Page 2 of Shadowblood Souls: The Complete Series

The lock on my door beeped, and my pulse stuttered. As the door swung open, I sprang off the bed, claws springing from my fingertips instinctively with a rush of adrenaline.

The guardian in the dim hall outside stared at me with a befuddled expression. Just behind him, I made out Griffin’s face, taut with strain.

It must have taken more energy than I could imagine for him to push so much emotion on the guardian that the man had felt compelled to unlock not just Griffin’s room but mine as well.

Now, I took over.

Before Griffin’s emotional control could slip, I sprang at the guardian.

One swipe of my hand knocked the helmet from the man’s head. My other fist whipped at his temple at just the right angle and power to knock him out.

Our jailers had trained us well. The guardian slumped to the floor with a thud of his ass and a faint groan.

One down, who knew how many more to go.

I heaved the man into the room and tore up my sheet with swift jerks of my inhumanly strong arms. One strip, I wrapped around the man’s mouth to gag him. With the others, I bound his wrists and ankles to the bedposts.

He wouldn’t stay unconscious for long, and when he woke up, I didn’t want him raising the alarm.

Griffin darted in after me and patted the man down. He grabbed the blue keycard and grimaced.

“He doesn’t have any of the other cards,” he said under his breath. Our friends needed green or red for the rooms on their respective floors.

I sucked in my breath with a hiss of frustration, but we’d known we might have that problem. Which was why we hadn’t set the plan into motion until we’d been sure of where the main control room was.

“Come on,” I said, and dashed out of my room.

No warning siren had gone off, which meant whoever was on security duty this late at night hadn’t noticed the altercation yet. We’d never made any trouble for our jailers, not in years and years.

Now the complacency we’d encouraged was working in our favor.

I hustled down the hall, only holding myself back so Griffin could keep up. We ran up the stairs to the floor just below ground level.

The moment I peeked out into the next hall and saw it was empty, I hurtled straight to the door to the control room.

I threw myself at the door with my full unnatural speed, smacking it with the entire side of my body. It flew off its hinges into the room as if hit by an explosion.

I ricocheted off the door and lunged at the solitary woman who had just whirled around in front of the array of displays and buttons.

She didn’t manage to get out more than a gasp. I punched her with the same force I’d used on the guardian downstairs, and she sagged across her chair like her bones had turned into beanbags.

Griffin caught up with me. We stared at the touchscreens together, my heart thumping fast with the sense of the seconds slipping away from us.

With a hitch of breath, he pointed. “There!”

One of the glass panes had an image on it that looked like a blueprint. I tapped at it and managed to flip through different floors.

Level 3. Dominic and Andreas had checked the numbers beside their doors and passed them on: 3-7 and 3-8.

I poked at the first, and a window popped up with various options. I jabbed again: Unlock door.

The screen requested fingerprint authorization. Swearing quietly, I hauled up the woman I’d toppled. Griffin leapt in to press her index finger against the circle on the screen.

The room flashed in the layout. Lock disengaged .

A jolt of exhilaration raced through my veins. We were really doing it.

I sped through the commands and the press of the woman’s finger: one, two, three times more. All the rooms open.

Then I spun toward the doorway. We had to make sure the way was clear.

Well, I had to. Despite all our training, Griffin wasn’t much of a fighter.

We charged up the last flight of stairs to the landing up top and slowed to slip out through the main door into the night. The cool, fresh air washed over us.

Griffin dragged in a deep breath and grinned. “No one nearby,” he said, meaning no guardians whose emotions he would have picked up on.

Just in case, I scanned our surroundings, taking in the parking lot, the fields, the fence, and the forest beyond.

Everything was still. Peaceful, even, as ridiculous as that seemed.

Stars twinkled overhead. A piney scent laced the breeze. I wanted to gulp it down like lemonade after a long, sweaty workout.

Right now, the guys would be hurrying up the stairs to join us. Andreas had used his charm and his talent with memories to learn how to hotwire a car. Zian’s X-ray vision had given us the code for the gate.

Everything was in place. Nothing could stop us now.

A grin crossed my face with a burst of pure joy. I caught Griffin’s eyes, and the matching excitement shining from his face turned him so gorgeous the sight took my breath away.

This time, when a familiar impulse gripped me, I didn’t will it away like I had every time before. I let the wave of elation propel me toward him, slipped my hand around the back of his neck, and pressed my lips to his.

An eager sound reverberated from Griffin’s chest as he kissed me back. I could have gotten lost in him right then, forgotten everything but the feel of his body against mine.

Nothing had ever tasted sweeter than the collision of our mouths. It was like the perfect swell of melody in a song, resonating through every particle of my body and leaving me tingling.

This was what we could be. This was what we could have , once we were only ourselves, not anyone’s belongings.

With the rush of giddiness came a starker, needier sensation clawing up through my chest. More. I wanted so much more than this.

But I hadn’t completely lost my grip on reality. We weren’t safe yet.

I forced myself to pull back, my gaze flicking over the terrain around us again?—

And a boom echoed through the night.

Griffin’s body spasmed, a dark splotch blooming on his chest alongside a puff of black smoke. As a cry I couldn’t contain burst from my lips, his bright eyes glazed. His knees buckled.

I leapt to catch him before he could hit the ground. His body felt so limp and weak that a scream bubbled up from my lungs.

More blood gushed over my hands with the beating of his heart, alongside the dark mist that escaped our veins when we bled. I didn’t know how to stop it.

Where was Dom? Where was?—

The roar of engines rattled my eardrums, and my head whipped up, tears blurring my vision. Vehicles tore across the landscape all around me, sniper guns poking from windows and roofs.

I sprang up, claws slicing through the air, muscles braced. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I’d fight to the death to defend whatever life might be left in the boy at my feet.

Another shot rang out. Pain tore through my shoulder, slamming me backward.

Then a sharp zap of electricity blasted me. My nerves crackled and hissed like live wires; my mind reeled.

Footsteps thundered all around me. I lashed out with every ounce of strength I had left. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and the metallic flavor of my own blood seeped into my mouth from where I’d bitten my lip.

My fists and feet struck one form and then another—but another zap shocked me, shattering my control over my limbs. As I slumped over, the world beyond me hazed.

A horrible shout penetrated my growing stupor. “The others are secured!”

Rough hands grasped my arms and legs.

“It was a mistake to include a female with the rest,” someone muttered.

Another voice chuckled as they hefted me off the ground. “Well, we’re eliminating that factor now—and I hear we got a good price for her.”

I groped for any remaining shred of control over my body, but everything went black.