Free Last Vamp Standing by Kristin Miller Page A

wailed upstairs, followed by the sound of therians barking orders at one another. Someone got wind that the security of the market had been compromised.
    “Roxy,” Dante said.
    Ruan nodded. “She was gonna break through those chains sooner or later.”
    “Looks like sooner.”
    “Work your magic, Dante. Jump us out of here.”
    Dante balled the energy swirling through his gut into a tight fist. “You two ready?”
    “No, wait.” Confusion pitched Ariana’s voice so high that it hit the crusty ceiling and shattered around them. If Dante didn’t know better, he would’ve said Ariana’s pupils were vibrating. “You’re not taking me anywhere.”
    “Let’s go, D,” Ruan said, keeping his gaze on the spiral staircase over Dante’s shoulder. “Jump us out and we’ll fill her in on what’s happening later.”
    “No, you can’t.” Ariana spoke fast, the color in her cheeks changing from blush to porcelain white. “I’m going my own way from here.”
    The floor rattled beneath their feet, and dust shook from the walls. More orders boomed over their heads.
    “Are you crazy? They’ll find you here in two seconds.” Dante was more confused than ever. Why wouldn’t she take his ticket out? “You can’t stay here. They’ll kill first and ask questions later.”
    Ruan pulled two pistols from his belt. “Therians are about to raid us like gangbusters. We don’t have time for convincing. Let’s go.”
    He popped off a racket of shots as the first wave of therians flooded down the stairs. Instead of returning fire, they roared, shifting into a herd of beasts.
    “It’s not your job to protect me,” Ariana said, planting a hand on the wall to steady herself. “Go. I’ll be fine.”
    She didn’t understand. Dante had returned to the black market because he wanted to see her again, if only for a minute. He’d planned on following Black Moon’s breadcrumbs to her doorstep and had gotten so much more. If she thought he was leaving her behind now, while he and Ruan teleported somewhere safe, she was crazy.
    “I can’t leave you here,” he said as Ruan unloaded a round of bullets into the furry targets down the hall. “But if you take my hand, I can take you somewhere safe, just like I did last night. You can trust me.”
    “Trust you?” she scoffed, forehead crinkling. “I don’t even know you.”
    “What’re you waiting for, Dante!” Ruan backed against them. “I’m on my last round of silver!”
    “Then I’ll stay with you,” Dante said, knowing how crazy the words sounded coming out of his mouth. But there had to be a reason Ariana wanted to be left behind. A reason she’d come back after he’d teleported her last night. “I’ll help you with whatever it is you’ve got to do, and we’ll find a way out together.”
    She shook her head. “I don’t need your help.”
    But she did. He could see the uncertainty in her eyes. She didn’t know what the future held and it spooked her, no matter how she tried to play the independent part.
    “Come with me.” Dante took her hand. It was cold and jittery, clamming on contact. “And I’ll take us as far away from here as possible.”
    For the second time tonight, Dante spoke words he couldn’t stand behind. He couldn’t control where he teleported. That’s not how it worked. And now that he’d seen the forest firsthand, there was no saying he couldn’t teleport back on this jump. Still, he had to believe wherever they teleported would be better than the situation they were in.
    “You have no clue where you’re going to take me, now let me go,” Ariana said as Ruan tossed an empty weapon to the ground and unholstered another. She recoiled from Dante’s touch, jerking her hand from his. “You’re not going to do this to me again.”
    Did she really expect him to teleport without her, leaving her to the mercy of the therians and Juan Carlos?
    He didn’t have time to think things through.
    Ariana flickered. Right before his eyes.