Page 148 of Sawyer

“All right.” I nibble my bottom lip, my glasses sliding down my face from sweat.

“Oh, hell no.” Violet lets go of my hand and steps in front of Rumor so that she is all I see. “I know what you’re thinking, and we are so close to freedom I can taste it. I am not leaving without you. And if your dumb ass chooses” —her eyes get big at that word— “to march your pert little ass back to level two, then I will have to follow you. You hear me?”

“I hear you.” I look back toward the stairwell, because that is precisely what I’m thinking—marching down those steps toward level two and freeing the last of the women.

“That won’t be necessary.” Bryn steps up to our little group, his pupils dilating as he looks down at me.

Violet, bless her heart, spins around and gazes up at Bryn, interfering before anything else happens. “You are a big boy.” She sizes him up, but I don’t feel threatened. I know what she’s doing.

Thea, on the other hand, looks like she’s about to jump Violet. “Get your shitty gamma eyes off of him.” Thea’s nostrils flare, and her voice darkens too much for an omega.

“There she is, the little sociopath I’ve come to know.” Violet pats her head. “Good to know she’s still in there.” Grabbing my hand, Violet drags me between Bryn and Rumor. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

“Sawyer, wait.” Bryn grabs my hand, nearly scorching me with his touch.

I cut him off before anything happens because Thea looks like she’s about to go batshit, so I choose deflection. “Thea, your sister’s been looking for you.” I turn to the omega and give her my very best fake smile, one that’s a complete façade. “Make sure they bring you to her.” Maybe she can help Thea. Her mind is a broken mess.

“Baby girl.” Rumor steps to the side, intending to block me, yet the endearment he used has Thea growling. Bad move.

“There’s no time for that, Rumor. Get the women out of here,” I scold him and take the lead, dragging Violet away. “I need to find how I came in here.”

“We need to get the other women. This fight isn’t over,” I hear Bryn tell Rumor before dragging him away down the steps.

“What about me?” Thea whimpers.

I’ve heard about all I can possibly tolerate and focus ahead.

“What did you have on when they nabbed you?” Violet does the best thing she can for me at the moment—pretends they don’t exist. I could kiss her, but I won’t.

“Hiking gear.” We spill out into an open space that looks like a lobby. I swing the flashlight around. Women rush out of the building to the right, and I do my best to avoid all the dead guards lying around. Rumor’s handiwork? There is a long wall in front of us with a desk. It looks like a hotel desk, but that doesn’t sound right.

“What do you think about those doors?” Violet points out the doors behind the desk. “Looks to me like some kind of bag check.”

“That is exactly what it looks like.” I drag her along and rush behind the desk. There are several doors down the hallway we just came from, and I assume they are more security stations. I’m just glad we skipped the floor with all the scientists.

“Stop looking for him,” Violet whispers to me.

“What?” I rifle through notepads. There are computers, but they are down, and there’s no filing system that makes even a lick of sense. I slap them all closed.

“Stop looking for the other one.” Violet gives me a knowing look.

“I’m not looking for anyone,” I deflect, because Sin is nowhere in sight. Damn. She’s right—I was unconsciously scanning for him. “We are just going to go in and see what we see.” I grab another flashlight that’s lying on the counter and toss it to Violet.

I don’t even want to assume what went down here.

“Fine, I’ll play along, but we are going to have words, you and I.” She gets to the door first and opens it hard enough to slam against the wall.

There’s a chair behind the desk, which I use to keep the door propped open because I’m not taking any chances.

“Let’s go.” It’s so dark in here that our flashlights barely dent the shadows. A spike of fear rushes through me before I tamp it down. “Alphabetical order.”

“Are you good? I’d like to get my shit,” Violet asks, gripping my hand again and giving it a squeeze.

“Looks like Rumor went into berserker mode. If anyone’s still here, I’ll attack them with my flashlight.” I wag the flashlight in my hand before giving her a forced smile. “Again.”

“Not buying it, but all right. Let’s get our shit and get the hell out of here.” She heads down another aisle. It’s set up like a library, which makes my unease grow.

“How many women died?”

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