easier to carry around,” I said with derision. “Did you hide that steel under your dress?”
Christian chortled. “I’d wager she hid it in her giant fanny. Have you got a pillow in there? Something I can rest my head on while we wait for you to saunter on to the elevator?”
“It’s the high heels,” I pointed out. “They slow you down.”
Christian glanced at my bare feet. “Speaking of dry hooves, where the feck are your shoes?”
“Someone else wanted to walk a mile in them.” I smiled as we strategically distracted Audrey, who was now attempting to walk backward.
Christian glowered. “Those were an expensive pair, I’ll have you know.”
I stepped toward him. “Maybe you should have bought me cheap shoes like hers. Look, one of them is coming apart.” I gestured to Audrey’s feet.
She flicked a glance at her heels, and with that, I flashed down the hall and yanked her arm before twirling away. Christian moved like a bullet and fell on top of Wyatt to protect him.
Audrey swung the blade and sliced off a lock of Christian’s hair. I charged my light and blasted her from behind. She gasped, teetering for a moment with her arms raised. When she lowered her arms, I expected her to go down. But instead, I glimpsed the sword spearing my gut. I think I made a sound, but the only thing that registered in that moment was the searing pain.
Christian’s expression blackened. He launched to his feet, but before he could get to her, she withdrew the sword and sliced the air between them. Christian’s shirt ripped across the chest, and blood speckled Wyatt’s face.
Audrey wielded that sword as if she were born with it in her hand. I clutched my stomach and watched Christian dodge every swing until he knocked the blade with his forearm, breaking the steel in two. Undeterred, Audrey threw down the pieces and pushed her glowing red hands against his chest.
Christian blanched, and witnessing that vulnerability triggered a protective side of me that I’d only felt for my father.
“No!” I leaped forward and held her head between my hands. Before she could wrench free, I channeled a current of energy and blasted her in the skull.
Audrey made a guttural sound before Christian slammed her against the floor. He straddled her, locked his fingers around her throat, and squeezed until her face turned purple and I heard small bones cracking. She was still seizing from my attack, her eyes rolled back and drool sliding down her face.
“Stop!” I yanked on his shirt, still clutching my stomach with the other hand. “Don’t kill her.”
Wyatt sat up and rubbed his face as he came out of his trance. “Yeah, don’t kill her. Not until I get out of here.”
Christian whipped his head around and threw me an icy stare. His fangs were out, and he was in murder mode. “Anyone who harms you is fertilizer.”
Wyatt stood up and swayed. “Viktor wants her alive. But hey, if you want to drag her corpse home and explain yourself, by all means, carry on.”
Christian loosened his grip, but I could tell it was killing him to do so. Just as he leaned away, he suddenly descended upon her like a monster and buried his fangs in her neck.
Wyatt catapulted off his ass and knocked my partner off the woman, by far the bravest act I’d seen him perform. Even I wouldn’t interrupt Christian in the middle of dinner.
“Get off me, you eejit!”
Wyatt locked his legs around Christian’s head. “You can’t eat the prisoner! It’s not allowed.”
Christian slowly shifted his body so that he was facing Wyatt’s family jewels. Wyatt’s eyes rounded at the sight of Christian’s fangs, and he scrambled away.
I slumped to the floor, afraid to look down and see my intestines hanging out. I kept a firm grip over the wound to stanch the bleeding.
Christian held out his hand to Wyatt. “Give me your shirt.”
“This is my lucky shirt.”
“You’ll be lucky to live if you don’t give it to me.”
Wyatt peeled it off and flung it at Christian’s head. Christian flipped Audrey onto her stomach and then used the fabric to bind her hands together. Then he stood and forced Wyatt to sit on her back. “Stay there.”
When the elevator chimed, we all turned our heads. Niko slowly emerged, his swords stained in blood as he looked right and then left. He took a moment to assess the situation, though I couldn’t imagine how he could tell what was going on by