Bound by Danger (The Alliance #6) - Brenda K. Davies Page 0,10

small pinprick of light pierced the gloom ahead of him. The sides of the tunnel narrowed until it became only large enough for two men, walking side by side, to get through it.

And then a flash of light caught his attention as it shone off the gates barring his way. Fuck!

The gate consisted of bars that would weaken its structure and make it easier to get through than if it were solid metal, but it would slow him. He also didn’t know if they’d designed those to withstand a vampire.

He was about to find out as he shifted the woman further back, locked his arm around her legs, lowered his shoulder, and smashed into the metal.

The bars twisted and screeched as they bent beneath his weight. He kept the woman sheltered the best he could as he pushed against the metal barring him from freedom. Digging his toes in, he continued to shove against the bars as he fought to break free of the prison holding him for far too long.

He felt the Savages closing in, heard their excited chatter, and pushed harder. If he were at full strength, he would have broken through already and carried her to safety.

But he wasn’t at full strength, and it was taking far longer than it should to get free. Every second of delay was one in which they got closer.

The bars abruptly gave way beneath his weight. Unprepared for the sudden release, he stumbled forward and nearly hit the ground. He was stopped from doing so and jerked back when a bar snagged his jeans and sliced open the flesh around his ankle and calf.

Hands skimmed his back, but they weren’t her hands. With a sinking sensation, he realized the delay would be his death. It would not be the end of her.

Yanking her from his shoulder, he tore his skin further open as he jerked his jeans free of the bar. Blood spilled down his leg as he shoved her toward the beckoning rays of the sun. The woman cried out when she hit the ground on her ass and bounced toward the end of the tunnel. She came to a stop only feet away from the exit.

“Get in the sun!” he shouted at her.

Callie shook her head as she tried to figure out how she’d gone from hanging upside down to being thrown across the ground. Then his words pierced through her mind, and her heart lodged in her throat.

The sun! Freedom! Vampires hated sunlight, or at least that’s what so many things said anyway. And right now, she was willing to go with that myth as she’d always believed vampires were a myth too, until now.

On her hands and knees, she scrambled forward and threw herself into the day. Bursting out of the tunnel, she almost fell over the ledge running along the outside.

She blinked as she tried to get her bearings. Her eyes stung, and tears filled them as she remained on her hands and knees, staring down the rocky hill leading into a dry riverbed.

She clambered back before recalling that put her within arm’s length of the tunnel. Throwing herself forward, she clawed at the dirt beneath her and pulled herself up the pathway running along the rocky wall against her left side. Though her nails were short, one of them tore as it bent back.

Gritting her teeth, she rose and flattened her palms and back against the wall. She panted for breath and tried to control the riotous beat of her heart before she risked a peek back into the tunnel.

Straining to see, she spotted the man coming toward her, but before he made it to the end, those creatures pounced on him and brought him down. However, not all of them were content with their prize as some ran past him and toward her.

She ducked back from the entrance and turned to flee, but it wasn’t easy to run along the slippery, jagged rocks. It had rained overnight, and that rain had turned the surface of the stones into something akin to ice.

Her feet slipped, and she nearly went down, but she caught herself and pushed onward. She traversed twenty feet before she chanced a glance back. It felt like someone dumped a bucket of ice water over her head when she discovered one of the creatures following her.

She blinked at the smoke spiraling from it as she tried to understand if what she was seeing was real. However, the more she blinked, the more