United (The Guardians Book 2) (30 page)

“Wait!” Gable yelled desperately. Chase held all the cards, and there was nothing left she could do. She clicked the safety back on her gun and threw it to the side as a show of faith, where it disappeared in the hole in the floor. “I'll come with you.”

Chase grinned, huffing out his relief while genuine happiness shone in his eyes. “I knew it, I knew you cared. Come on!” Tucking the box firmly under one arm, he held out his spare hand for her to take.

Gable stepped forwards, and suddenly the door slammed open behind her.

“Gable!” Zay sounded so relieved to find her alive. He looked rough – that last fight had definitely taken it out of him. He was bruised and scraped and his black vest had a big rip across the center, and underneath that she could see a red slash – probably a shallow knife wound. His shoulder was hanging oddly, most likely dislocated, but he was still standing. He was tough as hell. “Ward lost complete control when his powers turned back on. Queenie's getting him out of here. We need to leave, now! The fight is over – the guards have been overpowered.” His eyes flickered to Chase like it was the first time he was noticing him standing there, and then to the hand Chase was holding out for Gable, before landing back on her. “What's going on?”

Zay had come back for her, at the risk of his own life. Even when the building was collapsing around them, he hadn't run with the others, he'd stayed to find her. If she'd had the time, Gable would have been overwhelmed.

“Gable, come on!” Chase instructed sternly. His eyes were wide and wild, and he was glaring at Zay like he was an intruder there to steal his woman.

“What?” Zay's face paled as he realized what was going on. “Gable, no!”

Ignoring him, Gable darted past his outstretched arms and took Chase's hand.

“Hold on to me,” he told her, grinning smugly as he pulled her tight to his chest. His face dropped when he tried to pull his hand free to reach for the key and she wouldn't let it go. “Gable, I need my hand to use the k-”

“Sorry, friend,” she spat, twisting his hand until she felt something crack. He cried out, and she used the distraction to rip the key chain from his neck.

“What are you doing?” he practically screamed. “I thought you understood! Wha-”

“I'll never understand, you sick freak.” Letting his hand go, she punched him as hard as she could. He flew back in a shower of nose blood, his box dropping to the ground and splitting open. Papers drifted up and scattered everywhere.

She glanced at Zay, who grinned at her. “I never doubted you,” he lied, and she quirked an eyebrow in response.

In all of the commotion, a picture on one of the papers caught her eye, causing her heart to skip a beat. Was that Sacha?

She dropped down to investigate, and then something roared deafeningly around them as the ceiling gave way.

“GABLE!” Zay barreled into her, rolling her out of the way just as the ceiling collapsed, right where she'd just been crouched. She felt chunks of rubble and shards of plaster cutting into her sides but she ignored the pain and focused on what was important, like the fact that Zay had just saved her from being crushed.

Chase, on the other hand, had not been so lucky. He was buried, completely and totally. There was no way he could have survived it.

Zay glanced behind him and gulped, realizing that they had only just stopped inches away from rolling into the hole in the floor. “We need to get out of here. Like right the hell now!” he yelled into Gable's ear.

“Our exit is gone!” She nodded over at the doorway, blocked by more rubble.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her up. They couldn't go through the next room without the ability to fly over the gaping hole, so there was only one other option. Tugging her towards the window, he wasted no time sliding it up. Below them, the grassy area between the two buildings was filled with Outcasts.

“It's our only way out,” he said. “It's not too high, right?”

She grimaced. It was only a two story drop, but still. . .

The floor gave another dangerous shake beneath them, and she knew they were all out of options.

They climbed onto the ledge of the window. Zay took her hand in his and squeezed, and they glanced at each other. Gable couldn't help but feel a sense of deja vu as she thought back to that day on the boat. She shoved the key into her pocket.

“One,” he counted down quietly. “Two. . .”

They threw threw themselves off the ledge before he could get to three.

