Page 43 of Heir of Blood and Moonlight

I stepped closer to the doorway but hesitated on the threshold. There was a good chance I would find my sister out there. Or Wes. Or maybe even my mom. I tried to move forward, but another name whispered through my mind, and my muscles seized, tears welling in my eyes.

Javier.

What if I saw him out there? Then I would know for sure. I had convinced myself Javier was still alive, a prisoner to the House of the Sun. But if I saw his ghost, I would have to accept that he was dead.

Gavin moved closer to me, sliding his hand along the small of my back. “The ghosts can’t hurt you,” he said, his voice hushed.

I flashed him a sad smile. “You’re wrong,” I told him, a tear gliding down my cheek.

“Perhaps I am,” Gavin said, bowing his head slightly.

With a resigned sigh, I stepped through the doorway. I moved slowly, my breaths shallow and muscles humming with tension.Flanked by Thane and Gavin, I scanned the landing, but nobody appeared who hadn’t already been there.

When the elevator doors glided apart, Ash stepped into the enclosed space and pressed the button to hold the doors open. I joined him, Gavin and Thane following me into the elevator. We moved to the back to make room for Bastian and Micah.

It was a large elevator car, but the latent power exuding from Bastian and the three vampires made it feel itty bitty. My skin tingled, the small hairs all over my body standing on end. I hadn’t noticed the electric presence each immortal exuded in the spacious loft, but it was impossible to ignore when they surrounded me in such a tight space.

I reached for Micah’s hand, needing to feel something normal. He glanced back at me, his eyebrows raised, and I wondered if he could feel it, too. The corners of his mouth tensed, and he gave my hand a squeeze.

The elevator slowed, then stopped, and I held my breath, waiting for the doors to slide open. They did so with awhoosh, revealing a lobby of marble and polished steel, empty save for four unfamiliar vampires spread out around the perimeter of the space, an even split of men and women.

“Anything?” Gavin asked from behind me, his breath tickling the wispy hairs that had escaped from my bun.

I shook my head. I had been expecting a horde of ghosts to ambush me, and I released my held breath in a relieved exhale at finding none.

“Good,” he said, angling his body sideways to step past me and leave the elevator car. He paused to scan the lobby, then glanced over his shoulder at me. “It’s a straight shot across the street. We’re running out the doors, and we’re not slowing until we get to the basement of the other building. Don’t worry about the cars on the street. They’ll stop. And if they don’t, we’ll make them.”His focus shifted to Bastian. “Stick to her side. You’re her worst-case-scenario escape plan.”

Bastian stepped away from the elevator wall and closer to me, his fingers curling around my upper arm in a tight grip. “I understand.”

I looked from Gavin to Bastian and back, swallowing a sudden jolt of fear. They were talking about him shifting and flying me away—as a godsdamneddragon.

23

Gavin turned and startedacross the lobby. Bastian and I followed, with Micah sticking close to my other side, and Thane and Ash flanking us. The other four vampire guardians in the lobby peeled away from the walls and jogged closer to join Thane and Ash in forming a protective barrier between the rest of the world and me.

Gavin picked up speed as he neared the glass double doors. He barreled into them, shoving them open and exploding out into the twilight city. Cars zoomed past, and a siren whined in the distance. Tires squealed and horns blared as Gavin ran into the street, but he had been right. The cars stopped for him.

We raced across the street after Gavin. My heart pounded, my blood whooshing in my ears. Bastian’s hold on my arm was painfully tight, but I didn’t mind because it was a reminder that he was there beside me.

The building on the far side of the street was brick and only a few stories tall. Gavin reached the double doors first, a female vampire close on his heels. They skidded to a stop on thefar sidewalk, nearly slamming into the glass double doors, and yanked them open.

The rest of us rushed through the doorway, the immortals filling the building’s lobby with their oversized presence. Two more vampires waited for us in the elevator alcove, arms extended into two of the four elevator cars to hold the doors open.

The few people milling in the generic seating areas arranged on either side of the lobby gawked at my escorts.

We stampeded across the lobby and poured into the two waiting elevator cars, my original entourage joining me in the elevator on the left, while the other vampires filled the elevator on the right. I hugged Micah’s arm, while Bastian maintained his iron hold on my elbow. Thane and Ash stood in the two front corners, Gavin between them, his feet set into a wide, defensive stance.

The doors glided shut. Amaya flickered into view in the gap a moment before they sealed closed. I blinked, and she was standing in front of me inside the elevator.

Gasping, I stumbled backward into the elevator wall, dragging Micah and Bastian with me.

Gavin spun around.

“They’re here!” Amaya warned, her voice echoing eerily in the enclosed space.

The floor dropped as the elevator started its descent.

Amaya flickered out of sight, then reappeared closer to me, her transparent features frantic. “Two dozen shifters. They’re heading for the stairs,” she said, her words coming out in a rush. “Half have already shifted, and the rest have guns. You won’t make it to the portal before they reach the basement.” She glanced over her shoulder at Gavin. “Tell him,” she urged, looking back at me. “Tell him now!”

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