Page 153 of Filthy Royal

Thankfully, she listened, gripping the waistband of his leathers as he opened the door and moved into the main room, laser at the ready. “They’ll have blocked the main exits and locked us in.” Panic laced her words. “It’s part of the protocol.”

“I remember.” He strode toward the private elevator. “Which is why we’re using this.”

“I don’t have access.”

“We don’t need it.” Damien slammed his fist into the wall near the panel—the noise he made the reason he’d waited until the guards were gone to undertake his plan—then gripped the wires and yanked, a nifty trick he’d learned from his older brothers.

The elevator doors slid open, triggered by the manual overdrive.

He peered down. No elevator cab and it was a long way down, but the cables would hold.

“That? No, I—” She began to cough, a sure sign the gas was filling the room.

Damien shoved the cloak at her. “Wrap this around you. I’ll carry you down on my back. It’ll be fine. I just hope we scanned everything of use.” He turned back toward the desk to take one last look.

And his gaze caught on one of the still-working monitors.

The air was ripped from his lungs.

He lurched toward the screen. “What the fuck?”

Scarlett was by his side in an instant, her hands wrapping around his bicep. “We need to go.”

He stayed right where he was.

“Damien, please. We—”

“How?” The roar exploded from him.

She froze. Her mouth opened. No words came out.

“This isn’t possible.” His voice didn’t sound like his own.

Because despite the fractured monitor, there was no mistaking what he saw.

The same face he’d seen so often in his nightmares.

However, this time, the eyes that stared back at him weren’t so lifeless. They blinked, they narrowed, they glittered with rage as the Alpha they belonged to stood outside the headquarters building and shouted at the guards, his tail twitching back and forth.

Crex, his old friend, was alive?

Scarlett’s grip contracted on his forearm. “Some secrets I wish you never had to know.”

The hissing grew louder. A fireball filled the room.

21

DAMIEN

“Damien, you can put me down now. We’re well away from the blast and headquarters.”

Scarlett’s words barely penetrated the clamor in his head.

“Damien!” A warm, soot-covered palm landed on his jaw. “You need to take a break.”

Take a break? There was no stopping now. No rest until he outran what he’d learned and what had almost happened.

Another heartbeat’s hesitation, and he’d never have been able to swing Scarlett up onto his back and leap onto the cable, sliding down with the fireball hot on their heels.

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