King Cave (Forever Evermore, #2)(11)

A chuckle bubbled inside my throat when I heard Ezra’s heart rate speed up. “Seven?”

“Whatever,” he mumbled, ignoring my question. “Do you want to hear about the third car or not? It involves Com police. And it fits our current situation.”

“Oh, do tell,” I murmured, snuggling against him and sliding my hand across his stomach to his hip, holding snugly. “Does it involve a high-speed chase?”

Vivian’s chuckling wasn’t quiet.

Ezra grunted. “Only because I didn’t realize they were behind me.” His nose crinkled, and then he added quietly, “It made the news.”

Pearl, Jack, and I started laughing.

Over our racket, Ezra grumbled, “After I realized the Com police were there, I tried to pull over. But there wasn’t enough room on the side of the highway, so I,” he chuckled quietly, “made my own road.” He paused, and I glanced up. His eyes held mine. “You see, it was one of those two-lane highways: real thin, but with a steady stream of traffic. When I pulled off the main road onto a field, I didn’t take into account it had rained recently.” His features turned thoughtful. “It probably didn’t help much that I was driving a sports car.”

Vivian snorted, mumbling, “A hundred grand down the drain.”

“Anyway,” Ezra stated loudly, then detailed more quietly, obviously trying to stay focused on our will, “there was this tiny,” he paused, then, “it really was tiny,” his head shook, “hill that I went over. I didn’t think much of it at the time because I was trying to stop, and the tires were skidding and holding no traction on the soaked ground.” He snorted, chuckling. “And I went straight into a pond.” I snickered hard, imagining it as he continued. “I had to crawl out the window. The water was over waist-deep where my car had landed. I went to Com jail soaking wet.”

My lips curved. I had to ask. “How fast were you going that you didn’t know you were being chased by Com police with their sirens blaring?”

“I had the radio up too loud to hear them,” he muttered. Didn’t answer my question.

Vivian did. “One hundred and sixty-three miles per hour.”

“Fuck yeah,” Jack mumbled quietly. “That must have been sweet.”

Ezra’s lips twitched, and then he leaned forward, whispering air, “Not as sweet as the sixth car I wrecked. Remind me later to tell you about that.”

Jack chuckled, lifting his chin once in confirmation.

I smacked Ezra’s stomach, muttering harshly, “That’s dangerous.”

His chest puffed, and he rumbled, “I breathe danger.”

“Oh, good God, he did not just say that,” Pearl muttered.

“He did,” I snorted.

Ezra chuckled deeply. “I just like the adrenaline rush.”

I rolled my eyes grandly. “Never would have guessed.”

Jack wiggled his shoulders, grabbing our attention. “We’re almost there.”

We instantly quieted.

We watched with barely contained elation as the water around us began shimmering with the sun’s light; our trek was now on an incline. It was more slippery than before, so we had to slow our pace, but within twenty minutes the water was just above eye-level.

As I panted shallow intakes of air, relief poured through me, and my frame trembled spastically every so often. The water receded with every forward step we took. I almost shouted with pure elation when my bare feet touched dry sand. Fortunately for us, this part of the beach was exclusive, with long stretches of prime real estate reserved only for mansions of the wealthy. It was currently deserted.

Cheers erupted from behind as we stopped, the Mysticals animated.

Still needing us to focus, Jack turned his head so we could hear him and stated clearly, “Same as before, but in reverse. Start lifting the edges of the dome until it’s level. Push.” The four of us were exhausted from our journey, not only physically, but also mentally, so this process wasn’t going to be as easy as in training.

Plus, we had a distraction.

But not from the Mysticals behind us.

As the dome’s edges began lifting, the smell of burning wood began to drift inside, floating on the breeze. Sniffing the air, I squinted toward the left. Roughly a mile away, one of the mansions was ablaze, the tentacles of the flames reaching far into the air and the billowing cloud of dark smoke tainted with death. No one was stopping the fire. Instead, a mass of people watched it burn where they stood on the grassy turf.

“The attacks weren’t only at King Hall.” Ezra’s alert gaze turned to one of his two elite Vampire guards. “Alex, spread the word. They need to shut the f*ck up back there.”

“Understood,” Alex replied promptly, and I felt a breeze at my back as he blurred away.

“I can’t count their numbers,” I scented the air, “but they have silver bullets.”

“There are enough on that lawn to hinder us,” Ezra muttered with a slight narrowing of his eyes. “And Elder Farrar said to stop for nothing and no one.”

Quickly, the crowd began quieting behind us.

We worked as swiftly as we could until the dome was finally flat above us.

Jack explained, “We have no time for pretty. Just move it to our right.”

We pushed our will.