Page 90 of Heritage of Fire

I try to roll, to ease the crushing pressure on my arms, still stuck behind my back.

He reaches for my chest, fingertips digging in so hard it hurts. “Stop!” I scream.

A loud siren pierces through my pleas, and Mr. Rose goes stiff.

“No,” he mumbles, and scrambles off of me.

Grabbing a nearby gun, he dashes out of the room, leaving me trembling on the floor. The door slams behind him, and I hear the lock click into place.

I finally roll over. Arms tingling with relief, I shuffle on my knees to the door. Using the handle, I stand and immediately become lightheaded. Probably hit my head harder than I thought.

I allow the dizziness to pass before attempting to force the door open. It doesn’t budge.

Another loud siren sounds, and this time gunshots accompany it. I scramble back, heart racing as I look around for anything I can use to cut my bindings. Every so often, I pause to listen for movement outside the door.

I flip my hair out of my face and scan the files on the table. A photo of Luka and Kate peeks out. My eyes go wide. There’s a picture of Isabella, along with several photos of Nik. One man’s photos in particular take up most of the pile. He has reddish-brown hair and forest-green eyes, and in many of the pictures he’s standing with a handful of other men.

Hearing footsteps in the hallway, I dart behind the open bathroom door and peer out through the crack near the hinges. Voices call out, metal-on-metal sounds, and the bedroom door bursts open with a bang.

A gun comes into view first.

“Luna?!” Nik’s voice whisper-yells into the room as he steps in

I nearly melt into a puddle when I see him. His all-black suit is made of some sort of neoprene fabric with holstered guns strapped around his waist. Black boots swallow his feet, and a large weapon rests in his hand. There are dark circles under his eyes, and one of them is nearly swollen shut. I push out from behind the door, bursting into tears.

“Nik …”

His head snaps to where I’m standing and his eyes go wide, nostrils flaring. He rushes over, ditching his gun and grabbing a knife from his wetsuit. He slices through my bindings before turning me to face him. Nik’s eyes hold mine, and god, I want to drown in them. Inhim.

He pulls me into a quick hug and then places a tender kiss on my forehead before his expression goes serious. “We need to move,” he whispers. “Stay behind me.”

He inches to the door, a finger going to his earpiece. “Moonbeam acquired. Proceeding back to home base.” He grabs my hand, giving it a squeeze. “Be ready to run.”

I sway at the word, my energy drained, but I nod and focus on what we’re about to do. He clears left, then right, and proceeds to lead me down the hallway, back the way Mr. Rose brought me.

We round a corner and Nik shoves me back. His hand goes for his holstered pistol, and he fires two shots. A bullet whizzes by us, and he flattens me against the wall when I strain to see where it came from. He discharges three more shots, the bangs followed by a thump at the end of the hall.

Raw and chafed from the bindings, my wrist stings as Nik pulls me along. Moregunfire erupts on the top deck. The narrow passageways of the ship shrink around me the farther we move.

Fog blankets my mind and makes me imbalanced. I start tripping over every step, and Nik has to haul me up each time. Progress is slow. Too slow.

We finally make it to the top deck, and I’m surrounded by containers once again. Mr. Rose’s men dart in multiple directions, yelling out commands and barking orders.

Nik and I slump against a container, out of sight, to catch our breath.

“You okay?” he asks, eyes flicking to the raging red around my wrists.

“I’ll be fine.”

He narrows his eyes at me, and I can only imagine what I look like. Nodding, he grabs my elbow and ushers us to the next container. We pause in the shadows.

A loudBOOMsounds from the starboard side of the ship. Smoke rises from behind the freight and quickly engulfs the vessel in a cloudy haze. I cough and attempt to bury my nose in my shirt. My eyes sting, and I try to blink away the pain.

“We need to get over to that side,” Nik barks while pointing.

With only a few seconds of rest, he pulls me along with him. I run to keep up, but my feet are unsure. Each step is hindered by the smoke, my sight swirling with the gray fog.

“Whatwasthat?” I whisper loudly. I don’t know if it was Nik’s rescue crew, or Mr. Rose defending his ship.

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