Page 34 of The Union
“What in the hell?” I whipped my perplexed gaze at Layla.
She shrugged as she dropped to her knees beside her cousin. “Junior.” She lightly slapped his face, then felt his pulse. “He’s alive.” She released a long-suffering sigh.
Carly stirred before sitting up and mashing the heel of her palm against her temple. Her head had to be pounding after Lester threw her into a wall. Then there was the fall just a second later. I wasn’t a doctor, but she probably had a concussion.
Disoriented, she glanced around. “What happened? Where am I?” When she pinned me with a hard look, she stumbled to her feet. “You?” She closed the distance between us on wobbly legs. “You need to return to the lab.” She attempted to push me.
I laughed like a maniac. “Fuck if I will.” My fangs clicked into place. I kind of liked Carly. I believed she was a lost soul, trying to understand a world she didn’t belong in. I also felt sorry for her. It seemed like research was her first love, and she was struggling with taking orders from Adam Emery. Regardless of how I felt about her, she was not about to use me for whatever she had planned. “I am not your puppet or lab specimen. The next time you try to stick a needle in me, or one of your idiot guards shoots at me, Aberdeen or not, I’ll fry your heart with my bare hands.” That was a promise I would etch in blood.
She gave me a casual shrug. “No matter. I’m pretty certain I have what I need to start testing.”
“You won’t be testing squat. You’re coming with me. It’s your turn to find out what we do to humans who fuck with us.” Steam practically blew out of my nose.
She squared her small shoulders, giving off a bravado she couldn’t handle. Underneath her fake façade was a frightened girl. She seemed like she was ready to say something to me when Junior stirred.
Layla helped him to his feet.
Carly blinked. “Jack.” With shaky fingers, she wiped the blood from his ear. “Why is he bleeding? What did you do to him?” she asked me.
“I didn’t do shit. We’re wasting time.” Before long, police and firemen would be descending on the place. “Which way is out?” I asked harshly. I was growing tired, and frankly, I was in dire need of sating my bloodlust. Grabbing Layla’s hand, I stuck Junior with a glare. “Lead the way.”
Carly fastened her hands on her hips. “I’m not leaving.”
I had to applaud her for standing her ground. She had to be five feet, if that, but man, she acted like she was six feet tall and could take me on. “Oh, the fuck you are, even if I have to carry you out.”
Junior slid between Carly and me, though he wasn’t very stable. “Touch my wife, and I’ll gut you.”
I shoved him out of the way, snagged Carly, and threw her over my shoulder. I had no idea where the exit was, but I stalked ahead. I didn’t need Junior. “Come on, Layla.”
The sooner we got out of there, the better for everyone, because I was a second away from unleashing my wrath on the fucking place.
Carly screeched. “Put me down.” She punched my back with her small fists and kicked her legs. “I have to finish my work.”
“Not on my watch,” I said, checking over my shoulder that Layla was on my heels.
Layla took hold of her cousin’s hand. “You’ll be better off with us.”
Junior grunted through a sigh and acquiesced. “There’s a loading dock around the corner.” He skirted past me with Layla at his side while Carly continued to beat me.
The second we turned the corner, an explosion blew the loading dock door in. The impact threw the four of us backward. Luckily, the blast wasn’t fatal. Still, Carly fell from me. The second she was out of my hold, she climbed to her feet and took off.
Junior groaned, seemingly in one piece, hopped over Layla, and chased his wife.
I crawled over to where Layla was holding her head, appearing dazed and confused. I checked her body to be sure she wasn’t bleeding. “Talk to me. Are you hurt? Anything broken?”
She blinked several times as she sat up.
“Baby doll, say something.” Terror wedged between my shoulder blades as I wiped the drywall dust from her pretty face.
She winced. “I love you, Sam Mason. I’m hopelessly in love with your vampire ass.”
Those three little words packed a punch that made me dizzy and high. “I’m not sure I heard you correctly.” Of course I had. I had to hear her say it again despite the fact we didn’t have time to get all warm and cozy.
Her smile was blinding, and my soul did a happy dance. She stuck her finger in her chest. “I love”—she pushed her finger into my dimple—“you. You make me crazy, mad at times, happy, horny, and sometimes I don’t even know what, but I would die without your stubborn, arrogant, bossy, sexy ass in my life. We fit perfectly together.”
I grinned like a kid on Christmas morning. “Have I told you lately I love your huntress ass?”
She giggled and blanched at the same time. “Can we get out of here? I want a shower, a bed, you naked, and a night of blissful sex.”
