by Cynthia Eden
And the howls followed them. Howls and snarls that seemed to be getting so much closer.
“Stop!” A male’s voice shouted. “Stop or I’ll shoot!”
Shane staggered to a stop.
“Put the woman down.”
She twisted around, trying to see who was shouting orders, and her gaze fell on the armed guards who were positioned at the edge of the dock. Five men stood there, weapons at the ready. Five men who blocked their escape because the seaplane was landing behind them, coming in with a spray of water.
Taking his time, Shane lowered Olivia to her feet.
“Come here, Dr. Maddox!” A blond guard shouted. “We’ll keep you safe.”
That wasn’t just any blond guard. She recognized Evan. The man who’d left her with the wolves. And that jerk was offering her safety? Did she look like an idiot?
“Shane, it’s him, he’s the one who took me—”
Evan fired. The bullet flew through the air. Only the bullet wasn’t aimed at Shane. It was aimed at her.
Shane leapt in front of her. The bullet thudded into his body. She heard the horrifying, sickening sound as it sank into him.
Then the other guards were firing. For an instant, the gunfire drowned out the approach of the plane. Olivia covered her ears, screaming because the bullets were all around them.
But the bullets didn’t touch her. Shane was in front of her. Shielding her. Protecting her and—and then leaping for the guards when they stopped to reload.
He tore through them. All fangs and fury. Blood flowed, but this time, that blood came from the guards. Their bodies hit the ground as the men cried out in pain.
Her hands had fallen away from her ears. She stared at the men around her, but the scene seemed to flicker in her mind. The past and the present merged.
She saw another time. Another blood-soaked place.
Shane hadn’t been there to shield her.
Her…her father had been there.
He’d laughed while he killed. Laughed. “No one controls me!” Her father’s words were forever burned into her memory.
Her body shuddered.
The blood had splashed onto her when she’d been a child. It had covered her hands, her clothes. The blood—
“Come on, Olivia!” Shane roared, ripping her out of the past.
She blinked and realized that he was running down the narrow, wooden dock. Heading right toward the seaplane.
Shaking her head, she rushed after him. The men on the ground were still alive, she could hear their groans of pain. She darted around them, staying out of their reach, and hurrying toward the plane.
The pilot was still inside that seaplane. As Olivia watched, he shoved open his door and came out, armed.
“Shane, look out!”
But the pilot didn’t aim his weapon at Shane. The tall, dark haired man’s gaze flew toward her. Alarm flashed across his face. “Hurry, run!”
She was hurrying. It wasn’t like she had vamp speed.
At the pilot’s cry, Shane whipped back around toward her. She saw an expression of horror flash across his face.
Oh, no. If Shane was horrified, then whoever—whatever was behind her had to be very bad. Olivia ran as fast as she could. Shane was now leaping toward her and she wanted to get to that vampire because—
He can keep me safe.
Olivia risked a desperate glance over her shoulder. A werewolf was just feet away. A fully shifted, terrifying beast of a werewolf who was moving far too fast for her. The beast was easily twice the size of a normal wolf, and his thick fur was a stark white. Saliva dripped from his razor sharp teeth.
“Get down!” That bellow wasn’t Shane’s. Was it the pilot’s? Didn’t matter. Shane had just grabbed her wrist and pulled her against him even as more gunfire erupted.
But this time, the gunfire wasn’t aimed at her or Shane.
She peeked over her shoulder.
The werewolf had hit the ground. The bullets had hit him.
“Silver bullets, but I didn’t hit his heart so hurry the hell up!”
Her head whipped back around. That was the pilot talking. The pilot who was frantically motioning toward them and telling Shane to, “Move the hell on, vamp!”
The pilot wasn’t sounding the alarm? He was helping them?
Shane pretty much tossed her into that seaplane. He followed in right behind her.
“Damn nice timing, Connor,” Shane muttered. “I owe you.”
“You sure as hell do.” The guy—Connor—was back in the pilot’s seat. He was flipping dials and pushing some buttons and the plane was starting to move. “Now hold on, because we’re going out fast and hot.”
She held onto the seat with a death grip.
The plane sent water flying into the air as it pulled away from Purgatory, heading out toward the ocean, then going up and up.
Escape.
