Page 54 of The Girl He Claimed

Paige had to move quickly to avoida second blow. She caught her foot in the rope, spun wildly, and that allowedher to avoid the slash more by accident than by design.

Paige grabbed for the danglingropes around her, using them to lift the one leg she had free as she ignoredthe pain in her shoulder. She kicked out at Adam, catching him squarely in thestomach.

He managed to slash Paige's legeven as he doubled over. Paige cried out in pain, but she couldn't stopfighting back. She took one of the ropes she was holding, whipping it aroundAdam's wrist and pulling it tight so that he couldn't strike at her.

Adam lashed out at her with fistsand feet, hard enough to leave bruises, not hard enough to causeherpermanent injury. Paige had no choice but to go with the blows, tryingto twist her head out of the way or absorb the blows as best she could. Adampulled back, trying to get his knife against her. Paige fought through thepain, trying to find another way to use the rope to her advantage. It was theonly weapon that she had available then to save herself.

Paige ignored Adam's blows, and wrappedanother length of the rope around Adam's neck. Paige then pulled on the rope,using the leverage to choke him. She wondered what the two of them must havelooked like then, bound together, Paige unable to move, determined not to letgo of her grip on the rope that tangled Adam's knife arm. They were as closethen as lovers, as close as if they were two halves of a single whole.

Paige saw Adam turn red, then alivid shade of purple as she strangled him, not daring to let go because thatwould allow him to stab her again and again. She felt him struggling to breakfree, felt those struggles growing weaker. Paige felt him go limp then and onlythen dared to relax her grip.

She saw Adam lose his hold on theknife at that moment. She saw her chance and knew she had to take it. Paigereleased the rope then completely, hand snaking out to try to catch the knifeas it fell. Paige managed to catch it awkwardly, the blade cutting into herpalm as she did so.

Paige gritted her teeth, refusingto let the pain make her lose her grip on the knife. She needed it right thenbecause, without it, it would take too long to get out of the ropes that held her.Christopher was still in danger. She had to get to him before it was too late.

Paige used the knife to cut throughthe ropes holding her, freeing her left leg, then her arm. For a moment, allstrength left her, and she and Adam tumbled to the ground together. Adam wasunconscious, his eyes rolled up in his head.

Paige knew that she ought to stopand tie him, ought to go and look for her missing gun, but there was no time.She didn't know how long she'd been unconscious, didn't know how much timeCaroline had had to hurt Christopher. Any second she wasted might make her asecond too late in getting to him.

Paige couldn't let Christopher behurt, couldn't let him die. Paige started forward, heading for the tunnelsconnected to the main basement.

She had to find Christopher and theExsanguination Killer before it was too late.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

Paige stumbled through the tunnels,trying to find where Caroline had taken Christopher.

She was bleeding from the woundsAdam had inflicted on her, the wetness of it against her skin a reminder of howhurt she was. That didn't matter right then. All that mattered was getting toChristopher before it was too late.

Paige moved quickly down thetunnels, moving towards another patch of light ahead. That had to be whereCaroline was trying to kill Christopher.

This room was smaller than the mainbasement, set up as a kind of living space. Everything had been cleared to thesides though, leaving an open space on the floor. She then saw Christopherlying on the floor, bound by ropes that were stained red with blood.

She couldn't tell how much blood hehad lost then; she could only see that it was starting to pool around him.

She could also see Caroline,crouching by Christopher, her gaze fixed on him with a strange intensity.

"Get away from him,"Paige said. She knew that she ought to keep the advantage of surprise, but shecouldn't help it, not then, not when she could see Caroline there in front ofher partner, in front of the man she loved.

Caroline turned her gaze fromChristopher to look at Paige. Her eyes were the eyes of madness itself, alienand terrifying.

"You're too late," shesaid. "You can't save him. He's going to bleed out, regardless of what youdo."

"I'm not too late," Paigetold her. "I'm not going to let that happen."

Paige took a step forward, raisingthe knife she'd held on to, not wanting to waste another second. It was true:she was injured, and she was tired, and she had to move quickly, or Christopherwould die.

"You should have stabbed me inthe back, Paige," Caroline said. There was a scalpel in her hand."It's what I would have done. You can't beat me face to face."

"I'm not you," Paigereplied. "I'm not like you. You and Adam think that you're superior toeveryone else, but the truth is that you're just missing something. You'remissing the thing that makes you human."

"What? Weakness? Fear? Let meshow you how little that means."

Caroline lunged at Paige then. Herscalpel was smaller than the knife Paige held, but she had no doubt that itwould be wickedly sharp. Paige barely dodged to one side in time.

This was a fight for her life,Paige knew. For Christopher's life because he was still bleeding out on thefloor. She had to move quickly, but she still had to be careful. There was noroom for error, not with Caroline's scalpel weaving patterns in front of her.

Paige and Caroline slashed at oneanother, neither managing to connect, both looking for a way in. Carolinecircled and then attacked.

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