Darkness Unbound by Zoe Forward Page B

you offering your assistance, but we can take it from here, darling. Your patients are lucky to have your help.”
    Cindy giggled like a teenager. “Would you like to grab dinner later?”
    Christian leaned in and whispered in her ear. He kissed her cheek and pulled away.
    Cindy caressed his forearm and stumbled down the hallway grinning like she’d won the lottery.
    “Guess I’m not the only one that’s a little off today?” Nate smirked.
    Astrid chuckled at Christian’s exasperated snort. Fire alarms screeched. Christian said, “I texted Scott to call the fire department. Last thing we want is this place’s oxygen blowing sky high. What floor was this?”
    “Four,” Nate said.
    Christian pushed around a corner, swerving to avoid a collision with another gurney. “Another elevator, then. And this time, Nate—”
    “Yeah, I know,” Nate interrupted, clicking more times than necessary on the down call button for the service elevator.
    As they stepped into the elevator, Christian muttered, “I will kill you if you set this one on fire.”
    Nate texted while Christian pushed the gurney out of the elevator and onto the basement loading dock. He gripped Astrid’s forearm and asked, “You think you can walk about a hundred yards to the car?”
    Astrid pushed up to a sit, disregarding her vertigo, and put her feet on the ground. When she attempted to stand, her knees buckled. “Nope.”
    The elevator next to theirs opened. Colonel Greene and five agents emerged, guns drawn. The colonel ordered, “Halt. Or we will shoot.”
    “Nate, get in the car,” Christian ordered.
    Nate ran. Two agents shot. Astrid saw one bullet tear into Nate’s shoulder, but he didn’t stop. Her ex-boss’s gaze narrowed on hers. She’d been judged a dissenter, and now a hostile. The colonel fired, but Christian blocked the path of the bullet. He swung Astrid into his arms and bolted for the SUV. The loud blasts of semi-auto gunfire echoed around them.
    Christian cranked open the side door and threw her into the back seat. He dove onto the floor. The car squealed out of the emergency loading dock. Bullets whizzed through the vehicle’s door.
    Bullet wounds leeched blood and saturated Christian’s scrub top. A glance around found Khyan at the wheel and Nate reclining in the passenger seat, unconcerned.
    “Help me, Nate. He’s going to bleed out,” Astrid demanded.
    Nate leaned around the front passenger seat. “You okay down there, C?”
    “Yeah, I’m having a goddamned tea party.” Christian pushed off the floorboard and gingerly sat next to her.
    “What can I do for you? Are you going to die?” Astrid asked.
    Christian glanced briefly over the areas bleeding onto his scrubs. “I think one might’ve hit something vital since I’m feeling light-headed, but they won’t kill me.”
    “You’ve got at least six bullet wounds. We should be carting you back to the ER.”
    He shot her a cocky smile. “Welcome to being a magus, darlin’. Only thing that can kill you is a daemon or one of us.”
    “Or one of the gods,” Nate chimed in from the back.
    “Or your soulmate,” Khyan added.
    “Don’t you feel pain?” She pointed at his bloody scrubs.
    “Hell, yeah.”
    “Then, why’d you do something so insane?”
    Christian shrugged. He leaned back and closed his eyes.
    She stared in silence, floored that this guy who barely knew her just took bullets to save her. “Why’d you come for me? I mean, the Company would’ve taken me back.”
    Christian replied without opening his eyes, “You’re one of us now. We don’t leave anyone behind. Ever. Besides, Kane has been texting me about every two seconds to see if you’re alive. Him upset actually scares me more than a couple of bullets.”
    Her chest constricted at the thought of Kane’s concern. God, she missed him. She said, “Not that I’m not thankful, but what’s going on? One minute I’m drunk in a bar, and the next I’m in a car that gets pushed off an