Refuge(58)

“I know.” Nikolas lifted his head again, and his eyes were dark and apologetic when they met mine. “Sara – ”

“No way! Forget it.” There was no way in hell I was stripping in front of him and everyone else. “We can make a run for it.”

“There are too many of them. As soon as I get off you, they’ll attack you.”

“I don’t care. I am not taking off my clothes.” The very thought of it made my stomach clench.

Nikolas sighed roughly. “I’m sorry but this is no time for modesty. It’s just your shirt, and I’ll cover you.”

That’s supposed to make me feel better? My throat was dry, and I averted my eyes from his as my trembling hands pushed between us to reach the hem of my T-shirt. Why did this shit keep happening to me?

“Stand back, boys. Time for the girls to show you how it’s done,” Jordan yelled above the racket. “Let her rip, Liv.”

I barely had time to wonder what the girls were up to before Nikolas and I were hit with a blast of cold water that soaked the two of us within seconds. Coughing, I turned my face into his chest to keep from drowning in the onslaught. A minute later, a deep rumbling started in his chest and I pulled away when I realized he was laughing.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” I grumbled, still upset about how close I’d come to stripping in front of him and everyone else.

“Immensely.” He raised his head and looked around, then rolled off me and to his feet in one easy movement. Before I had time to move, he reached down and pulled me up to stand beside him.

All around us, white bodies littered the floor and stairs while the few karks still moving desperately tried to evade the powerful jet of water from the fire hose Jordan was holding. Jordan wore a devilish smile as she swung the hose back on us for several seconds before going back to taking down anything with wings.

“Hey!” I sputtered as water ran off me in rivulets. I pushed wet hair from my face to shoot her a dirty look.

“Sorry, had to make sure I didn’t miss any of it,” she said, but her smirk belied her apology. “Hey, it worked, didn’t it?”

She was right; there wasn’t a single kark interested in me anymore. I looked around for my hoodie and spotted a splash of blue beneath a pile of unmoving bodies. Sahir must have dosed them with his sedative.

“I think that’s enough, Jordan.” Tristan wore a serious expression as he surveyed the mess in the main hall. He waited for Jordan to shut off the hose then he started toward us, followed by Chris and the other warriors. “Are you two okay?” he asked me and Nikolas. I nodded, and he turned to Sahir who was the resident creature expert. “Sahir, what could have caused this?”

Sahir removed his mask and shook his head. “I’ve never seen karks behave this way. They didn’t go after anyone but Sara.”

“Something on her clothes attracted them.” Nikolas strode over to the pile of white bodies and yanked my hoodie out from under them. “Look at this.”

I barely held back a gasp when I saw the tattered remains of what I had been wearing a few minutes ago. The karks’ sharp teeth had literally shredded it before Sahir could knock them out. Coldness spread through me when it hit me what would have happened if Nikolas hadn’t gotten to me when he did.

Tristan’s face hardened. It was the first time I had ever seen him this angry. “Have that garment examined. I want to know exactly what happened here.” He addressed one of the younger warriors I only knew as Ben. “Get something to put these things in before they wake up. And we’re going to need the cleanup crew in here.”

“Yes, sir,” Ben said before rushing to follow his orders.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Tristan asked me again. Concern colored his voice after seeing the damage to my hoodie.

“I’m fine.” Or I would be after a very, very long hot shower.

Jordan had abandoned her fire hose and walked over to join us. “Sara, you look like you just won a wet T-shirt contest,” she announced, causing more than one male head turned my way.

“What?” I croaked and looked down at the pale yellow V-neck clinging to me in a way that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Heat enflamed my cheeks, and I yanked the wet material away from my chest.

Nikolas stepped in front of me, and I stared at his broad back as he blocked me from the others in the room. A surge of gratitude wiped out my annoyance at him from a few minutes ago. I would never understand him. One minute he did or said something that made me want to hit him, and the next he did something nice like this.