Free Bloody Kisses by Virginia Nelson, Saranna DeWylde, Rebecca Royce, Alyssa Breck, Ripley Proserpina Page B

whooshed open, but he was not all surprised to find it vacant. A hole had been torn in the steel of the ceiling and that was likely how Polidori had made his exit.
    “I told him I was going to kill him.”
    Her need for revenge, or maybe it was justice, it didn’t matter, but it was still a heavy weight that settled like manacles around him.
    “Do you want me to kill him for you?” he offered casually, as if her answer was of no real consequence.
    But it did matter. It mattered so much he could taste it.
    “No.” She shook her head. “I just want to get the hell off this island. John will get what’s coming to him, I’m sure. He abandoned his post in a crisis. The people I work for have… rules about that.”
    “Isn’t that what you’re doing?”
    “No. You’re going to help me get to a safehouse on the other side of the island.”
    “My boat—”
    “I have to get in touch with the mainland before I do anything. I’m not putting my neck on their chopping block, too, for abandoning my post. It’ll be safe. Just get me there.”
    He sighed. He didn’t think it was the right choice, but what did he know? She was the one who worked for Bureau 7. She seemed confident that Polidori was going to be punished ugly for what he’d done, and maybe she had firsthand experience.
    “How far is it?”
    “About eight kilometers through dense forest. There’s a trail.”
    “That all of the staff working here know and so, too, probably, do the revenants.”
    “So we need to move fast and hope we get there first.”
    “Then let me carry you.”
    “Excuse me, what?” She eyed him.
    “I didn’t stutter. I can move much faster than you can. I’m immune to their bites. You need to get there fast, and I can get us there fast. I don’t need to stop to breathe. I don’t need to worry about rocks or uneven ground.”
    “So, should I just climb on your back, or what?”
    She looked so doubtful, he couldn’t help but smile. He didn’t want to smile. This was serious business and there shouldn’t have been anything to smile about.
    But smile he did.
    “Well, it is a bit ridiculous, isn’t it?” She smiled back.
    By the angels in heaven… or perhaps it more like by the demons in hell… The smile transformed her face. He’d never liked looking at one of them so much as he did this one—humans. Women.
    He wanted to keep that smile on her face always because she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. She was enough to make him believe in the divine.
    “Come, like this.” He swept her up, taking her ax, and pressing her against his chest.
    “I can’t see what’s coming now.”
    “You don’t have to see. Leave that to me. Just hold on.” Adam had never understood what it was like to hold something he found precious. He was careful with the antiques in the castle, he was aware of the power in his body, the strength. He knew he had to be careful with small things, but this was different.
    He didn’t have the words to explain it.
    Yes, she was definitely enough to cause him to believe in the divine because it would take the hand of such a being to wrest her from him now that he had her.
    She was so soft, but he didn’t he didn’t get the sense that she was fragile. Perhaps human, breakable in a singular way that only humans were, but she was strong, too. She didn’t need coddling, didn’t need saving. Not really.
    Adam tried to quell the disappointment he felt. If he was honest with himself, there was part of him that wanted to be her knight. Her savior. It was a role he’d hated and despised, but resented for all of her ancestors since his birth.
    But for her, he wanted to fulfill his purpose.
    He couldn’t, because she didn’t need him.
    Taking a revenant’s head from his body with a one-handed swing of the ax told him that maybe that wasn’t entirely true.
    She turned her face against his chest and hung on tight.
    Adam felt guilty he was so aware of her—of the way her body fit against his.