Chapter 4

4

When the elevator crashed after letting go and plummeting, I didn’t die. Mostly because a large male body cushioned me from impact.

The elevator hit the bottom of the shaft hard, rattling my teeth, eyeballs, and bones, and left me stunned atop someone. It took me a moment to blink my eyes into focus and find my face practically smooshed against Levi’s.

I pulled back and managed a shaky, “That was unexpected.”

His brow creased as he asked, “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” I tried to push up from him but could only do so by touching his wide body and seating myself—AKA straddling his groin. I glanced over to see the prince braced in a corner, looking somewhat pale, and even better, I saw no blood.

“Are you injured?” I asked.

“Nope. Surprisingly fine. That was quite thrilling,” the prince replied, straightening himself.

“I wonder what happened,” I mused aloud. Elevators didn’t suddenly fail without cause, and I knew we’d had ours recently serviced.

“Mind getting off me?” Levi grumbled. A reminder I still sat on him, and apparently a certain part of his body noticed.

The feel of his burgeoning erection under my backside had me scrambling to stand. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to squash. Did I hurt you?”

“I’m fine. But I think we should get out of this coffin.” Levi vaulted to his feet and slapped the open button. The doors, partially creased from impact, didn’t budge.

“Try the emergency phone.” I pointed to the red receiver.

The prince grabbed it and put it to his ear before shaking his head. “It’s dead.”

My lips pursed. “Most likely someone’s noticed the elevator is out of commission. We just need to wait.”

Levi sniffed. “Anyone smell smoke?”

I’d opened my mouth to say no when the odor hit me. “Something’s burning.”

An already grim Levi turned stonier. “We need to get out of here.”

“Great idea, but how since the doors are stuck?” I pointed out the obvious.

“The hatch should still be accessible. We can climb out through there.” Levi glanced overhead, and I saw the rectangular cutout in the ceiling of the cab.

“I’ll go,” Killian offered. “Give me a boost.”

Levi shot it down. “You can’t go first. If this was an attempt on your life, then there might be someone waiting in the shaft to finish you off. I’ll go.”

“If you go, then who protects the prince?” I pointed out.

“Protect him from what?” Levi glanced around with exaggeration.

“From whatever is trying to chew its way through the floor. Don’t tell me you can’t hear that?” I pointed to my feet.

The munching noise had taken me a moment to place before I realized it reminded me of my mice when we moved into the new place and they munched themselves new entrances in the walls for the homes they created.

“Fuck me,” Levi muttered.

“You’re not my type,” Killian quipped, causing me to bite my lip because Levi’s expression promised murder.

I poked the big Knight in the chest. “Stop glaring daggers at the prince and give me a boost.”

“What?” He glanced down at me.

“You can’t go, the prince can’t go, but I can.” I pointed upward. “Give me a boost, and I’ll see if anything’s waiting up there.”

“It’s too dangerous.” Levi refused with a vigorous shake of his head.

“So is staying here.” I then coughed, even though the smoke wasn’t yet that bad. “And might I remind you that, as an agent, I am trained to handle danger.” I didn’t mention the fact that, while I had the training, I’d never really had to employ it, given I sat behind a desk.

“Take this.” Levi pulled a dagger from a sheath and slapped it into my hand.

“I don’t think so.” I went to hand it back, but he scowled.

“You are not going up there without some kind of defense.”

“Fine.” I sighed and tucked it into my purse, which I slung cross-body. I’d left my suitcase by my desk, not wanting to lug it around for lunch. The suitcase contained items the bureau deemed necessary for its agents. Holy water, stakes, sleep potions, restraints, and, in my case, snacks in case I met new friends.

Levi knelt and cupped his hands. “If you see anything, you get back in here.”

“Yes, sir,” I chirped as I stepped into his waiting palms. He lifted me with ease and high enough I had no difficulty shoving the hatch up and sideways.

Levi heaved me even higher so I barely had to do anything but flop onto the roof of the elevator, barely lit by the light coming up from the hole in the cab. The cable that should have held the elevator in place was gone, which explained why it fell. The smell of smoke appeared to be of the burning-oil variety. The mechanism that ran the elevator most likely hadn’t shut off and strained.

“See anything?” Levi shouted.

“No. Hold on. Let me get the flashlight working on my phone.” I beamed the cell upwards and saw an empty shaft. However, when I glanced over the edge of the elevator where the smoke rose from, I gasped at the number of glowing red pinpricks.

Levi heard. “What is it?”

“Rats,” I whispered. “Lots of them.” Now, you might wonder at my trepidation at seeing rodents. After all, I loved mice. Mice versus rats, though? Two different kinds of beasts. Mice tended to be docile and sweet. Rats were not. Not to mention most rats were infected by the Grimm Effect, making them do things out of character for their species. Say like decide to chew through the floor of an elevator. I’d bet they’d had something to do with the cable failure, too.

“I’m coming up,” Levi stated.

“Wait. Let me see if I can talk to them.”

By talk, I meant convince them to not attack. But how? I didn’t have any food with me. Maybe I could use words and kindness to sway them.

“Hello.” I offered a cheery greeting.

The pink-nosed rodent closest to me clung to the ladder bolted to the side of the shaft and twitched its whiskers.

“I don’t suppose you’d let me and my companions pass?”

The rat bared its teeth and hissed before leaping to the roof of the cab to face off against me.

“I guess that’s a no.”

“What’s happening?” Levi hollered.

“I think the rat wants to eat me.” I went with honesty because it advanced on me with evil intent.

