Shouts echoed from below. Garrett and Byrnes strode to the railing, leaning over it with mirrored intensity.

“Getting through the floor now, sir!” young Thomas Wiley called. “Won’t be long!”

Garrett thundered toward the stairs. At the top of them, Byrnes caught his arm. “Wait.”

The urge to shove him aside rose up but Garrett held it down. Byrnes’s head was cocked. Listening. Suddenly Byrnes turned, aiming a boot for the center of the foreman’s door. It splintered away from the frame, and he shoved at it with his shoulder. “I can hear something.”

Faint, echoing thumps coming from within.

As though someone was…inside the walls.

Garrett slammed his shoulder against the remnants of the door and staggered into the small room, Byrnes stumbling with him.

“Perry?” he yelled.

The sound of knocking vanished. Then resumed again frantically, coming from behind a bookshelf.

Garrett hammered on the walls. “Are you there? Perry, is that you?”

“Get me out!”

It was her voice, but he’d never heard her sound like that. Garrett started tearing books off the shelves, wrestling with the bookcase itself. It didn’t move.

“Here,” Byrnes said, yanking on the gaslight on the wall. “I’ve seen these before. The bookcase is a door of sorts.”

Slowly it opened, revealing a gaping black maw. Frigid air rushed over his face and there was Perry, curled up into a ball, her hands bruised and bloodied. His heart stopped beating in his chest for half a minute. He swore it did.

She looked up and he had no words for the expression on her face. Huge, barely lucid gray eyes that widened as they saw him, her hands coming up defensively. As though she didn’t know who he was.

“Perry?” He reached for her, dragging her out of the small cavity. She staggered forward on jerky feet, tumbling into his arms. A warm, trembling weight. Shaking from head to toe. Not a single sound came from her. “Perry. It’s me.” He gently curled his arms around her, shaking a little himself. “I’ve got you. I’m here. You’re safe.”

Guilt smothered him, thick and choking. It was a wonder he could breathe. Garrett’s arms tightened around her. “Damn it.” He stroked her hair, fingers raking through the short silky strands. Clinging tighter. It was his own damned fault, sending her with Byrnes. Not watching over her the way he was supposed to. And for what? Because he knew he could barely control himself around her.

Looking up, his eyes met Byrnes’s. Fury blazed inside him. You were supposed to keep her f**king safe. That was the deal they’d both agreed upon when he’d first sent them out together.

Byrnes gave a tight nod. Accepting the fact they’d discuss this later. “I’ll let them know we’ve got her.” He might not have given a damn, except for the faint softening in his eyes as he looked at her. Then he was gone.

Darkness prowled the edges of Garrett’s vision, but for once he wasn’t drowning in bloodlust. He just wanted to hold her. To never let her go. His.

His eyes shot wide at the thought, his body stiffening. As if she sensed the change in his body, Perry’s fingers dug in tighter, locking herself around him. The tension melted out of him again and he pressed his lips to her hair. “I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart.” A little fiercely. “I promise.”

Of all the times to be having this revelation… He felt dumbstruck. All these years he’d wondered if there was something deficient in him. Wondering why he could like women, but never seemed to feel anything more, and here it was, sneaking up on him when he’d least expected it.

Friendship was a blurred line, but the truth remained. Perry was the reason he’d never found anyone. He cared for her. Deeply, irrevocably. The idea of not having her in his life left a gaping hole somewhere in the region of his chest.

Not going to happen.

Garrett glanced behind himself, then reached out and hooked a chair with his boot, dragging it closer. He slumped into it, dragging her into his lap and pressing her head against his chest. “Shush… I’ve got you,” he whispered, rocking her gently. “Just breathe, love. Deep, slow breaths. You’re safe. I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”

The burning truth of that statement almost crushed his chest. He pressed another frantic kiss to her forehead, then took her hand and slid it through the opening of his coat, directly over the steady thump of his heart. “There you are. Just listen to my heart. Listen to it beat. All for you, love. All of it for you.”

