Page 37 of No Harm No Howl

“There’s three more of them coming. We need to go,” Colton shouted.

“Let’s move.” Russ bolted across the hall, tossed Gia over his shoulder, and headed for the staircase.

“That’s a lot of steps to run down carrying her. Are you going to make it?” Colton asked.

“Yep. Easy, peasy. Let’s go.”

Just as they reached the last flight before the exit, Russ heard the telltale sign that Damon’s men were on to him.

“Go ahead of me and open my car doors. Start the engine and then hop in your car. You pull out first and head straight to the airport. I’ll be right behind you.”

“Are you sure? I’d rather we stay together,” Colton said.

“I’m sure. I don’t want them to see you. I want them to think you’re as dead as everyone else,” Russ explained.

Colton nodded and took off in front of Russ to do as he had been told.

Gia started to wiggle in Russ’s arms, probably from all the bouncing around going down six flights of stairs. Either way, Russ was happy as fuck that she was starting to come to. “Easy, beautiful. We’re almost to the car.”

Three more steps, and they were out of the door and into the bright sunshine. Russ set Gia in the passenger seat and strapped her in before locking and closing her door. He dashed around the vehicle. “Go!” he shouted to Colton before hopping into the driver’s seat and locking his door. He put the SUV in reverse and backed away from the building just as three men busted through the exit door.

TWENTY-TWO

GIA

“What is going on?” Gia asked. Her eyes and throat were on fire. Her head pounded like a son of a bitch.

“It looks like one of my enemies decided to come after us,” Russ said. “How are you feeling?”

“Like fuck. I need water.”

Russ grabbed a hotel bottle of water from the console, cracked it open, and handed it to her. “Here. This is the best I can do for now.”

“Thanks,” she said before taking a big gulp of the water. “Catch me up on what’s going on? This woman attacked me. I killed her. I didn’t have a choice. She drugged me. She would have killed me. Why is this happening? Who are your enemies?” She had a million questions she wanted answers to.

“A former employee, Damon Merkle, is after me … well, us. He’s pissed because he got fired for stalking one of our female clients. I don’t know much about the woman he sent after you. I only know that her name is Mags, and yes, she would have killed you or, at the very least, taken you to Damon for him to use you to get to me,” Russ said.

“How do you know all this?” Gia asked.

“See that car in front of us?”

Gia looked out the windshield. “Yeah. What about it?”

“He is one of the guys who was sent after me.”

“What?” she shouted, hurting her own head. “Why are you following him?” she said in a quieter voice, trying to stop the ringing in her head.

“It’s complicated. He flipped on Damon and told me what was going on,” Russ explained.

“And you trust him?” Gia tried to stay calm, but it didn’t make a damn bit of sense. “Why would you trust someone who tried to kill you?”

“He didn’t try to kill me.”

“Then what was he doing there?”

“He was with the one guy who came after me, and I killed, but Colton didn’t lift a finger toward me. The only reason he was there was the money. He was promised money that he needed to put food on the table for his kid. He helped me get you out of the hotel. I don’t know why, but I trust him. I’ve offered him a safe haven until this is over.”

Gia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Most wolves would have killed the man without bothering to ask a single question. Not her man … err, Russ … her boss. Who the hell did that? Not a normal alpha. That was sure as shit.

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