Chapter 10

Elowë's POV

The grip on my shoulder was iron. Not painful, but absolute. The kind of hold that said struggling would be pointless.

I twisted anyway, pure instinct overriding logic. My feet slipped on the blood slicked carpet and I nearly went down, but the hand steadied me, kept me upright even as it dragged me backward.

Away from the narrow hallway. Away from my only visible exit.

My heart was trying to punch its way out of my chest. This was it. This was how I died. Dragged into some side room by one of those things, those vampires or werewolves or whatever the hell else was prowling these halls.

Then the hands spun me around and shoved me against the wall of the side corridor, out of the main flow of panicked women and the spreading pool of blood.

I looked up.

A man. Huge. Maybe six foot three, broad shoulders stretching a black t-shirt that had seen better days. Buzz cut so short it was almost nonexistent. A scar ran from his left eyebrow down to his cheekbone, old and pale against tanned skin.

He looked like he'd spent his life doing dangerous things and surviving them.

But his eyes.

His eyes were normal. Brown. No glow. No weird reflective quality like those things at the door or the server's backup muscle.

Human?

He held up one finger to his lips. The universal gesture for shut up.

I froze, pressed against the wall, my breath coming in short gasps that I couldn't quite control. He tilted his head slightly, listening to something in the hallway beyond. The sounds of fighting were still going on. Closer now. Something crashed with a boom that rattled the walls.

After a few seconds, he lowered his hand from my mouth and took a step back, giving me space.

I stayed plastered to the wall, staring at him.

"Who—" I started, my voice barely above a whisper.

He didn't answer. Instead, he started gesturing. Big, sweeping hand movements that looked urgent, like he was trying to communicate something important through sheer force of motion.

I frowned, watching his hands move. Some kind of sign language, maybe? But nothing I recognized. Not that I knew any sign language to begin with.

"I don't—" I shook my head. "What are you trying to say? I can't—"

He stopped mid-gesture, his expression shifting to something that looked almost like frustration. Then his hand went to his pocket and he pulled out a phone.

His thumbs moved fast over the screen. Faster than I could follow. Then he turned it around and held it up in front of my face.

The screen glowed in the dim light of the corridor.

I'm here to rescue you. Follow me.

I stared at the words. Read them twice to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.

He's mute.

That's why he wasn't talking. Not because he was some supernatural thing that didn't need to speak. Just a man who couldn't.

I looked up from the phone to his face. He was already pocketing it again, his eyes flicking past me toward the main hallway where the sounds of chaos were getting worse.

"Who sent you?" I asked, but he was already turning away, making a sharp gesture that clearly meant follow me now.

He started walking, moving fast but not running, his steps purposeful like he knew exactly where he was going.

I hesitated for maybe half a second.

Not many choices left for me, is it? Stay here and hope Cassian came back? Try to get past those things at the front door? Wander these halls alone until something found me?

At least this guy looked human. At least he'd said he was here to rescue me, even if I had no idea who'd sent him or why.

I pushed off the wall and followed.

He moved through the corridors like he'd memorized the layout. Sharp left. Straight through a narrow passage. Right at a junction where three hallways met. He didn't slow down, didn't check doors or peer around corners. Just walked like he owned the place.

Is he staff here?

The thought made my stomach clench. I remembered the server. The way he'd grabbed me, shoved me into that room, slapped me hard enough to make my ears ring. The casual cruelty in his voice when he'd threatened me.

If this guy worked here too...

We turned another corner and nearly walked straight into someone.

The server. The same one who'd hit me.

Well, speaking of the devil.

He froze when he saw me, his eyes going wide. He was holding a duffel bag, the zipper half open, and I could see cash inside. Stacks of it. Bills crammed in so tight they were spilling out the top.

Stealing. He was stealing in the middle of all this chaos.

His face shifted fast. Surprise to calculation to something that tried to look threatening.

"Who let you out?" His voice was low, but it had that same edge to it. That practiced menace that probably worked on most people. "You're supposed to be in your room."

I stopped walking. The mute guy had stopped too, just slightly ahead of me, his body angled like he was ready to move fast if he needed to.

I looked at the server. At his bag full of money. At the way he kept glancing over his shoulder like he was worried about getting caught.

"You're stealing," I said. My voice came out calmer than I felt. "Guess we're both breaking the rules."

His face darkened. Then he shrugged, trying to play it off. "Smart girl. You want to stay smart, you'll go back to your room and wait this out. When it's over, you'll still be in one piece." He jerked his chin toward the mute guy. "Who's this? You think following some random guy is going to get you out of here?"

I didn't answer. Didn't need to.

The mute guy took a step forward.

The server took a step back, and something flickered in his eyes. Fear, maybe. Or just the realization that the man in front of him was bigger, broader, and looked like he'd been in more fights than the server could count.

The server's hand came up and he clapped. Twice. Sharp and loud.

Oh God. Not again.

I remembered that sound. The last time he'd done it, two huge guys had appeared behind me. Vampires, probably, based on what I'd seen tonight.

"We need to go," I hissed at the mute guy, grabbing his arm. "Now. He's calling—"

But he didn't move. Just standing there, watching the end of the corridor.

Was he insane? Did he think he could fight a vampire?