Page 82 of Her Dragon Daddy Disaster
“I’m willing to bet he didn’t. Because why bother trying to dig through if you aren’t close to the other person. Or if there’s no one else, you’d never known the other cell even existed.”
Levi was watching me closely. “Where are you going with this?”
“Dig,” I said, pointing. “There. Between the cells. Maybe he forgot to put bars there. It could be enough for us to slip out.”
Already moving, Levi struck the rock hard with his claws, digging deep. He scraped and pried away the rock, hammering it into pieces and batting it aside as it fell.
“Holy shit,” I said as the front fell away, revealing a gap between the bars more than large enough for us to get through.
“Holy shit.”
I jerked upright in shock as the tiny voice echoed me. “Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit!”
“Jakub,” I scolded, trying to stifle my laughter while also parenting. “That is not appropriate. Mommy shouldn’t have said that. You don’t say those words, okay?”
He looked at me with the innocence only a child could have. “Don’t say holy shit?”
Levi was unable to stifle a guffaw. I shot him a glance, and he immediately looked stern.
“Listen to your mother, Jakub,” he said gruffly, turning away.
His shoulders still shook.
“Come on, time to go,” I said, taking my sons hand and heading for the opening.
“Wait,” Levi said, sticking out a hand. “Let me go first. There could be fighting.”
I came to an abrupt stop, waiting with Jakub as Levi slipped out of the cell, glancing left and right, before heading off to theright, where Malakai had disappeared. Silence followed for half a minute.
It was broken by the most horrendous screeching as something metal was torn apart. I clamped my hands over Jakub’s ears as he cried out at the assault on his senses.
Fresh air flooded the area, removing any last traces of difficulty breathing, for which I was very grateful. I assumed, from the sound and the air, it was a door that had given way under Levi’s assault.
“Let’s go,” he said a moment later, appearing with such silent swiftness I nearly leaped out of my own skin.
We moved down the corridor, past the mangled door.
“Cover Jakub’s eyes,” Levi said as we neared an intersection of hallway.
I swung Jakub up into my arms, pushing his face into my shoulder, using my other hand to shield his view.
The scene was … not pleasant. Two shifters lay on the ground, slumped against the wall. They were both dead. One’s neck was clearly broken, and his face was anything but peaceful in death, his eyes open wide, tongue lolling out to the side.
The other didn’t have a face anymore. Giant rip marks on his scalp indicated where fourverysharp claws had torn the skin that used to be there. I looked away swiftly as my stomach started to churn.
I was no stranger to death. In the Secret Service, we’d trained for it and watched videos and many had military service backgrounds. But that didn’t make iteasyor enjoyable.
“Thank you for the warning,” I said as we cleared the bodies and continued down the corridor.
Levi nodded, then looked back, raising a finger to his mouth, indicating silence. I nodded, instincts kicking in. We weren’t out yet. There could still be more danger ahead.
One more guard waited for us outside the tunnel system. He was obviously not expecting any trouble because Levi found him lounging against the exterior wall of Malakai’s house in the hills, staring off into the distance.
Dispatching him was a simple matter.
“Levi,” I asked as we rose into the air, Jakub firmly seated in front of me at the base of the red dragon’s neck. “Just where are you taking us? Isn’t the city that way?”
I didn’t bother pointing. We could both see it in the distance,. He knew where I meant.