Long, slow minutes followed. The men stayed away, which he grudgingly had to thank Byrnes for. There were enough rumors in the guild without bringing Perry into the heart of them. She’d always abhorred gossip, particularly about herself. If anyone saw them like this, there’d be no denying that they weren’t just partners.

Not anymore.

Even if he didn’t know what that precisely left them at.

Garrett’s lips trailed across her cheek, listening to the soft sound of her breathing. She’d calmed down now, but she hadn’t moved. Just lying there, listening to his heart. Her palm splayed wide over his bare chest. Somehow she’d wriggled her fingers between the gaps in his shirt. He’d been in such a hurry that he hadn’t bothered with his armored waistcoat or even the leather body armor he usually wore when out on patrol. The feel of that small hand splayed over his bare chest rocked him to the core.

The minutes ticked by. He wasn’t usually given to silence, but she was. She would speak when she needed to and not before.

“I’m a coward,” she whispered. Those gray eyes looked up at him. So lost.

“That’s ridiculous. You’re the least likely coward I’ve ever met.”

Perry shook her head and tried to brush the hair off her hot face. “I was so frightened. I haven’t had one of my hysterical fits for…for years.” Her lip trembled, gaze growing distant.

Garrett took her face in his hands, turning it up to him. “You were hardly hysterical. No more than I was.” His voice roughened. “I wanted to tear those bloody floorboards up with my bare hands.”

The feel of her skin under his hands was silky soft. He couldn’t stop himself from stroking his thumb against the high curve of her cheekbone. Perry glanced down, as if surprised to find herself on his lap. Or his hands on her face.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize—”

“Damn it, don’t be sorry.” Garrett brushed the damp strands of hair off her forehead and leaned back, hands cupping her cheeks. Those gray eyes were red-rimmed but clear of tears. Beautiful. It was as if he was seeing her for the first time all over again. Seeing her, truly seeing her. He stroked his thumbs over her cheeks. Then again. A little more forcefully.

He didn’t know how he was going to make himself let her go. Moving slowly, he slid his arms around her and dragged her in close again. “And I don’t think I’m quite ready to let you stand.” He stroked her hair, nuzzling his face into it. “I need this. Just give me a moment.”

The stiffness in her body melted out of her, bit by bit. Each time he stroked his hand through her hair she softened just a little more. And damn him for a fool, but he liked it.

He could also smell blood. There was a sticky spot at the back of her skull. Garrett’s fingers paused over it. “Are you hurt?”

“No. A little light-headed. And nauseous. My knees don’t feel quite up to taking my weight, either.”

It struck him then that the darkness in him hadn’t risen at the scent of her blood. He was aware of it, of course, but the furious hunger rested inside him. It sat like a heavy weight in his chest. Softened. Lulled. Her hand stroked small circles over the muscle of his pectoral.

Garrett puzzled over that. He’d been so frightened he’d hurt her. But this… It felt right. She felt like she belonged exactly where both he and the hunger wanted her.

Damn, but he wished he had someone to speak of this with. Someone like Lynch, who’d had years to deal with controlling the craving virus. Someone who could give him some bloody advice.

The sound of boots ringing on the metal stairs intruded and Perry tensed. When she scrambled off his lap, he let her. Perry took several steps away from him, her face still paler than he’d ever seen it.

It was Byrnes. Of course. His gaze skated over Perry, then back to Garrett. “You need to come and see this.”

“Is it important?” Garrett asked, shooting her another look. Still far too quiet. Trembling a little, he thought, but holding on to it.

Byrnes nodded grimly. “It’s important.”

Ten

“Do you want to stay up here?”

Garrett’s face slowly came into focus in front of her. Behind him, the Nighthawks had torn half the floor up with hammers and pry bars. The darkness below yawned like an enormous mouth, ready to swallow her up. The instant she thought it, heat washed out of her face, leaving her lips numb again. Deep in her belly, the fear stretched out its claws and let her know it was still there, ready to drag her under again.