It wasn't far, but Gable's ankle gave way when she landed on it badly. She stumbled to the ground with an annoyed cry.

“You okay?” Zay asked, having fared much better than she. He squatted down next to her and she winced when he pressed gentle fingers against her ankle. “Just twisted, I think. Let me find something to wrap it.”

“It's fine,” she said, shaking him off and climbing unsteadily to her feet. There was simply no time for a twisted ankle. She'd done her duty, she'd found Pablo's partner, found the key, and now she had to find Sacha.

Holding onto Zay's shoulder for balance, she searched, her head darting from side to side as she looked.

Nearby, Outcasts were crouched together in groups with their arms over their heads, too traumatized to run, even as the earthquake continued to move the ground. On either side, both buildings were falling down.

“Zay!” she heard Queenie call. “Gable!”

She was holding onto Ward not far behind them. He was on his knees, gripping his head and moaning.

“Can you stop?” Zay called out to him.

“I'm trying!”

Zay grimaced sympathetically. “Sorry about this, buddy.” Then without hesitating, he clocked Ward on the back of his head with his gun. Ward dropped down, unconscious.

“Zay!” Queenie protested.

He shrugged. “He'll thank me later.”

The earthquake stopped. There was a collective sigh of relief, though things were still hectic.

Gable left Zay, limping through the crowds. Now that the earth was standing still, finding Sacha would be much easier.

She span in a circle, scanning faces.

Or it should be. . .

Where the hell was he?

Zay had been right before – the fight really was over. Outcasts sat and stood and lay all around her; alive, dead, injured. Some rejoiced, some whimpered in pain, some screamed, laughed, sang, cried over their losses. Those who weren't too badly injured were helping others in much worse condition.

Many of the guards had been left alive. A lot of them had been overpowered and tied up by Outcasts hell bent of revenge but some of them were simply sitting together in groups, weaponless. They were staring down at their feet, silent, and Gable realized that they were the ones who had given up. They'd seen that they were on the losing side and decided they'd rather face their punishment than fight to the death.

And they would be punished. She had a feeling those Guardian prisons were about to get seriously overcrowded.

But she didn't care about them, not right now. There was only one person she cared about, one person's face she wanted to see. She stopped in the middle of the grass and span in circles, searching.

Dread began to set in with a sickeningly heavy weight at the bottom of her stomach when he didn't appear.

Zay caught up to her again and grabbed her shoulder. “With everything going on I completely forgot the key! We didn't-”

“I have it,” she replied distractedly before he could crap his pants.

He threw his head back and blew out a long puff of air, his whole body relaxing. “Thank fuck.”

At least, she
thought
she had the key, but she didn't feel like telling him that just yet. If the key that had been around Chase's neck wasn't the
actual
key then. . . Well, then they were kind of screwed.  
She glanced back up at the building they'd jumped from. For the briefest second she thought of Chase; trapped, alone, almost certainly dead. She felt a heartbreaking pang in her chest, not for the Chase she'd just encountered, but for the one she'd thought she'd known. The sweet, thoughtful guy she'd relied on so much back when she'd first started working for Pablo. Later, when she had more time to dwell on it, she knew it would probably break her.
 

But she couldn't think about him right then; he didn't deserve it.

All she could think about was-

Something horrifying occurred to her and all the air seemed to leave her body at once. If Sacha wasn't out here then. . .what if he was still in there?

No.

Without a single thought for her own safety, she ran as fast as she could on her damaged ankle towards the building, not a care that she could be running straight for her own death. If Sacha was still in there, then that was where she needed to be.

She hopped over a pair of outstretched legs, twisted around a couple of hugging Outcasts. Pain shot up her calf, but she'd dealt with worse before. Her mind was focused on only one thing.

Mere feet away from the building, a pair of strong, familiar arms wrapped around her from behind. Nicky swung her away from the deadly death trap, dragging her back to safety.

“Let me go!” she screeched. “I need to get in there!”

BOOM!

