Page 154 of Swept for Forever
“Dom—” she croaked.
Glass shattered overhead, upstairs. Spears and Pickle weren’t far behind, and it was just a matter of time now.
She wriggled hard.
“Shh,” I said, brushing her cheek. Then I stepped back. I wouldn’t have time to set her free. Not yet.
I’d seen that the guard had a gun, and I was counting on it. I pulled it from his belt and braced for the fight, shielding Autumn with my body, the weapon steady in my hand.
But the boots never came. Instead, a different sound echoed down the hall—heavy scraping and something being dragged across the door.
They weren’t coming in.
They were trapping us in.
Smoke poured in from under the door in thin fingers.
“Shit!” I lunged for the handle. It was useless. Steel door and old lodge construction. It wasn’t budging.
“Dom!” Autumn gasped, twisting against the rope.
I was already there, slicing through the binds with the guard’s knife. My hands shook from adrenaline, rage, and raw terror. Meanwhile, smoke thickened fast, scraping our lungs raw.
“We have to move!” I rasped, hauling her upright.
She pointed up, coughing. “That window!”
It was high, small, and barely wide enough for a body. But it was all we had.
I boosted myself onto a crate and pried the latch with the butt of the gun. Cold air punched through the smoke.
Hope.
“Come on!” I hooked an arm around Autumn’s waist.
She didn’t wait, and I heaved her up toward the opening. She fought her own weight, bracing on my shoulder and scrabbling through. Her boots disappeared.
My turn.
It was tighter than a rabbit trap, and my shoulders barely fit. Smoke clawed after me as I muscled through.
Freedom hit me like a slap.
Oh, fuck!
The ledge we were standing on was barely wide enough for two feet side-by-side. Ten feet below was a river, its surface dark.
I pressed my back to the wall, my heart hammering in my ribs.
Otter stood solid beside me.
“Dom,” she said.
I glanced at her. She was too calm, too brave. My girl.
“You tell me you know what we’re doing,” I ground out.
She grinned—hell, she actually grinned—and grabbed my shirt. “Do you trust me, Dom?”
