Page 2 of Delinquents Turned Fugitives
I forced myself to spin back around, hands up, light dancing in my palms again, ready to fight. I ignored my aching muscles, and pulled harder on my magic, drawing on any reserves I had left. I couldn’t be tired yet. Tired and scared would be a fatal combination.
I glanced at the vault door. We didn’t have time to reopen it and toss wretched Claude inside. The spell writing to unlock it took too long and we’d already closed the door. The vault was locked, secured as though we’d never been here. We’d been two seconds from leaving, from navigating our way out and walking away as if nothing had happened.
But victory was about to be wrenched from my fingers unless I sank to Claude’s treacherous depths.
“Claudia,” I gritted through my teeth, using the nickname I knew he hated. I kept my blue eyes on my stepfather, but opened my free hand behind me and let loose some of my shadow magic, trying to cast a veil of darkness between him and us.
But it was too damn thin.
I kicked myself for keeping the serum on me instead of bringing an extra vial and splitting it so that someone else carried some. Then we would have had a better chance of one of us making it out with the serum intact.
I ground my teeth together, scolding myself for my overconfidence, for my lack of foresight.
I should have realized someone might be onto us.
I took a small step backward as thoughts pummeled the inside of my skull.
How did the dickwad appear out of thin air?
There had to be a second entrance. One I didn’t know about. One Dad hadn’t found. One we could use to escape.
My gaze flickered over Claude’s shoulder and I saw the faint edge of a door.
I turned my head to tell the guys, but that’s when Claude blasted me with ice magic that stung my left eye and burned my cheek.
A screech erupted from me as I raised an arm and tried to shield myself. The fucker had waited until my magic was exhausted and then attacked.
Malcolm, the anarchist I’d recruited for his brilliant mind and tendency to blow things up, immediately threw a ball of flame at Claude’s face—but the asshole blocked it with an ice shield and let out a chuckle that pulsed with arrogance and evil.
“Do you really want to wear yourself out so soon? You have a long fight ahead of you.” My stepfather’s haughty voice was like nails on a chalkboard.
I wanted to hit him, but I needed to hand off the vial first.
My hands reached behind me, searching for one of my crew.
“Or should I fight fire with fire?” Claude shot flame in my direction and I ducked, turning to see Malcolm’s blond hair ripple as the flames died just in front of him; Malcolm let his cold aura steal the flames’ heat. Claude and Malcolm were both Icefires and could control either element, so it was useless for them to keep attacking each other, particularly since Claude had just started to fight and we were so exhausted.
I would have ordered Malcolm to stop, but my need to hand off the serum was more pressing.
My fingers swiped over a hard male chest, and I grabbed onto the fireproof suit covering it. I hunched my posture like I was scared and tried to turn sideways so that Claude wouldn’t see me fumble with the pouch that held the vial.
“Take it!” I muttered.
Though Gray’s hand reached for the vial, he didn’t grab it quickly enough.
Ice shot toward me again. It sliced the side of my neck repeatedly—giving me five striped ice burns that ripped the breath from my body. His magic rapidly shifted and I found my free hand ensnared in a frosty block. I quickly shoved the vial back into my shirt to protect it as I wailed in pain. The cold burn shot up my arm—and crying just made my neck wounds blaze, so I just shut the hell up.
Next to me, a dark hand rose, palm pointed at Claude. “Get outta here,” Gray yelled, pushing my hand down from his chest and pushing me toward the wall of ice, which had started to melt. Evan stood beside it, his huge football player sized frame shaking as he burned a hole in the blocks.
We couldn’t leave that way. Evan and Malcolm, our Icefires, wouldn’t have the power it took to let us ascend the ladder to the surface.
I opened my mouth to retort, to tell both the guys to stop, but suddenly, Claude started to gasp.
I still couldn’t see clearly from the original ice burn to the face, but I could tell easily enough that Grayson was sucking the oxygen out of Claude’s very lungs—the rich boy side of him gone and the brutal biker gang member side taking over. “Get her outta here,” he barked at my team, gesturing at me with his free hand as he used his Force power to control the air. His long, beautiful eyelashes curled back as his deep brown eyes narrowed in concentration.
I felt Evan’s hand touch my frozen arm gently and use his fire magic to melt the ice around my clawed fingers. I could tell it was his hand by the way he interlocked our fingers after the ice had faded but didn’t squeeze. Evan always treated me like I was precious.
I blinked up at him, the glare in his dark blue eyes and the set of his pale jaw telling me he was moments from shifting into his Unnatural form, turning into a grizzly bear and attacking them. While part of me wanted to let him, another part just wanted to get the fuck out of here, which would be easier if he stayed human.
Z stepped up on my other side and whispered through the shadows, “I really want to grab your boobs, but I’m thinking we better run instead.”
Even though my eyes still smarted and I was breathing raggedly from Claude’s other attack, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. In the midst of darkness, Z’s ridiculous humor was a light. He grabbed my good hand, the one still linked to Evan, and tugged us away.
“Wait,” I told the two of them, my voice scratching. I dug in my heels—I needed to mention the door frame that I’d seen. I needed to hand off the vial so I could go help Gray win this fight and end Claude.
I’d only ever planned to be a thief, not a murderer. But plans change.