Olivia looked back at the island. The guards were still on the ground. And the werewolf was moving. Crawling toward…Evan? Yes, the guard was fumbling for his weapon but—
Her eyes squeezed shut when she heard his scream.
“Things on Purgatory are FUBAR,” Shane said flatly.
She swallowed the lump in her throat.
“Get Pate. He needs to send men in there to take over right away,” Shane continued, his voice a rumble that she could barely hear over the engines. “The warden’s dirty, just like the last one, and whoever is pulling the strings on that place—whoever is in control back in D.C.—they want the paranormals on the edge out there.”
She opened her eyes. Saw the waves beneath them.
“What the hell happened down there?” Connor demanded. “I got word from the boss that I needed to go in because he’d gotten Intel that some big powerhouse had come in at the island.”
She turned her head. Found Shane watching her with eyes that seemed strangely cold. Suspicious.
“A powerhouse did come in,” he agreed as he stared at Olivia. “But you can radio Pate and tell him that particular situation has been contained.”
It had? From where she was sitting, nothing was contained at Purgatory.
“Tell him…” Shane continued as he reached over and grabbed a black bag. The pilot’s bag? Shane pulled out a set of gleaming, silver hand-cuffs. “Tell him that I have her.”
Her?
Then Shane grabbed her wrists. He locked the cuffs around her as she stared at him in shock.
“Pate needs to know that I’ve got a djinn.”
“Are you crazy?” Olivia shrieked. But the plane was loud now, its engines whirling at full power. She could barely hear her own voice. “What are you doing?”
Even above the roar of the plane, she heard his clear and cold response, “Containing you.”
***
“Take off the handcuffs, Shane.”
The seaplane had just touched down off the Washington coast. It wasn’t a location that saw much air traffic—in fact, Shane would guess that the rickety dock didn’t see much traffic at all.
“I know you heard me. Take them off.”
Connor killed the engines. He glanced back at them, one brow raised. “I think we both heard you, Dr. Maddox, but if Shane says you need to be contained…” His golden eyes narrowed on her. Obviously, he thought she was a threat. “You’re being contained.”
Her mouth opened, closed, then opened again. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes gleamed. “This isn’t happening, I wish you would—”
Shane hated to do it. Oh, damn, he hated it, but he gagged her then.
Fear flashed across her face when he tied the small rope behind her head. He’d moved so fast that she hadn’t been given the chance to fight him.
“Uh, yeah…” Connor’s voice was guarded. “When are you going to update me on what’s going on with her?”
“Soon,” he promised. As soon as he had her calm and—
Olivia tried to head-butt him. And for the fifth time, the fifth damn time, he attempted to use
compulsion on her.
When a vampire drank from a human, a link was formed. The vampire could control his prey. And that link of control wasn’t just exclusive to humans, either. Vamps could control werewolves the same way. They were supposed to be able to control all prey.
But he couldn’t forge any kind of link with her.
They’d radioed Pate on the way there, told him to lock down Purgatory as fast as he could, and updated the boss about Olivia. After he’d sworn to hell and back, Pate had given them directions to this safe house. Just beyond the dock, Shane could see the faded cabin that waited. He could also see the man striding from that cabin—Eric Pate looked pissed.
Shane felt the same way.
“We aren’t going to hurt you,” Shane told Olivia, and he hoped those words were true. They’d have to interrogate her, have to discover all of the secrets that the woman might not even realize she possessed.
She was dangerous, a threat that couldn’t be ignored. Someone in power had arranged for her to visit Purgatory because that someone knew exactly what Olivia was.
In the wrong hands, Olivia could prove to be more than lethal.
She could prove to be fucking Armageddon.
Connor exited the seaplane. Keeping his hold on Olivia, Shane followed. She dug in her heels, she growled behind the gag, and he was pretty sure those growls translated to “Asshole” or “Bastard” and he thought there was a “Burn in hell” thrown in there, too.
“Already been there,” he told her as he pulled her along the dock. “It wasn’t nearly as hot as you’d expect.”
The growled/muffled version of “Asshole” came again.
Pate waited for them at the end of the dock. The wind blew against his hair and sent his coat flapping back, clearly revealing the gun strapped to his hip. Pate had his arms crossed over his chest. As Shane approached him, Pate gave a sad shake of his head. “This wasn’t the way the mission was supposed to end.”
“Yes, well, then maybe you shouldn’t have Ok’ed the entrance of a djinn into Purgatory.”
