I didn’t pay any attention to the corpses on the ground or the blood splattered across the cement. I just stood there for a second, watching as the vampire went from cell to cell, using the key card to unlock each one.
The doors slid open, and a startled sound left me as I watched huge Otherworld males step free.
“Over here, female.” The vampire walked down the length of the cell block and stopped at the last prison. He used the key card, and a second later, the door slid open.
I held my breath when Odhran stepped out. He had his head tilted to the side as he stared at the vampire, and when the other male tipped his chin in my direction, Odhran slowly turned his head and looked at me.
For a frozen moment, we just stared at each other. Although I’d seen him in the room just days before, heard his cries and roars, his pleas and begging for them to stop hurting me, right now felt different. It felt real. It gave me hope.
He’d changed over the years, aged. There was now this brutal edge to him. He had dark circles under his eyes, his jaw severely square and cut, his cheeks hollowed. There was a jagged scar running down one side of his face that made him appear even more savage.
But gods, he was the most incredible male I’d ever seen.
And then I was running toward him, not caring that we weren’t really free, that at any second we could be captured or killed, or that so many dangerous Otherworld creatures were being released by the vampire and would come after us.
I saw the most amazing expression transform Odhran’s face as I launched myself into his arms. He pulled me in close and hauled me off the ground. I wrapped my legs around his waist, my arms around his broad shoulders, and buried my face in the crook of his neck as I wept.
“Gods… is this real?” He started murmuring in Gaelic, his voice deep and harsh, his whole body trembling. He tightened his arms on me, sliding a hand up the center of my back and tangling his fingers in my hair to keep my face against him. “Are ye really here with me, lass?”
“I don’t know if it’s real,” I said in between my tears. “But I don’t want to wake up if it’s a dream.” He was the one to bury his face at the side of my neck now, and I heard him inhale deeply, a low rumble leaving him.
It felt like we’d been standing here for so long, nothing else around us, nothing else mattering. I imagined it was just Odhran and me back in that field, with the warm sun on us and danger far, far away. But I knew only a second had to have passed, this moment in time a blip in our very dangerous reality.
“I hate to break up the happy reunion, but you two need to get the fuck out of here before the shit hits the fan.”
I lifted my head and looked over at the vampire, seeing him staring at Odhran. I glanced around and could see so many different species of the Otherworld pacing, destroying things, and heading down different corridors as they roared out.
“Go, take your female. Get far away from here.”
“Sebastian, come with us.” Odhran’s voice was firm and strong. My anchor.
The vampire named Sebastian shook his head. “I’m burning this motherfucker to the ground, bathing in its ashes, and going to clean my teeth with the bones of the one named Tore.” The vampire grinned and tipped his head toward the hall. “Go, follow the carnage and bodies. They’ll lead you outside.”
I didn’t know what was going on or how any of this was possible, but I wasn’t going to question any of it. We didn’t have time for that, and I didn’t care about the details. Nothing short of death was going to stop me.
Odhran stared at Sebastian for a suspended second before giving a sharp nod, setting me down on my feet, and curling his hand tightly around mine. “Good luck. Destroy them all,” was all Odhran said before he tightened his hand around mine, and we ran.
He was fast and efficient, keeping me close yet away from all the other creatures and the anarchy. Panels were getting torn down, claws digging effortlessly into cinder block, lights and wiring being ripped and exposed.
Without full sedation and the magic keeping them in line, the creatures were feral, brutal, and finally exacting their revenge.
Lights hung broken from the ceilings, electrical wires were ripped from every available space, sparks flying from the exposed cords. I could feel the heat, thick smoke from a fire burning somewhere close sucking up the available oxygen.
The Otherworlders were going to take down this facility, kill everyone in it, and I had a feeling Sebastian was going to ensure this hurt the Assembly so irrevocably that the entire organization felt it to its blueprint.
We could hear shouting, scented humans, and a second later, a swarm of guards came forward, guns trained. Odhran pushed me behind him and roared, trying to let his Lycan come forward.
I could still scent the aroma of chemicals surrounding him and knew they’d used sedation on him recently enough that he wasn’t able to fully shift. But he didn’t need his beast to take them out. He was strong enough, even slightly weakened, to destroy every last one of them.
He went after any human that got close, dispatched their weapons as if they were toys. The gore and destruction, the sheer power coming from Odhran, was breath-stealing and awe-inspiring.
And when he killed everyone who stood in our way, he took my hand again, and we moved forward.
I couldn’t help but think about the others trapped in cells, trapped in this building that was being destroyed. And even though I’d seen Sebastian release many of them from their prisons, I also knew there were so many more. “What about the others, the others trapped in the cells?”
Odhran shook his head. “No time, lass. I only care about getting ye out and tae safety.”
In my mind, I knew he was right, that we didn’t have time to help anyone else, that going back and freeing the Otherworld creatures Sebastian may not have been able to help would surely be our downfall. But gods, did my heart break, and guilt swarmed me.