Page 49 of Furever Loyal
Assuming he got that far before the alarms went up. The Queen had stayed for a long time, and then his chat with Haley on top of that had created quite a length of time without a guard coming by.
Perhaps Kaelyn saw to that as well?
It didn’t matter. He had an opening, and he had to make it. Any second now, someone could come chasing down the hallway after him, and then Kincaid would have to make a decision. If he could stop them quietly, without alerting anyone, he would be forced to do so.
He desperately hoped he wouldn’t be put into the position of having to fight one of his own.
Peeking around the corner, Kincaid scanned the corridor beyond. It was much more well-lit, and if anyone saw him, he’d be toast, but it appeared to be empty, much to his relief. At this hour, most of the House would be in bed, which meant he could hopefully get to the hidden passages before anyone saw him.
Guards monitored the passages as well as the main hallway, but few of them were monitoring for people trying toescape. Their primary purpose was to prevent anyone from getting in to Ursidae Manor. Kincaid was going to use that against them. Hopefully.
He darted across the intersection and into a darkened alcove, pressing softly against the bottom corner of the picture frame mounted to the wall. He held his breath as the wall panel clicked open. It wasn’t a loud noise, but it was very telltale, and this close to the prison area it would certainly arouse suspicion.
He was just about to close the panel behind him when he heard someone approaching.
Shit.
He’d been so close, but there was no way it could close now without alerting anyone. Cursing in frustration, Kincaid slipped back out of the hidden passage and pushed the panel until it was almost closed. Then he waited in the alcove for the guard to catch up with him.
He would have to be swift about it. There wasn’t time for niceties. This would be dirty and ugly. Any noise would bring more guards in a hurry. Kincaid couldn’t afford to get bogged down in a protracted fight. He had to go for an ending-strike immediately.
Regretting what he was about to do, he readied his leg for a hard kick directly into the guard’s most vulnerable region. Shifters were tough, but every man had the same weak spot.
He spied someone coming down the corridor from the prison area, only their shadow visible as they moved quickly. Counting down two more seconds, he raced across the larger hallway and drove his knee upward even as his forearm went for where he expected the neck to be.
“Kincaid?”
“Haley?” he hissed, turning himself to the side as the light from the hallway revealed her much more diminutive form. Kincaid went down hard, bouncing off the wall and rolling over his head before coming to a halt.
“What the hell are you doing?” she asked, bending over him, her chestnut hair falling past her shoulder as she looked at him with concern.
“I thought you were a guard,” he hissed, too worried about someone having heard him to be excited over her arrival and her decision to come with him. There would be time for that laterifthey made it out. “Come on!”
He glanced around the corner for what felt like the hundredth time, but it was still clear. Luck was still on their side. Showing Haley the open wall panel, he had her go first. Slowly. If someone was out there, they wouldn’t immediately raise an alarm for her. Hopefully.
Nobody shouted or made any sort of commotion, however, and Haley pulled open the wall and disappeared, motioning frantically for him to follow. Kincaid took a deep breath, and then in three long strides crossed the hallway, not breathing until the panel clicked shut behind them.
“Kincaid, listen,” Haley began, stopping when his finger pressed against her lips.
“No time. Need to move and movenow. Once we’re out of danger, then you can say everything. Let’s go.”
He wasn’t trying to be harsh, but speed and silence were of the essence now. The secret passages weren’t really secret to anyone who lived there. Anyone of a certain age knew of them, and the guards even monitored them from time to time as well. Just because the two of them had made it out of the main hallways didn’t preclude them from running face-first into a guard.
Taking the lead, Kincaid guided them through a maze of passageways that he knew would have left Haley lost in seconds if she had to find her own way out. His memory was rusty, and they got turned around several times due to bad errors, but the more he walked it, the more the layout came back to him. Eventually, he took them down a side route, barely used even for the hidden passages.
“This next part is going to be the riskiest,” he said. “If we run into anyone, I’m going to have to fight them. I need you to be ready for that, and not to scream or make any noise.”
The lighting in the hallway was dimmer than even their jail cells, but his vision revealed the look of distaste he was receiving.
“If there was another way, I would do it,” he said, not happy to have a decision he was already unimpressed with questioned. “But if we can’t make it at least to the outer forests without being spotted, we’re doomed.”
Haley bit her lip but then nodded. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Kincaid thought quickly. “Maybe.Ifthere isn’t a guard nearby, or if there is, then after I deal with him, if we can head across the open lawns hand in hand, acting all in love with one another, it would throw off anyone who happens to see us walking. Can you stomach that?”
“Is this like the restaurant all over again? Are you just looking for an excuse to hold my hand and kiss me?”
Something came over him in the moment, and before Kincaid could stop himself, he was stepping forward. Closer to Haley. His hands wrapped around her waist and lifted her free of the ground, pinning her to the wall while he covered her mouth with his. Haley gasped in surprise, but she didn’t stop him, instead melting into the kiss, parting her lips for him.
