Page 13 of His Rejected Mate

She hadn’t answered my question. “Kira, I need to know that you’re okay.”

“I’ll be fine, but we’ve got to hurry. There’s no time to talk.”

The sounds of howling and snarling shifters, gunfire, pulses of magic, and screams of confusion echoed from deeper in the compound. The cacophony made me feel like we were in the middle of a war zone. Which, on second thought, was exactly where we were.

“Let’s go,” I urged, tugging on Kira’s hand. “We underestimated Simon’s defenses. This rescue mission is going to fall apart if we don’t hurry.”

Kira yanked her fingers from my grip. “Help me with Abel. We can’t leave him.”

I froze and looked toward the other exam table, where an unconscious man lay. It reallywasAbel. I’d been so focused on finding Kira and killing the vampire attacking her, nothing else about the situation had sunk in. The tunnel vision of battle had kept me from getting the whole picture.

I gaped down at him. “He’s alive?”

“Yeah. Help me.”

Together, we got him off the table. Abel was unconscious, and Kira weak and drained from whatever Simon had done to her. Rather than weigh her down with Abel, I lugged him over my shoulder like a sack of concrete.

With my free hand, I gestured at the door I’d come through. “Down this hall, first corridor on the right. That’s where I left Eli and Zoe. They were going to destroy as much of Simon’s equipment as they could.”

“Zoe?” Kira’s head whipped toward me, and I wasn’t sure if it was terror or relief that flashed through her eyes.

“She wouldn’t take no for an answer. Come on.”

Taking the lead, I hurried down the hall, Kira close behind me. The battle sounds grew as we rounded the corner and walked right into a full fight.

“Stay down,” I hissed at Kira, pushing her against the wall as we entered.

Zoe and Eli were using their abilities to fry equipment, computers, and everything in between. On the far side of the room, Crew, Mika, and Gavin fought a group of vampires and demons. Three of the Haveners fought Simon himself and a couple of feral shifters.

Simon looked irate as the battle played out. Irate, but not scared or nervous. More like he was pissed his day had been disturbed.

“Filthy idiots!” Simon screamed over the roar of battle. “Don’t you realize what you’re doing? How much work you’re destroying?”

Even from my distant vantage, I could make out the look of utter disdain and disgust he directed at Zoe. She had her back turned to him, and he raised his hand and sent a blast of magic her way. Eli jumped in front of the ripple of magic and blocked it, sending the spell careening into the wall. It slammed into the concrete, tearing a four-foot-wide hole in the wall. Had that power struck Zoe, she never would have survived.

Kira couldn’t stay here—things were too dangerous.

“Crew!” I called out over the cacophony.

He turned his wolf head toward me after dispatching a vampire.

“Fall back,” I said. “I’ve got Kira. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Crew nodded and shifted back to his human form. “Fall back! To the entrance. We have the target in hand. Fall back!”

The others immediately fell back toward us even as Simon and his team continued their assault. A stray spell slapped into the doorjamb beside me, bare inches from my face. A lick of purple fire washed across the wall, sending wicked, blistering heat toward me. Flinching away, I shouldered Abel more firmly and grabbed Kira’s hand to get her to the exit.

“Shit!” Kira shouted, pressing a hand to her forehead. “Leif. We have to save Leif.”

“What?” I barked at her, confusion and incredulity in my voice.

“They have Leif here. They had him in a cell. We can’t leave without him.”

A deep, angry growl rippled from my throat. The look in her eyes told me all I needed to know. Kira Durst had made a decision, and that was final. Either I helped her, or I knocked herout and dragged her out of here… and if I tried the latter, she’d never forgive me. Arguing would only ensure we were stuck in this damned place even longer.

One of Crew’s Haven guys, a burly bear shifter, rushed through the door.

“Hey!” I yelled at him. “Take this guy. We’ve got to save someone else.” I handed Abel’s limp body to him.

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