I didn’t show any outward emotion that this small touch disgusted me, nauseated me to the point where I felt like I would gag.
I watched as his lips parted, and his breathing started coming faster and stronger. I tightened my fingers in his hair a little bit more, looked up at him through the fall of my lashes, and forced myself to smile.
And then, with his guard down and the scent of his twisted lust hanging in the air, I pushed his head as hard as I could against the bars of the cell.
Time stood still, as the sound of his skull cracking against the metal was deafening, sickening. His eyes widened, his teeth clashed together, and I worried I’d made a horrible mistake, that my strength was nothing compared to his, so I’d made things even worse.
Although all of this happened within a matter of seconds, it felt like time slowed as our gazes stayed locked.
But then I smelled the scent of blood, watched his eyes roll back in his head, his mouth going slack, and then he sank to the floor, his knees hitting the cement before his upper body went parallel with it.
I wasn’t foolish enough to stand there and marvel at the fact that I’d taken him down. Because I had no idea how long it would last.
Acting faster than I thought was humanly or inhumanly possible, I was with it enough to grab his key card and dart out of the cell. I was breathing frantically, no longer able to hold on to my control, as I quickly made my way down the corridor until I got to the door.
I had watched them enter and exit enough times that I knew the process of swiping the heavy piece of plastic across the sensor and putting in the three-digit code that would disengage the lock.
The lock clicked, and I pulled the door open, telling myself to focus and calm down so I could perceive any threats.
I wasn’t so inherently stupid that I thought this haphazard “plan” of mine would actually work. But not trying wasn’t an option.
So I took a left, knowing it wouldn’t matter if I’d gone in the opposite direction. My chances of finding an exit were the same, and I was going to be in a maze either way.
I kept one hand on the cinder-block wall as I walked fast, my bare feet hardly making any sounds on the hard, frigid floor. I passed doors upon doors, thick metal, which I knew led to other cell blocks.
I could hear my panting, and no matter what I did to try and control my breathing, I was running on pure adrenaline right now. Beads of perspiration slid down my temples and along the side of my face; my heart was racing, and my body felt flushed.
When I rounded another corner, I was greeted with a long corridor with cells lining either side. I stood there for a second, holding my breath, not seeing anyone but knowing I wasn’t alone. I smelled the Otherworlders filling those cells.
I looked to my left, back where I came from. I could try to go another way, take different turns and not risk going this way, which would probably cause the prisoners to get rowdy and vicious, which would draw attention. But as it was, I just wanted to keep moving.
So when I faced forward once more, I felt this tightening sensation move over my skin.
Squeezing my fingers around the key card, I licked my lips and took the first step, then another. And then I snapped into focus and pushed away my apprehension, keeping to the center of the corridor and away from the cells, my gaze on the ground so I didn’t make eye contact with any of them.
I heard shuffling from within the cells and kept reminding myself that D told me he rerouted security footage, made sure the guards’ schedules were tweaked. He’d gone through a lot of trouble to go into my cell tonight, to no doubt do heinous acts and not get caught.
I could sense the other male creatures within the cells, could scent their masculinity, the sweat clinging to their forms, their overpowering anger and aggression that was suffocating.
“I smell a female. Soft, gentle… breakable.”
The voice that came from my left was guttural, inhuman, and mysterious in sound. I didn’t stop to look, just kept moving forward as fast as my feet could take me.
Just as I rounded the corner, about to exhale in relief that I was free, I froze, watching as two human guards came right toward me, dragging a massive male between them.
Their heads were bent low as they talked softly to each other, not realizing I stood at the end. And then one of them lifted his head, and our gazes clashed.
“The fuck?”
I sucked in a sharp breath and looked between the humans. They were stopped now, both of them still holding on to the male. I realized the Otherworld creature—a vampire, given his scent—had manacles around his wrists, ones that had a wavy apparition of magic swirling around the metal. The scent of his flesh burning from the power of it stung my nose.
The vampire slowly lifted his head and locked his gaze on mine. The glossy look in his eyes told me he was drugged, his big body weakened by the magic and sedatives the Assembly was so fond of using on us.
I snapped my focus back to the humans. It was very clear the guards were stunned speechless, frozen as we all stared at each other. No one moved, no one spoke, and it felt like an eternity, although only moments passed.
I took a step back on instinct, but the wall stopped me from retreating any farther. One of the humans cursed again, and that was when the entire situation played out like a horror movie or a nightmare… for everyone but the Otherworld male.
The vampire turned savage, and the only time I’d ever seen this kind of brutality was when Odhran fought the humans before they’d taken me all those years ago.