He pressed his mouth to mine. I melted against him. The kiss was a balm. The pain I’d felt these past few days melted away. The sense of rejection. The anger, the bitterness, too. I was swept up in our connection, the heat of him forging me into something greater.
Catcalls. Grunts of irritation. Prods to hurry. They penetrated my awareness as Cole lifted his head. I was too dazed to move, so he spun me around, gave my butt a smack and helped me into the car. He climbed in beside me. We held hands the entire drive.
Camilla was lucky she was riding in the other car. Later we would be having a chat. Maybe with knives. I wouldn’t allow her to walk away—she’d have to crawl.
Once we pulled into the club’s parking lot, my internal clock kicked back on. We had a little less than an hour and a half before the exchange was to take place.
I’m not sure how Mr. Ankh had managed it, but he’d already cleared the lot. We strode inside, our booted footsteps echoing off the walls. I’d been here a few times before, but it had always been overcrowded. Now we were the only occupants.
Frosty and River took positions at the front door, and the rest of us marched to the center of the dance floor. Chance and Mackenzie kept going, a team, taking posts at the back doors, making me wonder if something had happened between them. All the others formed a circle around me, each one facing a different direction. Mr. Ankh had cameras outside and in. Cole, Frosty and River each wore an earpiece, allowing the males to stay in constant contact.
Twenty minutes passed without incident. Thirty. Forty. This could go down so many ways, my head spun. Anima could bring Justin or leave him behind. Could come in the front door or try to ambush us through the back. Or both! They could be no-shows. They could send one man or a hundred.
If worse came to worst and they came in hot, without Justin, we would fight, as Cole had said. We could cripple their forces and even take hostages. Do a little interrogating of our own. I’d give River free rein. I was past the point of caring.
Suddenly, Cole stiffened. “Two girls heading toward the front entrance.”
Girls? Without Justin?
I waited, fighting for breath, every second agony. Then Frosty stomped around the corner dragging Wren and Poppy behind him.
You’ve got to be kidding me. I pushed my way through the circle. “What are you doing here?”
“Some guy called me,” Wren said, anchoring her hands on her hips. She was a smart, beautiful black girl, with a stubborn streak a mile wider than my own. “He said I had better get here quick or I’d miss Justin.”
“And you believed him?”
Poppy, a model-pretty redhead, looked around. “What’s going on?”
We had to get these girls out of here. But we couldn’t send them off on their own. Anima could be waiting to grab them. We couldn’t spare a solider to escort them. We needed all the manpower we could get. But then, Anima had known that and had hoped to thin the herd.
“Take them to the back office,” I said. “Lock them in.”
Both girls stared at me with wide eyes.
“It’s for your own protection.”
“Seriously. What’s going on?” Poppy demanded.
“You walked into the middle of a war.” I waved Jaclyn over. “Whatever you hear, you aren’t to leave that office. And if someone you don’t recognize busts in, shoot.” I placed a .38 revolver in Wren’s hand. It had a manageable recoil for a novice. “Have you ever fired one of these?”
“N-no,” she stuttered, “and I never want to.”
Too bad. “It doesn’t have a safety, so if you squeeze the trigger, you’re firing. But it does have a double-action trigger, which means it won’t fire unless you squeeze all the way. Do not point the barrel at yourself or Poppy, understand?”
Jaclyn grabbed both girls by the arms. “Come on.”
“Guns? A war?” Poppy cried, digging in her heels, wheezing. I think she was having a panic attack. “What kind of war?”
“We don’t have time for this.” Camilla rushed over and flung her arm around Poppy, forcing her into the hallway.
Boom!
The entire building shook. A blast of white-hot air knocked me across the room, and something hard smashed into me.
Every inch of me throbbing, I fought to sit up. My ears rang. Smoke billowed, nearly choking me. I coughed, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. Little fires, everywhere. An entire wall of the club, gone. My friends, scattered across the debris-laden dance floor.
Gavin was crawling to Jaclyn, who appeared to be unharmed as she helped Wren and Poppy to their feet. Also unharmed. Thank God!
River and Frosty were lifting a piece of plaster from Veronica’s chest.
Camilla was trying to tug River...toward the front door? He kept shrugging her off, determined to help Chance, who had an unconscious Mackenzie in his arms.
Bronx lay on the ground, struggling to rise.
Cole...where was Cole?
I spun, searching, desperate. “Cole!”
A wall of smoke cleared, and I expected to see him run through it.
Instead, I saw zombies.