The Awakening: Liam (Entangled Covet) (8 page)

Dserted
, but he was still a shifter. Hard to kill, and strong as a fucking ox.

When Ava pushed to her feet, she glanced at him with tears in her eyes.

Then she bolted from the room.

The fall of her running footsteps caught the guy’s attention. Liam latched onto the man’s forearms,

dragging him forward until he could bear hug him against the cage. He thrashed against Liam’s grip. Ripped

at his hair.

“No!” the man screamed, grabbing hold of the sides of Liam’s face, trying to shove his thumbs in his

eyes.

The pain caused Liam to yell out, but he held firm. The guy then grabbed the back of Liam’s head and

brought his forehead crashing against the bars. Ringing sounded in his ears as his grip loosened and he fell

to one knee, his fingers still trying to clutch at his captor. But the impact had been enough. The masked man

tore from Liam’s grasp and flew out of the room.

Furious at himself for the moment of weakness, terrified he hadn’t given her enough time, Liam

bellowed and shook bars.

“Run, Ava!
Run!
”

…

Liam’s yell sounded far in the distance but the warning echoed in Ava’s ears as if he’d screamed them at

her in the same room.

Their captor was coming for her.

Fear closed her throat as she ran. She was in a maze of halls lined with doors. Left, right, left. She

couldn’t make sense of where she was. How to get out? Everything looked the same. Abandoned. Dingy.

Lifeless.

Just as she and Liam would be if she didn’t escape and find help.

The bastard’s racing footsteps came closer. A scream involuntarily erupted out of her mouth, her terror

too much to contain—terror for herself…and for Liam.
She had to get out
. Had to save him. Had to end

this nightmare.

Hide.

Her steps slowed, then clarity returned.
No.
Run.

She wasn’t dealing with humans, but with shifters. They had powers. He’d hear her panting, smell her

fear. Find her, no matter how well she believed she was hidden.

Legs propelling her as they never had before, she raced forward. A stitch cramped her side, making

breathing difficult, but she ignored it as hope bloomed in her chest when she rounded a corner. An Exit

sign became a beacon to freedom.

She shoved through the door below it. A stairwell! Down was out. It had to be.

Just as she made it to the third floor, a door crashed against the wall above her. Terror caused her to

miss a step and she lost her balance. She fell down the remaining three steps, landing hard on her side on

the second floor. Agony radiated up her ankle, but she scrambled back to her feet, rushing down the

remaining stairs, pain stabbing with every step.

The thudding of his feet and the erratic beat of her heart thumping in her ears were the only sounds she

registered. When she reached the bottom landing, she slammed out the stairwell door into a lobby. Sunlight

hit her face and she let out a relieved cry. She raced for the glass door.

Raced for freedom.

Just as she pushed through to the outside, she heard him burst out of the stairwell.

The bellow of rage from behind her had her responding with a terrified scream as she stumbled down

the cement entry stairs.

She hadn’t gotten this close to freedom to be taken again. She searched …for what? Someone to help?

There was no one. Nothing but dirt and trees in the distance.

Intent on getting out of the open, she darted toward the trees. In the open she had no chance. But

among the trees she could hopefully weave around enough to throw her scent off. If that was even

possible.

An arm wrapped around her waist from behind, lifting her off her feet. A large hand muffled the shriek

that flew from her mouth. She kicked, tore, anything to break out of the iron grip that held her.

“Stop fighting.”

The masculine voice increased her terror.
He had her
. She’d failed. No!
Liam
. She had to save Liam.

She bit the fingers covering her mouth. A yelp sounded from behind her. As soon as her mouth was free

she screamed, hoping someone would hear. Her heel connected hard with something. When the hold on her

released, she shot forward.

A hand latched onto her upper arm, then she was whipped around and grabbed by side of her head. She

slapped, wrenched.

“Look at me!”

His command forced her to make eye contact with him. And she froze.

Britton!

Not the madman. Liam’s friend Britton.

“I’ve got you. It’s over.”

It took a moment for the words to penetrate, when they did, she slumped against him. It was over. She

was safe. Liam was safe.

No. Not safe. Not yet.

“Liam,” she cried, pushing away from him. “He’s still in there.”

“Where?”

“Seventh floor. In a c-cage.”

Britton stiffened. “We’ll get him out. I promise. But I can’t leave you out here alone. Not until I know

what we’re dealing with.”

“We can’t just sit here!” She stared at the door. “He didn’t follow me out! He’s still up there, doing God

knows what to Liam because I escaped.”

Horrible images of Liam being tortured in that cage, helpless to fight back, consumed her, and she ran

back toward the building.

Britton grabbed her from behind again.

“No! We can’t leave him!” She wrestled with the arms locked around her. “No! Britton. Please! We

have to save him. I can’t live without him, please!”

Britton swung her around and hugged her to his chest, his embrace unbreakable even though she

struggled against him, trying to beat his torso with her fists. Then the first sob erupted from deep inside her.

Then another and another. Until all the terror she’d experienced poured out of her in soul-wrenching bawls.

She lost the ability to stand, and Britton lowered them to the ground, holding her, swearing everything

would be okay, that Liam was okay.

She had to believe him.

“Did you get him?” Britton asked.

Ava lifted her head to find a stunning woman with long blond hair holstering a gun.

“Bastard gave me the slip. I think he sensed my presence before you grabbed her. He was already gone

when I went inside. Followed his trail down to a parking garage, but I didn’t find a trace of him.”

After Ava struggled to her feet, a wave of blackness assaulted her and she shook her head. “Y-you

didn’t get him?”

“No. But we will,” the woman said.

“I’m going to get Liam.” Britton sprinted off.

