Page 61 of The Hunted

26

Raven

Ican hear their footfalls behind us, their boots pounding the ground. The walls of the tunnel only seem to amplify it.

“Here.” Lazz grabs my arm and pulls me to an alcove that has a smaller than normal door.

“What is this?”

“An exit. You go, and I’ll hold them off as long as I can. Take this.” He reaches behind his back and pulls out a gun. He grabs my hand, pushing the gun into it. Lazz presses my fingers around it

“You know anything about guns?”

“No.”

He places my finger on a lever on the side.

“Safety. Off. On.”

He moves my finger back and forth.

“You see someone you don’t know, point, squeeze the trigger.”

The metal is heavy and cold in my grip, foreign. I test its weight, resigning myself to the fact I may have to use it to take someone’s life.

“Follow this tunnel. It will take you straight outside. No turns. Lucian, my brother, the president, and our MC will be waiting. Go with him. Do not talk to anyone else but Lucian.”

“Lazz, thank you.”

A weak smile stretches his lips.

“Go, sweetheart.”

I bend over and slide through the door. Inside it opens up to a narrow passage. I turn back and lock eyes with Lazz. Gun shots begin to echo through the tunnel.

“Go!” he shouts while slamming the door closed.

“Shit!”

I take off as fast as the confined space will allow me to go. Every few hundred feet, there are openings in the ceiling to the outside, they’re covered by grates. It’s dark, but a little moonlight guides my way. I hustle as fast as I can down the tunnel, toward the door. There’s a loud, almost deafening roar, and I realize it’s motorcycles the closer to the end I get. I see a door up ahead, and I scramble with everything I have in me to get to it.

When I reach the old, time-worn door, I grab for the latch to unlock it. I slide the rusted latch, a breath away from escape. My heart races as freedom is just on the other side. Help, Knox and Lazz will desperately need.

I hear metal creaking, then a thud sounds from behind me. Before I can turn around, a cold hand wraps around my mouth, and an arm latches around my waist, pulling me backward away from the door.

My scream is muffled by the hand, and I buck, trying to free myself, but I’m no match against whomever has me. I continue to struggle, and the backward movement causes me to lose my grip on the gun. I watch horrified, as it clatters to the dirty floor, stirring dust. It’s as if it happens in slow motion. The motes fly up, suspended in the air before falling away to nothing.

“Just shut up, girl. There’s no sense in trying to fight me.”

I don’t listen. I kick and thrash in his grip as he drags me back further from the door, further from the help we so desperately need. If he got in here does that mean Lazz is hurt, or worse?

I scream behind the hand closed over my mouth in hopes that Lazz’s brother, Lucian, or one of his men, can possibly hear me.

“I warned you.”

Vaughn Bane’s breath is a violent promise whispered against my ear. His voice echoes through my mind as a sting bites my neck. My body instantly warms and feels heavy before darkness steals me away.

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