“We can’t go out of the door. I’d bet everything I own that they started the fire as a way to flush us out and are waiting for us to leave.”
Disbelief washed over her as she stared at him incredulously. “And what the hell are we going to do, then? Stay in here and burn to death?”
The fire alarms started going off and she jumped, cursing as the sprinklers in the room came on. It was an idiotic thing to worry about considering the circumstances, but she was going to be so pissed if her sketchbook got ruined.
He walked over next to her and grabbed his bag, raising his voice to be heard over the alarm. “We’re not staying in here. We’re going out the window.”
Mouth popping open, she automatically followed him to the window even as she shook her head vehemently, rejecting his plan. “Are you freakin’ crazy? We’re on the second floor. We’ll both break our necks, so the end result is the same as if we left by the door. Besides, these windows are one solid pane. You can’t open them.”
“We won’t break our necks. I’ll jump first and then I’ll catch you. As for the window… stand back.”
Still shaking her head, she did as he asked, knowing there was no way he could break the window, so it wasn’t like they’d be jumping, anyway. Setting his bag down, he picked up a heavy chair, his muscles bulging from the weight, and her jaw dropped as she watched him. She knew he was strong, but how the hell did he manage to pick that up? And so damned effortlessly, like it was a piece of paper and not a solid wooden chair.
A few moments later, he proved she knew nothing about anything as he threw the chair so hard, it shattered both window and chair. Turning around like what he did wasn’t a big deal at all, he took her bag and picked his up, tossing them both out of the window.
“I’ll go first. Once I’m down and ready, follow me, okay?”
Moving forward, she risked a glance out of the window, swallowing hard at the distance to the ground. “I don’t think I can do that.”
“Hey,” he said softly, moving in close and framing her face with his hands. “I promise I’ll catch you. I’ll never let anything happen to you, Katia.”
She felt like everything inside her stilled at his touch, and she searched his eyes, finding nothing but promise and resolve. Somehow, she found herself nodding in agreement even as she cursed inside, asking herself what the hell she thought she was doing.
Colton winked at her, stealing her breath, and turned, knocking the glass off the bottom of the window frame. Without pausing, he jumped out, and she rushed to the window just as he landed. How in the ever-loving hell did he land so gracefully? He made it look like it was nothing at all to jump from a two-story window and land easily on his feet.
He turned and beckoned to her, but she couldn’t make herself move. The smell of smoke was a lot stronger now, and she thought she could even hear the crackling of the fire, but still, she couldn’t get up the courage.
“Come on,” Colton called from below. Turning back to the window, she saw him beckoning to her. “I promise I’ll catch you. You can do this, sweetheart.”
Despite the terror she felt at the thought of jumping, and the urgency washing over her as the fire neared, she still swooned a little inside when he called her sweetheart. And of all the things he’d said, it was weirdly the one word that motivated her to swing her legs over the windowsill.
It let her know he actually believed she could do this, and it made her think he cared enough that he wouldn’t let her die.
Nerves welled up inside her as she stared at the distance between herself and the ground, so she closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. Not letting herself think about it anymore, she pushed herself off the ledge as the wind flew past her and the ground rushed up to meet her.
Please God let him catch me.
Colton watched Katia as he helped her into the truck. Her black curls were in disarray around her face, and her sky-blue eyes were still wide and shell shocked. She hadn’t said anything except thank God since he caught her, and he felt worry well up inside him as he shut the door and walked to his side.
He couldn’t blame her for being freaked out, though. He thought he would be too, if he was a human. Hell, he had been freaked out, worried she’d slip through his grip or he wouldn’t catch her.
Being a shifter, he’d known he could easily jump out of the window and land with no problems, and he’d been confident that he could catch her—mostly. Doubt had tried to creep in, and he thought it was because he couldn’t handle the thought of her getting hurt.
He was already more attached to her than he’d ever imagined he would be, especially this soon. But there was no denying that he was, for good or for bad. It was why the thought of taking her back to Atlanta and using her as bait had made him feel simultaneously violent and ill.
Jumping out of the window had been a risk he hated, but it was a necessary one. His gut said the bastards who had Justin started the fire, and they were waiting for them to come out of their room—by way of the door.
Even now, he hated the fact that they had to be out in the open briefly to get away, and he cringed as he started the truck and it came to life with a loud growl. Quickly putting it in gear, he pulled out as fast as he could without attracting attention, the flashing lights of the firetrucks and police cars lighting up the road behind them.
Using it to make sure no one was following them, he got on the ramp for the interstate, thankful the hotel was close to it. Once they were on the way, he glanced over at Katia, wishing he could read her mind and tell whether she was okay.
“You doing okay over there?”
She glanced over at him and his eyebrows rose as he saw the slight smile on her face. “Yeah. It was scary as hell, but that was the most exhilarating experienc
e of my life. I actually ended up enjoying it.”
Relief washed over him, and he felt his lips curl up in a smile at the shock and enthusiasm in her voice. “It was a rush, right?”