“Stand back, princess,” Levi advised a second before he leaped to grab the edges of the hole. He hauled himself out just as the rat launched!

And got batted aside.

The big man made the space seem impossibly tight, but I wouldn’t deny relief at him being there to handle the threat.

Levi snarled, “Okay, you mangy rodents. Let’s get this over with.”

The rat he’d batted aside had fallen between the elevator and the shaft. Apparently, the others took note and fled.

The prince below us yelled, “The scratching stopped.”

A relief of one sort, but the problem of the smoke remained.

Levi knelt down and put his hand in the hole. “Let’s go, Your Highness, before the rats decide they are hungry after all.”

Even I wasn’t immune to admiration at the ease with which Levi hauled the not-so-tiny prince through the hatch.

“Now what?” I asked.

“We climb,” Levi stated matter-of-factly.

I eyed the ladder and the distance to the next door, only faintly visible. Was now a good time to say I never managed a single pull-up during my bureau training? I wasn’t out of shape, per se. However, I didn’t exercise on a regular basis either, unless the stairs to my apartment counted.

Rather than orate my trepidation, I volunteered. “I’ll go first. Killian, you take the middle, and Levi will cover our rear.”

“And how exactly will you open the door, princess? Or are you packing more muscle than I can see?” Levi drawled, poking a hole in my plan.

“Good point,” I conceded. “In that case, Levi, you go first, then the prince, then me.”

Killian protested. “I don’t like the idea of you being at the bottom if those rats return.”

“I’ll be fine.” A lie, but an agent should be brave in the face of adversity—and they had a shot for rabies.

“Let’s move quickly.” Before he finished speaking, Levi began climbing, quickly reaching the next level, with Killian close behind. Since I didn’t fancy having my face pressed against his heels, I waited on the roof of the elevator.

Levi grunted. “This one ain’t budging. I’m going up to the next level.”

He climbed the ladder upward, and Killian followed, but I got distracted by a noise. Make that noises. Scratching and clawing. The rats were coming back.

“Um, Levi, I think we have company.”

“Climb!” he ordered from high enough overhead I couldn’t see him.

I grabbed the first rung just as the first set of red eyes peeked over the cab. I’d climbed a few when the hissing had me glancing down to see the entire roof of the elevator covered in squirming bodies. Worse, they tried to climb the ladder after me. At least the smooth walls kept them from moving up them spider-like.

“I’ve got the door open,” Levi shouted. “Move your asses.”

Killian clambered quickly to safety, but I struggled, the rungs slippery in my sweaty grip. It didn’t help that a rat suddenly latched onto my shoe.

I screamed and shook my foot until it flew off.

“What’s going on, princess?” Levi hollered.

“What do you think?” I huffed. “Rats. Lots of them, and they can climb.” They were also smart. I made the mistake of looking down to see them forming a rat pyramid, one that got higher as I watched. High enough one of them leaped for my leg.

I screeched. I know, not useful, and not something taught at the bureau’s academy, but I didn’t know what else to do but make noise as I swung my body sideways so it missed.

Something large fell past me and landed with a thump.

Levi had leaped from above and proceeded to kick the squirming rodents. They squealed as they scattered.

He barked, “Climb.”

I faced the ladder and heaved myself up a rung. Then another. I squeaked as something nudged my foot, and I instinctively kicked.

“Whoa, princess. It’s me. Stay still for a second.”

I opened my mouth to ask why, only to lose my voice as my breath rushed out. Levi shadowed my body, inserting his feet between mine, his body cocooning me from behind.

“I need you to face me and hold on tight,” he stated.

“I can climb.”

“Yeah, you can, but this will be faster.”

I might have argued, but he had a point. With his arms caging me, I turned around carefully so as to not dislodge us both. When my face brushed his chest, my arms went around his neck.

“Now your legs,” he advised against the top of my head.

For a second, I recalled the erection when I’d straddled him what felt like ages ago but had only been minutes. I held him tight around the neck, and my legs went around his waist and locked at his back. Tucked against him, we climbed. Or should I say, he did, and he wasn’t even huffing by the time we hit the opening where Killian waited.

The prince didn’t wait alone. We had an audience as we emerged on the first floor, the basement level being the one that had refused to open.

I disentangled myself from Levi and muttered, “Thanks.” I then didn’t say much as the Knight reported the rats and the destroyed elevator to the boss.

Hilda went on a rant. “How did those rodents get in the building? Someone call maintenance.”

“You need to do more than that. If they’ve infiltrated, we’ll need an exterminator and also a team to go floor by floor looking for more threats,” Levi interjected.

“Like I have the spare staff to do that,” Hilda huffed. “We’re already stretched thin.”

“It has to be done,” Levi stubbornly insisted.

Killian sidled close to me and murmured, “Think they’ll notice if we slip away for that lunch?”

As if Levi heard, his head swiveled, and he fixed me with a glare, not the prince.

“Oh, he’ll notice.” As expected, Levi followed the moment we slunk off and headed for the door.

I wasn’t actually hungry, but the idea of fresh air? Very welcome, along with the sunshine on my face.

We got our sandwiches, of which I only ate a few bites. Levi polished off the rest. Then we went with Killian to his hotel so he could go over the plans for the ball with a guest list that kept growing, as wannabe Cinderellas kept replying to the RSVP invitations that Killian swore he hadn’t sent.

When Hannah and Gerome arrived at the suite for added protection—more Knights under Levi’s watch—I took it as my cue to leave.

What I didn’t expect?

Levi to accompany me.