Katie's Hellion (Rhyn Trilogy, Book One) by Lizzy Ford Page B

crowds toward Andre’s building.
    Coming for her.
    "Shit, shit, shit!"
    Half drunk, shoeless, scared shitless, she
had no option for escape except to crawl from her balcony onto the
ledge. She wiped the glass shards from the ledge and carefully
stepped out, standing against the outside wall. The ledge was just
wide enough for her foot to fit fully. The wind was harsher, colder
than it was just a few minutes ago. She pressed the front of her
body against the building, dug her fingertips into indents in the
stone, and slid her foot along the roughened ledge to the right,
stepping slowly and forcing her head up.
    "I don’t even speak French," she muttered.
"No passport, no identification, no shoes."
    She moved along, foot-by-foot, focusing on
the next stone and on her anger to keep from sobbing and falling to
her doom. The sounds of chaos below grew as emergency vehicles
responded.
    Boom. She tensed and held her breath. The
rocket slammed into an ambulance parked in front of Andre’s, the
brilliant explosion throwing heat and light that reached her on
what she estimated was the twentieth floor. She started moving
again, panic rising as she realized not all the attackers in the
building across the street had jumped to the street. She was
vulnerable, exposed. If they wanted her dead, she’d given them the
best target imaginable.
    A shuffling drew her attention, the sound at
odds with the chaos below. She looked back toward Andre’s
apartment, surprised to see two dark forms on the ledge following
her.
    She reached a balcony and lowered herself
carefully onto it. The French doors were locked, and she beat on
them, looking around wildly for deck furniture to break the glass.
The patio was empty.
    Boom. She dropped instinctively to the
ground. The rocket smashed into the floor below, shattering glass
and pulverizing part of the balcony. The impact was close enough to
deafen her to everything but her own breathing. She stared at the
broken glass before her and then at the men nearing on the ledge.
Across the street, she imagined the man with the rockets taking
careful aim at her. Her only chance at safety was across a swath of
broken glass.
    For the second time that night, she began to
think she hadn’t drunk enough whiskey. She rose unsteadily and
brushed some of the glass away with her bare foot, near tears.
    Boom.
    She ran, crying out as glass shredded her
feet. She forced herself to continue to the apartment’s entrance
and flung open the door, revealing a hall with auxiliary lighting
reflecting off a white marble floor. She stepped inside, sagged
against the wall, and lifted one bloodied foot. She pried glass
free with shaking hands between sobs, then set her foot down and
did the same for the other. Familiar dizziness assailed her. She
shoved herself away from the wall and staggered down the hall. A
hole in the floor was between her and the elevators.
    Boom. The lights went out. She clung to the
wall, at a loss as to what to do. Right about now, she’d be happy
to see Kris and would even risk going to the shadow world!
    She felt two tiny bites on her arm, and
suddenly electricity flew through her. Her mouth opened in a frozen
scream as the burning pain paralyzed her. The current stopped, and
she convulsed on the cold marble floor.
    Red flashlights blurred before her eyes.
Gloved hands snatched her. A hood went over her head, and she was
flung across someone’s shoulder hard enough to make her ribs flare
with pain.
    Dazed and pained, she couldn’t help but wish
she’d just jumped off the ledge instead.
     
     
     

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    Sasha himself, followed by two members of his
guard of immortal badass creatures, delivered the new, bloodied
tenant to the cell across the hall. They were trailed by a man Rhyn
recognized well.
    Jade. One of Kris's warriors. With
some satisfaction, Rhyn wondered if another of Kris's men had
gotten as fed up with Kris as he had.
    Sasha left without even a smartass remark,
and Rhyn rose,