The impact of the building finally giving in and collapsing in on itself sent out a ripple strong enough to knock those closest off their feet. Nicky covered Gable's body with his as shards of glass and plaster and chunks of brick exploded out and settled over them.

Gable shoved him off and pushed onto her knees. There was nothing left of the building now but a pile of rubble.

An agonized scream ripped its way from her throat.

Nicky grabbed her face between his hands. “There was no one left in there!” he told her urgently. His eyes were wide and sad; he was terrified of what she might do next to endanger herself. “We checked everywhere, including what was left of the cells below. We got everyone out.” He
swallowed, hard. “Everyone
alive
.”
 

He was telling her that the only ones left inside were already dead. No. She refused to even
comprehend
what he was implying. Sacha was
not
dead. He wasn't. Because if Sacha was really dead then. . . God, he just
wasn't
.
 

Choking out a sob, she yanked herself from Nicky's grasp and clambered ungraciously to her feet, ignoring him when he called after her. She would find him. She had to find him. She scanned each and every face around her as she limped through dying and injured guards and Outcasts. She pushed through those standing in her way, dismissed the hands that reached out for her.

She spotted Queenie and Cadby and the other members of her team aiding those in need, reassuring them, patching them up, and a part of her thought she should help. But the rest of her was too selfish to put finding Sacha aside, even for a few moments. She had to find him. Why couldn't she find him?

No matter how hard she searched, he just wasn't there.

“Gable?” She turned at the sound of Hue's voice. He stood from the Outcast he'd been tending to, moving over and placing a gentle hand on her elbow. Pity was etched into every line of his handsome face. His hand slid up to push a strand of sweaty hair away from her face and then landed on her shoulder, squeezing comfortingly. “You know I hate to say this, but God, someone has to. Is it. . . Is it possible your friend didn't make it?” He shook his head, and she could see that his eyes were bloodshot with tears he had yet to shed. Tears for all the death and destruction around them. But he wouldn't cry. Not now, at least. He was being strong for the Outcasts. The tears would probably come later. “There's so much carnage, Gable. So many people didn't make it. It's just. . . I'm so sorry.”

Hue truly believed that Sacha was gone, that if Gable hadn't found him by now then it was already too late. Her heart collapsed in on itself just like the buildings around them. She would always be the last to give up hope on Sacha. Always.

Unable to form words, she slid away from him, swiping at the dampness on her cheeks. She hadn't even realized she'd been crying – clearly her body was losing hope, even if her heart wasn't ready to just yet.

Turning, she continued to move. The further she got, the thinner the crowd became. She pulled her dagger out anyway just in case a stray guard tried to attack, wishing she hadn't tossed her gun away earlier.

“Sacha,” she called out with a hoarse voice, though the sounds of crying and celebrations were too loud. He probably wouldn't be able to hear her, even with his wolf hearing. “Sacha!”

She sobbed helplessly, scrubbing her hands across her face. Suddenly she felt so. . .hopeless. It had finally happened. There was no hope left inside her.

They'd all been right. Everyone who'd ever told her she would never get Sacha back had been right. Pablo, Terelle, Zebb. Hell, even Nicky and Hue just now. She'd never been destined to get him back, and now she would just. . .cease to exist. Because what was the point of
her
without
him
?
 

Losing hope. . .it left her feeling weightless and empty. She'd come all this way, had done
unspeakable
things, had consorted with the very worst of people and the very best, only to lose him at the last possible moment. To never get him back. Fate really was that cruel, especially to people with pasts like hers. This was her punishment for every bad thing she'd ever done for Pablo. And how could she blame the universe? She deserved to be punished. But not like this. . . God, not like this.  
 

Far ahead of her, a fireball whizzed out through the large electric fence she'd noticed earlier, the one that looked like a large pen. Surprised shrieks came from the Outcasts nearby, and if it wasn't for them she might not have even bothered to look up and see it.

She froze.

Her heart slowed.

It slowed.

It slowed.