A roar started in her ears. He was still out there. A threat. To her. To Liam.

Oh God
.

To Emma.

“M-my sister? Is she okay?”

The woman froze, eyes locked on Ava. “You have a sister?”

“She lives with me.”

“Was she captured, too?”

Ava shook her head and her temples pulsed with pain. “No, she was at a friend’s house. The blood. My

room. If she sees it—”

“My team cleaned it up,” the woman said. The words sounded distorted.

Everything hurt. Her face. Her body. Her ankle. Her vision swam as her stomach lurched and she held

out a hand to find something to brace against. She found nothing. “I need—”

…

The silence was killing him.

Other than that horrifying scream he’d heard an eternity ago, there had been nothing but silence. The

only reassurance Liam had was knowing Ava was still alive. She thrived within him, filling him with her

life.

After that scream, he’d realized something he’d failed to see before. Since he’d kissed her, he hadn’t felt

a spike in her emotions. His therapist had told him the
Dsershon
had brought on that anomaly—being able

to feel what she did—and he’d also been told if he could get Ava back into his life, hold her, kiss her, that

her emotions within him would subdue.

And it had happened at the worst possible time.

He cursed the reconnection. Would’ve given anything to be back in the throes of
Dsershon
to know

how she felt right now. Was she still terrified? Or had she escaped, relief coursing through her as she left

their prison far behind?

Gripping the bars of his cage, he leaned his forehead against them. When running footsteps sounded in

the distance, he snapped his head up.

Too heavy for Ava’s feet.

Was the bastard returning to let him know she had escaped, or would he have her in his arms,

unconscious from another beating?

A figure raced into the room.

Liam let out a startled laugh, not believing what he was seeing.

“Holy shit,” Brit breathed as he gaped at him.

“Ava?” he asked.

“Safe.”

“Thank you,
Dea
.” Relief erased the tension in his shoulders and he released a long breath. “Did you get

him?”

“No.”

Damn
. “How did you find me?”

“I wasn’t going to just let you traipse off in the condition you were in the other night. So I followed

you. When you pulled up in front of Ava’s, I figured you were just trying to be close to her. I waited

around, but after thirty minutes I started getting worried. Didn’t know if you were zoned out or not, so I

went in.” Brit paused. “Man, that was some fucked up shit in that room. There were drag marks through the

blood, and then I smelled the formaldehyde. I might not be much of a shifter anymore, but I still know

what that means. So I called Val.”

“
You
called
Val
?”

“What the hell did you expect me to do? It was shifter related. Out of my jurisdiction.”

“The two of you have actually spent time together without killing each other?”

“Not from lack of wanting to, I can assure you.”

For the first time in what seemed like forever, Liam smiled, truly smiled. It felt wonderful. Light.

Happy. The way a smile was supposed to feel. The way it used to before the
Dsershon
. Not forced, or half-

hearted, but real.

Brit shook his head. “Man, I haven’t seen you smile in a long time.”

“Just get me the hell out of here. I have a woman I need to hold.”

His friend examined the room as he walked over and gave a long whistle. “Dude, what have you gotten

yourself into?”

“No clue. My best guess is it’s some shifter who hasn’t dealt with his
Dsershon
very well. He said some

odd things, knew way too much about what I was going through. Said his problems were my fault.”

“Think he snapped?”

“Seems so.”

Brit rattled the door. “Steel. He really wanted to make sure you didn’t get out.”

Dark anger settled back over Liam. “He tortured her in front of me. Kept me locked up so I couldn’t

help her.”

Brit slowly lifted his head, gulping. “Fuck.”

“I’m going to hunt him down and kill him.”

His friend glanced away, cringing. Making that declaration to a cop probably wasn’t the smartest thing

he’d done, but it was the truth. He’d kill this man for even thinking about laying a hand on Ava.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where this bastard kept himself while he was in here, would you?”

“No.”

“Shit.” Brit slammed his hand against the bars then ran it through his hair, a scowl curling his nose.

“What?”

“I have to go get Val. Fucking
again
.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t get you out of here, and she can smell where the ass was holed up and get the key. This

place is fucking huge. It’d take me forever to find it.”

Muttering under his breath, Brit stormed out of the room, hitting the wall for good measure as he passed

it. At his friend’s display of anger, he grimaced Liam had never understood Brit’s attitude toward Val.

Yeah, she was a little rough around the edges, but had a good heart. Brit didn’t see it that way, though,

and Val responded to his attitude with a blistering one of her own.

Despite the hostility between them, they’d somehow been able to work together to find him and Ava.

He owed them for that.

A few minutes later, Brit walked back in, scratching his head, his face scrunched in confusion.

“What?” Alarm stiffened Liam’s spine.

“Val’s gone.” He lifted his hand, his car keys dangling from his index finger. “So’s my Jeep.” He

grimaced. “And so’s Ava.”

Chapter 5

She had to escape. Had to save Liam. Arms kept her trapped. Pulled her back. Liam screamed her

name.

Ava’s eyes popped open as she wrestled against her restraints, panic surging through her as a cold sweat

broke over her skin. As she realized she wasn’t running for her life anymore and the restraint was a blanket

tangled around her, her struggles ceased.

They’d been saved. Britton and that woman had helped them escape.

Sitting up slowly, she grimaced against the pulsing in her entire face. Where was she? She was lying in

an oversized bed with an IV taped to the top of her hand. Someone had changed her bloodied nightshirt for

a hospital gown. She lifted a hand to her face. Swollen, hurt like the dickens, but no crusty blood.

This place had to be a hospital of some sort, though the room gave a more upscale hotel vibe with its