Don't Poke the Luna (Xena and Ryder) novel Chapter 262

Chapter 262

have to gert… ma of here. Hard the words thigh gritted teeth,

dasting though my zile with every breath.

“Where are we?” Willian’s voter wat hourse, barchy whorer a whispen,

1 on know. Using the door handle for support, I fought against my boden protests as I stood. Every movement sent fresh waves of agony through my boken ribs, but I couldn’t and to show weakness now.

Once I found my balance, I stumbled toward William to untie his restraints. My fingers fumbled with the chains, slick with Bond and sweat. It took Imger than I wanted, but finally the metal clanked to the floor, William collapsed forward, chitching his chest as he fell to his hands and knees, his face pressed

om the old concrete.

Fuck…” he groaned, his voice muffled against the flor

Come

We need to get you to a hospital. I extended my hand toward him, biting down hard on my tongue to keep from trying out in the movement pulled at my damaged ribs.

“How do we get out of here?” William asked through clenched teeth, struggling to look up at me.

“Fast 1 helped him to his feet, his weight heavy against my injured side. Every step was torture, but I forced myself to keep moving

1 mean, which was do we go?”

My hand found the door handle, and I paused. “I don’t know, but we can’t stay here.” Looking at William, both of us barely clothed and covered in blood supporting each other’s broken bodies, the reality of our situation hit me. “Ready?!

“As ready as I can be. William nodded, and 1 turned the handle

The hallway stretched out before us, dimly lit and eerily quiet. I chose left lestinctively, and we began our desperate escape. With each step. I felt sharp objects cutting into my bare feet, leaving bloody footprints on the cold flour. The pain was excruciating but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop.

“There she is?” The shout came from behind us, echoing off the walls

“Don look back, keep running!” William yelled, his breath raged.

Ahrad, I spotted a sign for stairs. We didn’t slow down, hitting the heavy door with our combined momentan, Thee of it caught us both off guard, and

we stumbled, nearly falling down the steps that appeared much closer than I’d expected.

“Down!” I shouted, and William and I began our descent. We’d only made it down one flight when the door above us exploded open, slamming into the wall with such force that concrete dust rained down on u

“They went down!” A voice crackled over a radio. “She’s on the stairs, moving toward the third floor!”

I didn’t stop. We kept going down, taking the steps as fast as our injured bodies would allow. But exhaustion and pain were taking their tall. When I missed a step, Williams lost his balance, his weight pulling both of us down several stairs in a tangle of limbs. The sound of something snapping echoed thmuch

His ankle was twisted at an unnatural angle, and he crumpled to the flour. My knees hit the concrete hard, sending fresh shockwaves of pain through my already battered body.

“Shit!” William grabbed his ankle, his face contopted in a

back into place.

“I’m sorry, William.” Without hesitation, I wrapped my hands around his ankle and spapped it back into

‘Jesus Christ, Real William roared, but I was already pulling him to his feet. The guards were getting closer, their footsteps echoing down the stairwell. I dragged William the rest of the way to the dout marked with large red letters: “EXIT.”

1/2

Chapter 262

“Run, William!” I shouted as we threw on combined weight keiner the dona

The night wit hit was like a stap, cold and unforgiving. Wind shipped through my hair, stinging the open wounds dis my face and body stretched a harrow alley lined with packed eat and dumpsters, but no pest reset.