there, frozen, as the current takes control.

My limbs finally give out and I crash sideways into the desk, pain exploding in my skull as it connects with the edge before I collapse to the floor. Somewhere through the haze, I hear Talon shout my name, followed by a thud of fists and the crash of shattering objects.

I force my eyes open just long enough to see him fall beside me, his face twisted in rage, his body twitching as he fights the same electric paralysis that took me down. Then everything goes dark.