Later. Desire threatened to take over again. “If you’re offering.” When they were someplace safe, Malik would feed. He would strip Ivan of his clothes and touch and kiss and lick every inch of him, and then Malik would never let go.
“Will you be my mate?” Nerves formed a knot in his belly.
“I thought I was too dead for you.”
Malik blushed. He was. He was a phantasm, except his blood was alive. He was alive. “Maybe I was wrong.”
“Maybe I told you so.” Ivan curled a hand around Malik’s neck and pulled him down for a kiss. “Now, how do we get out of here? I can travel inside the wall, I think.” He glanced upward. “Are there doors? I don’t see well in the dark.”
Malik nodded, there were doors, but…“You didn’t answer.”
Ivan frowned at him. “You want me to say if we’re gonna be together forever after a near-death experience and a hand job on top of an elevator before we’re even out of here?”
Malik feared he’d be sick at Ivan’s flippant tone. “Yes.”
“Of course, we are, darling. Did I ever give you the impression we were gonna go our separate ways after this?”
Malik stared, happiness and nerves battling in his chest. “It’ll be forever. For several hundred years.”
“I know, hon. Now, can we focus on the problem at hand?”
“But—”
Ivan shook his head and moved so he was straddling Malik. “I will stay with you forever. We’ll fight. We’ll make love. I’ll scream and shout at you. I’ll teach you how to read. You’ll be so annoyed with me you’ll wish you could drown me in a river. You’ll have to listen to Raina talk forever and ever. I fear we’ll have to live with or at least close to a werewolf. I will never let you go. But, our most pressing matter, is to get out of here.”
Malik nodded. A lump formed in his throat. Ivan was keeping him. He wasn’t going to go back to live in a cage in a cold basement. There was no stake threatening to shoot through his heart at any given moment.
“Are there doors?”
“Yes.”
Ivan frowned. “I wonder if you can open them from in here. Are there doors inside the building? There are no buttons in the elevator to get us up to those floors.”
The sound of protesting metal came from the elevator cart. “Ivan!” Raina’s voice rose from below. “If your dead, I’m gonna kill you.”
“It would be a bit counter-intuitive, would it not?” He peeked down through the hatch.
“I might have to as retribution for scaring me. Come on, we need to get going.”
Ivan got off Malik’s lap. “I guess we’re going this way.” He went down, feet first, into the elevator. Malik blew out a breath before following.
“How did you get in?” Ivan was looking at Raina.
“We don’t have much time. Zev is distracting the crazy wizard.”
“He’s still alive?”
“Zev or the wizard? If you meant the wizard, I’m afraid so. He’s barricaded himself in the pantry with his cat and is shooting fireballs at Zev whenever he sees him. He had no problem sacrificing his men, but when Zev went for the cat…” Raina shook her head. “Zev’s peeking out around the corner every tenth second or so to keep him busy while Dante and I tried to get to you.”
Malik turned and stared at Dante, who stood outside the elevator.
“Brother.” He hadn’t meant to whisper, but he’d never expected to see Dante again. No matter what he’d told Ivan, a part of him had believed he’d either get killed by the crazy wizard or that Remington would come back to get him somehow.
Dante clapped his shoulder. “We should leave before Master finds a way to get to us.”
“Does he have the trigger?” Cold spread in Malik’s chest.
“No, Miss Raina has it. Though I suspect he has more than one to each device.”
Raina frowned at him. “The one I took is in the car. We’ll get the stakes removed, worry not. And it’s Raina, not miss.”
They couldn’t know for sure it was the trigger to Dante’s stake, and as Dante said, Remington probably had backup triggers. Once he got in contact with someone in the house, Dante’s stake would most likely be fired. Malik took a deep breath and reminded himself it was made of plastic. No matter how unpleasant it was to get staked, it wouldn’t kill Dante, and Ivan and Raina could remove it. As they would Urien’s.
Ivan grunted. “How many did you steal?”
Raina grinned. “Only three.”
“Awesome. We can come back for more later.”
Raina grinned at him and Malik wondered what the hell they were talking about.
With brisk steps, Raina aimed for the doorway. “Let’s get going.”
“I told absurd Remi I’d pay for them with the necklace. You still have the necklace?”
Ivan patted his pocket. “I do.”
“Great! Now, let’s leave. I fear this place will be swarming with wizard minions and vampires any second.”
Malik stared at them. How could they be so at ease with being on the run? Fear wanted to freeze Malik’s heart when he thought about Remington Redwood and the horrors of the basement.
They exited the coatroom, walking quickly.
“Zev!” Raina stopped by the entrance to the kitchen, and Malik took a second to take in the destruction around them. It had been a nice hotel, the little he’d seen of it.
There was a growl, and then a fireball flew past the entrance. Raina turned to them. “It takes him a few seconds to reload, so I suggest we run after the next one.”
Seconds went by, then there was a new growl from Zev and a new fireball flying past the doorway. Raina sprinted forward as soon as it had passed, as did the rest of them. They dove in behind a counter. “The exit is through there.” She pointed at what looked to be the room where they kept the dishwasher. She tossed the car keys to Ivan. “You go first. Start the car. I’m coming with Zev.”
