Page 8 of Savage Princess

The Elena who is going to arrive in Boston when we get out of here won’t be the same one who left Mexico.

Elena

Levin reluctantly goes down the fire escape first, since I’ll need his help going down with only one good ankle. I slip through the window as soon as he tells me in a low voice that there’s room, my heart pounding in my chest as I slide out, feeling the rickety sway of the fire escape under my feet as they touch the metal. I want to throw up, thinking how far down I’ll fall if the fire escape collapses—not enough to kill me, but definitely enough to hurt badly.

“Just follow me down,” Levin murmurs. “We’ll go as fast as we can, but just hang on. You can do this.”

I know he’s there to catch me if I fall, but I also know that would probably take us both down. My pulse is lodged in my throat as I start to go down the rungs after him, feeling every slip and sway as I cling to it, waiting for the moment when he tells me he’s on the ground.

“Let go,” Levin murmurs a few moments later, when I’m almost at the bottom rung. “I’ll catch you.”

It takes everything in me to obey. But I trust him and let go, slipping down as I suck in a deep breath of the humid, fetid alleyway air.

His arms close around me, holding my back against his chest as he catches me. I slide down his body as he lets me down, feeling every inch of him against me, and for one brief instant, I feel his arms tighten around me, holding me very close.

I can feel his breath against the back of my neck, ruffling the small hairs, warm and yet sending chills all over me, from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.

And then I hear footsteps from the back of the alley, and Levin goes stiff.

“Fuck,” he swears under his breath. “Elena, we have to go.”

His hand closes around mine, and we both bolt forward, making a run for the other end of the alley.

“Follow me,” he growls, his voice low and harsh as we dart around the corner. “Just hang onto me and fuckingrun.”

My ankle throbs, shooting pain up my leg, but I know there’s no favoring it now. If I let it slow me down or stop me, I might as well be dead. I don’t know if these men plan to kill me now or take me somewhere else, but that doesn’t matter either. No matter which outcome they have planned, it’s either death now or a fate worse than death until it comes for me eventually.

Getting caught isn’t an option. I repeat it over and over in my head as I run with Levin, the pain in my leg building until all I feel is burning, throbbing heat from my ankle up to my hip, but I don’t slow down.

I didn’t escape a plane crash and certain death on a beach in order to get caught and dragged back to Diego’s nonexistent mercy now.

I can see the neighborhood we’re in getting worse as Levin and I run, crossing streets and ducking down alleyways, until, at last, he pulls me up next to him against a stone wall, his chest heaving as his arm presses across my stomach, holding me back as he peers around a corner.

I’d been so focused on the pain in my leg that I hadn’t even noticed how my lungs were burning, a painful stitch forming in my side, but now I’m awash with pain. I’ve never been so relieved as when Levin looks back at me, nodding.

“I think we lost them,” he says quietly. “Come on. We need to find a place to hole up for a little while.”

“We don’t have any money.” I can feel cold panic starting to settle in, the shock of the night creeping over me. “What are we going to do—”

“Just leave it to me.” Levin’s arm goes around my waist, his previous hangups about touching me seemingly gone as he helps me limp down the street, staying close to the buildings as he looks around. It’s very early in the morning, and the streets seem entirely deserted. “I told you, Elena,” he murmurs, glancing down at me. “This is the kind of danger Icanprotect you from.”

As we make our way slowly and clumsily down the street, I realize I still believe him. The beach had been terrifying, hopeless, butthis—this, I think he has under control. I trust that he’s going to find a way out.

We stop at a small, glassed-in nook, and I see Levin glancing inside. There’s an ATM on the far wall, and Levin scans the room, his eyes narrowing.

“There are no security cameras,” he says quietly, and I blink at him.

“How do you know that?”

“There’s no lights. A working camera has a blinking light.” He gestures to the alley next to us. “Wait there, Elena.”

I stare at him. “What are you going to do?”

His jaw clenches. “I’m going to pop the lock on that door, and then I’m going to break into that ATM, so we can get a room for the night,” he says determinedly. “And you’re going to wait in that alley for me until I’m done.”

“What if you get caught?” My heart is pounding all over again as I stare at him, wide-eyed. This is something new, far from the realm of anything I’d ever imagined us—or him—doing. “Levin–”

“I’m not going to get caught,” he says firmly. “But if for some reason I do, then you’re going to run like hell, and you’re going to try to find the Mexican embassy and see if they can get you back to your father. I don’t know if that’s going to work, but at the very least, they won’t charge you with your father’s crimes. You might be able to get some kind of help. It will be your best chance if I’m gone.”

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