The Blood Rescue

🩸CHAPTER 11: THE COLD STEEL

The text message faded into the crimson dark of the room, but the cold

weight of it lingered in my hands.

“This is your only chance to escape the monster.”

Outside, a heavy burst of automatic gunfire tore through the quiet

hallway, followed immediately by the agonizing scream of a Volkov

guard. The war was coming up the stairs. The Ivanov’s weren’t coming

to rescue an Omega; they were coming to butcher a rival’s asset. And

Elena was bringing the key.

A heavy, metallic thud echoed against the outside of my door.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

The three industrial deadbolts ground backward. The heavy

steel-reinforced door slowly swung open, a cloud of Gray Gunsmoke

rolling into the bedroom from the hallway. Standing in the frame,

gasping for breath, was Elena. Her servant uniform was torn at the

shoulder, her face smudged with black ash, and a heavy iron master-key

card was clutched tightly in her trembling right hand.

"Eva! Get up!" she gasped, waving her arm frantically toward the smoky

corridor. "The western stairwell is still clear, but only for another

two minutes. Viktor’s men have a car waiting by the greenhouse wall.

If we don't go right now, the Ivanov’s will clear this floor and

you’ll be trapped."

My fingers tightened around the cold, silver hilt of the dagger Jax

had given me. The metal bit into my palm, grounding me through the

waves of liquid heat still coiling through my veins. My biology was

screaming, a feverish, primitive instinct commanding me to protect the

bed, to protect the scent of cedar and smoke that still clung to the

velvet pillows.

I looked at Elena. I looked at the dark green, calculating eyes behind

her panicked face.

"You gave them the codes," I whispered, my voice dropping into a flat,

deadly register I didn't recognize.

Elena froze, her hand dropping slightly. "What?"

"The security codes for the front gates," I said, forcing my trembling

legs to stand, stepping off the bed. The red emergency lights painted

the rubies of my silk dress like fresh blood. "Viktor didn't just want

a meeting. He sold this entire compound to the Ivanov’s. He used you

to unlock my door so you could hand me over to them like a piece of

meat."

"Eva, you're crazy! The fever is messing with your head!" Elena

yelled, stepping into the room, her voice rising over the sound of a

distant grenade detonation. "Jax is a monster! He locked you in a

cage! We are trying to give you your life back!"

"No," I growled, the amber in my eyes swirling to the surface,

flashing with a sudden, fierce Omega dominance that made Elena

instinctively step back. "You're trying to exchange my cage for a

coffin. Viktor wants the throne, and he's using the Ivanov’s to clear

his path. The moment I step out of this room with you, I'm a hostage."

Elena’s face transformed. The timid, terrified servant girl vanished,

replaced by the cold, desperate look of a mafia operative who knew her

mission was failing. Her hand went to the back pocket of her apron,

her fingers wrapping around the handle of a small, concealed pistol.

"I didn't want to do this the hard way, Eva," Elena hissed, raising

the weapon. "But Viktor needs you alive. He doesn't need you willing."

Before she could level the barrel at my chest, my survival

instincts—honed by nineteen years of hiding in the worst gutters of

the city—exploded into action.

I didn't run away. I lunged forward.

I slammed my body weight directly into Elena's chest, throwing her off

balance. We crashed to the marble floor of the foyer, the gun firing

once, a deafening crack that shattered the vintage vanity mirror

behind us. Shards of silvered glass rained down like winter ice.

Elena snarled, her fingers clawing at my face, trying to bring the

weapon back up. But the raw adrenaline of my heat cycle gave me a

sudden, terrifying strength. I pinned her wrist against the floor with

my left hand, and with my right, I brought the silver dagger down.

The blade stopped exactly one millimetre from the pulsing vein in her neck.

"Drop it," I whispered, my chest heaving, my hot, citrus-and-rain

scent filling the narrow space between us. "Drop the gun, Elena, or I

swear to God, I will show you exactly what kind of Queen Jax just

claimed."

Elena stared up at me, her green eyes wide with absolute, paralyzing

shock. She looked at the molten gold glowing in my eyes, she felt the

terrifying, unyielding grip on her wrist, and she realized the fragile

little courier from the kitchen was completely gone.

Her fingers opened. The pistol clattered uselessly against the marble.

I kicked the weapon away, scrambled to my feet, and grabbed the heavy

master-key card from her hand. Before she could sit up, I threw myself

backward out of the doorway, grabbed the edge of the heavy

steel-reinforced door, and slammed it shut.

I rammed the key card into the interior panel, overriding the system.

Thud-thud-thud.

The three massive deadbolts ground back into place, sealing the room

once more. From the other side of the thick wood, I could hear Elena

frantically pounding her fists against the steel, screaming curses

that were instantly drowned out by a fresh roar of gunfire down the

hall.

I collapsed against the door, sliding down to the floor, clutching

Jax’s silver dagger against my racing heart. My dress was torn, my

hands were smudged with ash, and my fever was burning hotter than

ever. But as I looked at the shattered glass of the mirror, a dark,

victorious smile touched my lips.

I hadn't escaped the monster. I had chosen him. And now, I was going

to defend his nest until he came back to claim it.