“What about the third vamp?” Ivan frowned at her, and Malik winced as he pictured Urien paralyzed in the car. He must be terrified. He shuddered as he remembered the stake piercing his heart in Raina’s living room, and he only had to wait a couple of minutes before they got it out. They’d left Urien for a long time.
“He got staked. Plastic, so we need to fix it once we’re somewhere safe.”
Ivan’s eyes widened. “Crap.”
“Yeah, I know, but we didn’t have much time. Now go!”
Zev growled, and Ivan ran toward the door. Malik and Dante followed.
* * * *
It was dark as Ivan stumbled out the kitchen door, but he spotted a car blinking when he pushed the unlock button. He jumped in on the driver’s side and pushed the key into the ignition. “Buckle up, boys.”
In the rearview mirror, he saw Malik reach over the backseat and pat the unconscious vampire’s hand while speaking softly.
Raina held the kitchen door open and out sprinted a limping wolf. She threw it shut and ran to the car and opened the door. “Get in.” She pushed at Zev. “Go, Ivan!”
Ivan got the car rolling at the same moment as Raina got in. The kitchen door banged open. Wenior stumbled out behind the car, a fireball glowing in his hand.
“Go, go, go!” Raina smacked her hand against the driver’s seat.
“I am going!” He drove as fast as he dared to. The fireball lit up the alley around them as Wenior threw it. It sailed toward the car and time stopped. In slow motion, Ivan steered close to the wall of the hotel. Sparks rained as the metal of the car slid against the brick.
The fireball landed where the car had been half a second ago, and fire specks rained over the car. The hairs on Ivan’s arms stood as the air heated, but it soon cooled off again, and as he rounded the corner and got out on the main road, he blew out a breath. “Everyone okay?”
“Zev’s not. He’s been shot in the leg.”
A snarl sounded in the car, then Zev melted into human form. “Fuck.”
Ivan watched him in the rearview mirror. “What do you need?”
Wild eyes met his in the reflection. “Food and to get the bullet out.”
Food? Before he could ask what kind of food, Zev changed back into wolf.
“Crap! What kind of food? The bullet will have to wait until we’re somewhere we can stop.”
“Protein.” Malik’s voice reached him from the back.
“A burger?” They could find a drive-through nearby.
“He’d need way more than one.”
“Damn.” Ivan weaved through the traffic. “Anyone else hungry?”
No one answered.
“Raina, do you have any money?”
“No cash. I have a credit card.”
“Are you covered in blood?” Ivan and Malik were, he didn’t know about Dante, but they couldn’t have him do the talking. It would be suspicious if a vampire ordered food.
“Erm…yeah.”
“Me, too.”
“Drive-through, and we’ll pretend to be sleeping back here. Do we have a blanket?”
Ivan didn’t reply. He had no idea if there was a blanket. He didn’t know whose car he was driving.
As he drove and no sirens sounded, no fireballs came flying, and no army of vampires chased them, he blew out a breath. Little by little, his shoulders sank to their normal position, and he actively searched for a drive-through.
Silence spread in the car, and when a neon sign claiming there was a drive-through open around the clock, he signaled a turn. “Raina, you need to come here so you can pay.”
She patted Zev on the head before climbing over him and squeezing through between the front seats.
Ivan looked at her. Normally, when they rushed out of a city, it was only the two of them. They took turns driving and didn’t stop for more than a few minutes to grab something to eat and use the bathroom at some gas station or similar place. Now they had the car filled with vampires and werewolves, and they were all covered in blood. “I wish we could keep going.” Why he whispered, he didn’t know. Everyone in the back had excellent hearing.
“Yeah.” Raina grimaced. “We’ll act as normal as we can.”
He hummed. “Yeah, that’ll be easy. How many burgers does a wounded werewolf need?”
“Twenty.” Malik’s deep voice made him grin.
“Yeah, we’ll melt right in. And how many burgers do you guys want?” He glanced into the dark backseat.
“We’re used to going without food.” It was Dante answering, and Ivan glared in his direction.
“It was not what I asked. When did you last eat?”
Silence stretched.
“A couple of weeks. We’re fed after missions. It’s fine.”
Ivan growled, not as impressively as Zev could do, of course. “It’s not.” After missions. This was after a mission, and while Dante hadn’t been shot, his knee had been out of commission for a time before he managed to heal it. He needed food, maybe even blood.
He rolled forth and ordered forty burgers, fries, and five milkshakes. He didn’t know if anyone liked milkshake, but he was in the mood for one. The woman handing him the food didn’t comment, but she sent a couple of curious glances into the car.
Once they’d paid for everything with Raina’s card, he drove to the farthest corner of the parking lot and handed out the burgers. Raina climbed back and fed burger after burger to Zev.
“Whose car is it?”
“Zev’s brother’s.”
Ivan blew out a breath. At least, they wouldn’t be stopped for driving a stolen car.
“Where are we going?”
Zev changed back to human form. Sweat was coating his skin, and he gritted his teeth. “Ashfield. I know a guy…” He hissed.
“South, right?”
“Yes.” He changed back into wolf.
When Malik opened the door, Ivan almost yelled at him to get the fuck back into the car. He did without Ivan having to say anything. He opened the door and sat on the passenger seat.
“Hiya, darling.” Ivan pulled him close and gave him a quick kiss. “Ready for a road trip?”
Malik gave him a short nod.
“Anyone needs the bathroom before we go? It’ll be a long night.”