Yes. She didn’t want to go anywhere near that…that place. Not again. The thought set her heart racing, a tremble of cold rippling down her spine.

“You don’t have to.” Garrett saw it in her face.

Years ago, she’d fled from something like this, and it had cost her in nightmares that left her curled into a ball in her sheets, desperately trying to hold the sobs inside. Trying to get her lungs to open so that she could breathe again. Time had eased the frequency of her hysterical attacks, until today. She could stay up here, nice and safe, or she could force herself back into that nightmare. Stare it in the face and spit in its eye.

She didn’t want to. But if she didn’t do it now, she knew she’d wake screaming tonight.

Best to face it while she had people around her. Perhaps take a good look at what lurked beneath the factory and chase away some of the shadows. It was just a room. Just another room, full of ghostly girls trapped behind the thin facade of glass. All she had to do was keep telling herself that.

Somehow her head jerked in a nod. “I’m coming down.”

Garrett squeezed her fingers. She hadn’t even noticed he was holding her hand. “I’ll go first,” he said, stepping away and gesturing for a lantern.

“No. I’ll go,” Byrnes said. “Make sure it’s safe. You’re the guild master now.” For once his words held no acid. The way his gaze sidled toward her made her realize that some part of him felt the bite of guilt.

Byrnes dropped into the darkness. Garrett followed, shooting her one last grim look before the shadows swallowed him up.

Perry paused at the edge. “Garrett?”

A light bobbed in the darkness: one of the phosphorescent glimmer balls they sometimes used. “Here. Someone help her down. I’ll catch her.”

If it was anywhere else, she’d have simply stepped off the edge and landed in front of him, just to prove that she didn’t need his help. But she still felt fragile. Thomas held out his hand and Perry took it, letting him lower her over the edge. As her body vanished into the darkness, her lungs sucked in a deep breath. Then another. A little faster. She looked up as Thomas gave her hand a squeeze.

“We’re right here, miss.”

Hands slid up her legs. “I’ve got her,” Garrett called. As Thomas’s hand opened, she dropped into his arms.

Foolish to feel so frightened. And to let them see it too. She’d worked for years to uphold her reputation and make it clear she could do this job. It was harder for her. She’d had to prove her worth and value so many times in the last decade, and now young Thomas saw her as just another frightened woman.

“Bloody hell,” Byrnes whispered, lifting the glimmer high as he examined the glass cases. Light rippled through the unearthly blue liquid inside, and the girl he was staring at reached for him. Byrnes scrambled back, his face paling as he tripped and landed in a sprawl. “She’s alive. She’s bloody still alive!”

“Thomas,” Garrett called in a choked voice. “I need you and Atherton. Hayes, send word to the guild. We’ll need Dr. Gibson here now. And the medic van.”

It broke something inside her, staring at that poor girl. Something huge and fierce and choking rose over her, and then Perry was reaching for the pry bar that Byrnes had brought down with him as a weapon.

“Perry…?”

She swung it, driving it straight into the glass. Water spewed out, the girl’s eyes widening inside the case as she fell forward and then Garrett was there, catching the girl as she slumped. Perry smashed the remaining glass out of the way as Garrett gently lifted the wet girl into his arms.

“Perry, stop. We need to do this carefully.” He was looking at her. Trying to get her to focus on him. “Put the bar down.”

Perry lowered it. Not down on the ground. Her heart was thumping so hard in her chest that she felt like she was going to be ill. The skin on one of her bruised knuckles split as her fingers locked around the cold iron. “I can’t.” Choked words. “I can’t put it down.”

“That’s fine. Hold it then, if you’re frightened. Just don’t smash any more of the glass. Byrnes? Your coat?”

Byrnes crawled to his feet, swinging the long leather coat off his shoulders. He held it out and Garrett transferred the girl into his arms. Byrnes closed the coat around her with an oddly gentle movement as Garrett reached for the mask that was strapped around her face. The clips sprang open beneath his touch and the mask eased away from her skin, the white imprint of it gleaming against her cheeks.