Page 94 of Silent Heart

On the third floor, I heard the shouts.

The closer I got, the louder they became.

My heart was heavy. Strong emotions blinded me. I pushed forward, drawn to the wild beast at the end of the hall.

The door was thick metal with a bar lock. The keyhole was on the outside.

I rounded on the men breathing hard behind me. At any other time, it would have put a smile on my face to know I was almost faster than them. But right now, I was furious.

“Open this door.” I slapped my palm against the metal.

The noise behind the barrier stopped.

The cousins exchanged glances.

“If he rushes out…” Dimitri warned.

“Pavel left a tranquilizer in the kitchen,” Luka countered and took a quick step in the opposite direction.

“Absolutely not!” I glared at him, wishing I still had the handgun, which I’d unfortunately forgotten on the passenger seat of his car.

Luka shrugged. “You sure about this?”

No.

“Open it. Now.”

Chapter 37 – Harley

The bar compressed and the door swung open. A tremor ran through my body, but I was already stepping into the gloom. The only light came from a window set high in the wall. There were honest-to-goodness metal bars laced across it. Thick shadows draped over the form standing impossibly still in the middle of the room.

I sensed movement behind me. The reaction of the beast in front of me was quick and decisive. He launched forward.

“No! Kole, it’s me,” I breathed, stepping into him.

“Harley,” Dimitri warned.

“Get back and shut the door,” I bit out, pawing the air behind me. “You’re only upsetting him!”

“Go get the tranquilizer,” Dimitri growled as the door swung shut.

I would kill them if they came back in here and disturbed us. Right now, the only thing that mattered was me and the man in front of me. I’d forgotten how the intensity of his focus felt when it was directed at me. Granted, I preferred when he wasn’thaving an episode brought about by exhaustion, but his keen gaze still felt wonderfully familiar.

Letting go of the last straws of reservation, I closed the distance. “I’ve missed you, big guy.” And then my arms wrapped around his waist. The scent of his clean, woodsy soap tickled my nose and made the corners of my eyes prick.

Kolya just stood there, not reacting to me, except that his body relaxed. With each minute that passed, tension oozed from his muscles. His breathing grew more even, each breath deeper than the last, and I swore I could hear his pulse steady.

The press of the bar on the door popped through the calm.

Kolya spun me around, putting himself between me and the exit.

“Will you two stop it!” I hissed. “I had him under control. Now look what you did!”

Kolya was crouched, ready to spring forward.

I fisted my hands at my side, ready to scream at the two men.

“Are you sure—”

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