White Knight by Kelly Meade Page B

of his accomplishment, his youthful face alive with delight despite his cloudy eyes.
    Very soon she would crush that.
    “Shay?”
    “Hello.” Shay wanted to hug him as much as she wanted to run from him.
    He snapped his fingers a few times, his head cocking. Listening. Like a bat using sound waves to map its surroundings. “This is better. Being with you.”
    “I knew it would be.” She glanced at the door, her beast demanding she bolt now, while she had the chance. She couldn’t anticipate the movements of the two hybrids, and she had no idea what sort of obstacles she would face during her exit. The entire building, however large, could be locked down tight as a drum, with no real escape.
    I have to take that chance.
    She would not sit on her ass and waste away in this room, and she couldn’t allow her brother and niece to do the same.
    “You sound better than the last time,” Leopold said. “Less sick.”
    “I am less sick. Desiree allowed me to shift, and that helped, but this collar they force me to wear? It also makes me sick.”
    “Why?”
    “It’s laced with silver, and silver is extremely poisonous to our people.”
    “Our sisters hurt you on purpose?”
    “They don’t want me to leave, so they’ve made sure I’m too weak to fight them.”
    “I’m sorry you’re hurting.”
    By the gods, Shay hated hearing him so heartbroken over something that wasn’t his fault or his to fix. It did nothing to bend her resolve. Coming back for them both was best. She couldn’t save them from inside this room.
    This is the right thing to do.
    “Would you like to hold Chelsea?” Shay asked.
    “Yes.” He moved closer, feeling his way along the floor, head angled toward the sound of her voice.
    She picked up the baby, who yawned but didn’t wake, and settled her into Leopold’s outstretched arms. He grinned so brightly it almost hurt. “There you go,” Shay said. “She’s sleeping.”
    “Yes. She’s so quiet. I’ve missed her.”
    “Now you can visit again.”
    With his attention on the baby, Shay silently slipped backward. No creaks on a cement floor, no click from her bare feet. He was still enamored of his niece when Shay shoved the door back into place. She snapped a pin off the floor and jammed one, two, three into place.
    Banging on the other side made her heart skip.
    “Shay? Why did you do that?” Leopold’s muffled voice was cracked, maybe even tear-filled.
    “I’ll come back for you, I swear it. I’ll take you home with me.”
    Shay didn’t wait for a response. She turned and fled down the hall, past rows of doors very much like her own. Some sort of old, cheap apartment housing. At the end of the dank hall was an exit door. She pushed against the metal bar, and it gave way with a loud squeal. The stairwell smelled of mildew and old things, but also of the hybrids. And sage.
    And freedom. The faintest wisp of fresh air tickled her nostrils.
    She pounded down flights of industrial stairs, heedless of noise or direction. Down was all that mattered. After at least six, the scents of fresh air and motor oil thickened. Heart filled to bursting with need and anxiety, Shay tore down a seventh flight and hit the ground floor. The stairs exited into another long corridor, this one ripe with the odors of decay and death. Black clouds of flies buzzed here and there.
    Whatever they’d been feeding her, she no longer believed it had come from the market.
    Nauseated, adrenaline pumping, Shay ran toward the distant glow of sunlight. Nothing mattered except sunshine and fresh air and freedom, and she was so close. She could see it on the other side of a wall of dirty windows and doors.
    She slammed against the metal door. It didn’t budge. She pushed and hit, but the bar didn’t move. It was locked from the outside.
    Shay swallowed a scream of frustration. She studied the glass windows, positive they weren’t reinforced. Many had cracked with age. Nothing in the small lobby presented itself as a