Page 386 of Primal Bonds

“Immediately, my lord.” The door closed with a decided click.

Oh, no, you don’t.

Rosana sprinted across the room, throwing open the door. She caught Oliver right before he reached the stairs and shoved him face-first against the wall.

“Don’t move.” She wrenched his arm up, ignoring the pinch of guilt at manhandling an elder. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to.”

Beneath the natty yellow bow tie, the butler’s throat worked. “Yes, miss.”

“This way.” She urged him back down the hall. “What’s in there?” She jerked her head at the door opposite the library.

“The prince’s bedroom.”

Behind her, she heard grunts and a crash. She shot a glance over her shoulder, but all she could see was the still unconscious wolf. If Langdon managed to get a message out to his guards, they were fucked.

“Open the door,” she snapped at Olivier, then waited impatiently as he turned the knob with agonizing slowness. “Inside.” She punctuated the order with a small shove. As she kicked the door shut behind them, her gaze lit on the sturdy four-poster bed. Perfect.

“Take off your belt.”

Olivier undid the buckle, slid the belt from its loops and handed it to her.

“Hands together.”

A pained expression crossed the butler’s broad face. “Is this necessary, miss?”

“Yes,” she snapped. “Now do it.”

His mouth thinned, but he presented his hands, palms together. Quickly, she wound the belt around his wrists a couple of times and then looped the rest around one of the bed’s thick black posts.

“It’s better this way,” she told him as she cinched the belt. “You can tell the prince you had no choice.”

His mouth lifted in a wry arc. “Next you’ll be saying I should thank you.”

Their eyes met. So the man had a sense of humor hidden behind that stone face.

“Sorry,” she said with a shrug and shot out the door.

Downstairs, the front door crashed open. She darted down the hall long enough to see what looked like an entire cadre of warriors pouring inside.

Langdon had gotten a message out.

She sprinted back to the library, slamming the door shut and turning the key.

The entire room was roiling with shadows. Luc was still unconscious, but Adric and Langdon were in another corner now. Langdon was bleeding from the torso and favoring the arm the wolf had savaged, but he looked better than Adric, who wavered drunkenly from side to side.

He had the dagger again. A quick glance at the floor told her the bat had disappeared.

Unfortunately, the dagger wasn’t doing Adric any good. He had it gripped in both hands but could barely keep the point turned up. Blood dripped from a gash in his temple, mixing with the gray powder streaking his face. He looked like a crazed clown.

He glanced at her, scowled. “You’re s’pposed…to be gone.”

She snatched the dagger from him. “Someone has to save your ass, cat.”

She advanced on Langdon. He faded back into the darkest shadow—and disappeared.

With a frustrated growl, she shoved the dagger into her pocket and ran her hands over the wall, just in case Langdon was still there. But the bastard was gone.

The warriors banged on the locked door, demanding entrance.

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