Page 33 of The Alpha King's Hunt
"Put me down!"
She grabs for the elevator door, but I'm already stepping through.
Her fists hammer against my back.
"Octavian! Let me go," she says, wiggling.
"Not until you're safely at the car."
She responds with a leg kick, her heels catching me in the ribs.
It doesn't hurt.
I carry her across the parking basement, ignoring the echo of her protests bouncing off the concrete walls.
Shane and another man are standing near a support column, and when they see us, they both smile.
"We're working on IDing her," Shane says, jerking his chin toward what I assume is the body on the ground behind the column.
When I approach, I look down and see a woman in a blue dress with messy brown hair.
Her tongue has been cut out, leaving a dark, gaping wound in her mouth.
Black feathers are scattered across her chest. It looks like they are arranged deliberately.
Feather. Same shape, same as the one the man in the ballroom held. The one she pretended not to notice.
Suddenly, Keira stops moving. She must have seen the body.
"Can you put me down, please?" she says, her voice quieter now. Calmer.
"No."
"Just put me the fuck down, Octavian."
The shift in her tone makes me pause. She's not fighting anymore.
I lower her slowly, setting her on her feet. She turns to look at the woman on the ground.
And her face does something I haven't seen her do yet. A crack comes through and she looks sad. All the color draining from her skin.
"Oh no," she whispers. "Bridget."
And then it clicks.
This was the woman she was talking to earlier. The one she pulled into the corner for a quiet conversation.
Keira just stares down at her, frozen.
Her breath comes faster, shallower.
She doesn't cry. Doesn't scream. Just stares.
Like she's trying to process something too big to fit inside her head.
She looks at Shane, her voice steady despite the tremor in her hands.
"Tell my brothers about the feathers."
