absently but didn’t remove his hand from her mouth.
They retreated one soft step at a time. He strained to hear what the men were doing, but the saws and thwack-thwack of cleavers combined with jolly laughs helped to conceal whatever noise Dodge made. He tried not to be grateful that disposing of a body was a noisy business that required a great deal of concentration, but there it was. The small gift the universe threw his way.
He’d rather be lucky than good any day.
He started to breathe a little when they got to the door to outside. He hadn’t seen anyone else at the trucks but carefully checked the area for any lingering meat-heads. When nothing else stirred – except for a distant roar from one of the animals – he dragged Persephone out into the open and hiked her up against his side so he could run.
Moisture on his hand almost distracted him before they reached her car. It was only when they could hunker down behind the engine block that he thought to investigate. Tears. She wept silently but intensely, and tremors had taken over her entire body. He swallowed guilt and a bit of grief for her, that she had to witness something so cruel. She should have been protected from something like that. A girl like her didn’t need to know that sometimes bodies got chopped up and fed to animals to get rid of them.
Hell, he didn’t like knowing it.
Dodge crouched in front of her as she leaned against the front tire. He didn’t remove his hand from her mouth but edged close, wanting to comfort her in the cool night air. “I need you to listen to me.”
Her eyes, still shining with tears, found him. His heart ached for her. God, what a mess. But he couldn’t afford to let her emotions distract him. He waited until she nodded before he went on, occasionally glancing over his shoulder to see whether the mobsters had moved. “Did they see you? Does anyone know you were working late?”
She blinked at him several times, then made a muffled noise. Dodge hesitated before uncovering her mouth, even though he needed to hear her answers. He cleared his throat and murmured, “Don’t scream, Persephone. Okay? Nod if you understand.”
She rolled her eyes in irritation, which he took as a good sign, but she nodded and waited as he slowly removed his hand. Dodge held his breath, just in case he had to tackle her if she started hollering.
The architect sniffled a little and wiped at her cheeks, trying to brush the tears away. “What’s going on? Who are those men? Why are you here? Were they really – really ch-ch-chopping up...”
Her tone went high and wobbly at the end and Dodge tensed, easing closer. “We can talk about it later. We have to get out of here fast. Does anyone else know you’re working late?”
“I d-don’t think so.” She shook her head and stared over his shoulder at the kitchen of horrors. “Geordie told me I had to move the delivery, so I did, but he said he had a meeting at four and wanted me gone by then. I didn’t realize...”
She took a shaky breath. Dodge nodded and carefully cracked the driver’s side door. “Okay. We can sort that out once we’re clear. You steer the car and I’ll push.”
He helped her up and into the car, but lunged to catch her hand when she went to automatically put the keys in the ignition. He took them away and shoved them into his pocket. “They’ll hear the car start. I’ll push it out of here and we’ll start it down the road.”
She nodded again but he wondered how much she actually processed. No doubt she was at the end of her rope. He met her gaze for a long moment, willing her to keep it together long enough for them to get clear, and crouched so he could squeeze her knee. The wolf wanted to climb in with her and curl up around her until she was safe and protected. But there wasn’t time for that.
Dodge kept his eyes on hers, relieved that she no longer cried. “You can do this. You’re very brave. I just need you to be brave ten more minutes and then I can take over. Look straight ahead, put it in neutral, keep the car on the road, and I’ll do the rest.”
Persephone stared at him, then managed to take a deep breath.