More muffled grunts came from Olivia.
“I didn’t realize that she was a djinn, not when I sent her in.” His words sounded disgusted. “Now that I know…you’ll see that things have changed. I dug up every bit of research I had on djinns. We can contain her.”
Olivia went silent.
“Fuck me,” Pate muttered, “this isn’t going to be easy.” His gaze swept around the area. “Hide the plane, Connor, then come inside for the interrogation.”
Olivia’s whole body stiffened at the word “interrogation.”
Pate stared at her with hard eyes. Shane had seen that expression on his friend’s face before. It was Pate’s I’ll-Do-Anything-Necessary look. Shit.
“Bring her.” Then Pate turned and headed back toward the cabin.
Shane glanced at Olivia. She shook her head, frantic.
His jaw locked. “You don’t understand how many lives are on the line here.”
A tear leaked down her cheek, and the sight of that lone tear did something to him. His chest ached, and Shane found himself leaning toward her. Brushing that tear away, then letting his fingers linger against her cheek. “I’ll protect you.”
He hadn’t meant to reveal that. Hell, the addiction was worse than he’d thought.
Using his hold on her hand-cuffs, he pulled her toward the cabin. As soon as he got inside and smelled the incense, he knew Pate had been busy. A quick glance at the floor showed the old, intricate symbols that had been painted there, and the familiar scent told Shane that his friend had used blood to make those marks.
A chair sat in the middle of the markings.
Olivia squirmed in his grip, but Shane pushed her toward the chair. In a lightning-fast move, he unhooked her cuffs. She was sighing with relief when he quickly grabbed her arms again and re-cuffed her. Only this time, the cuffs were behind her back.
She mumbled behind her gag and—
He used a knife to cut the gag away.
“You bastard!” Olivia heaved out. Then she blinked and seemed to realize that the gag was gone. “Help! Someone, help me!”
Pate shut the cabin’s door. “There’s no one here to help you.”
Her gaze was on Shane. Help me. It was too easy to read the desperate plea in her eyes.
He tossed away the gag. Put the knife back on the table with the…other instruments that Pate had out. His gaze lingered on that instrument tray. He’d seen paranormal interrogations before, and he knew just how intense they could become.
I can’t let that happen to her.
He put his body in front of Olivia and turned to face Pate. His friend. The man he might have to attack in a few moments. “You have a holding spell in place.”
“Damn straight I do. If she really is a djinn, her wishes won’t work here.” Pate’s lips twisted. “For a little while, anyway.”
“I’m not a djinn!” Olivia shouted.
Pate paced around the room. “Tell me more about what went down on Purgatory.” The words were calm, but an angry tension hung in the air around Pate. “That place is a powder keg, and the last thing I want is for it to explode.”
Shane exhaled on a ragged breath. “Too late. I’d say an explosion is imminent.”
Pate swore. “I’ve already got a dozen of my agents en route to contain the place. I’ve got—”
“A guard took her to the werewolves.” He waved his hand behind him to indicate a glaring Olivia. “And he left her there with them.” Anger rushed through him when he remembered her fear. “I almost didn’t get to her in time.”
Pate’s eyes widened a bit. “All of the guards were supposed to be replaced at Purgatory. New guards, new warden. They were handpicked—”
“By you?” Shane demanded as he felt his fangs burn in his mouth. He’d always trusted Pate, from the first time that he’d seen the guy in that burning desert in the Middle East, but if Pate was turning on him…
“Hell, no, not by me. I don’t manage Purgatory. I run the Para Unit.” His jaw locked. “We catch the beasts. Someone else keeps them caged.”
“That someone is doing a piss-poor job.”
“Uh, hello?” Olivia demanded. The chair’s legs slammed to the floor beneath her heaving, bouncing body. “Could you please do something about the woman you’ve got handcuffed here!”
Pate and Shane spun to face her.
She leveled her furious stare on Pate. “You’ve got problems at Purgatory, big ones, okay? I was supposed to interview werewolves, and they gave me a silver remote that wouldn’t even work on them!” Olivia frantically shook her head. “Then, yes, the guard—Evan—just took me to the werewolves. The werewolves in maximum security. He threw me in there with them and…and just left me.”
A snarl built in Pate’s throat. He slanted a hard glance at Shane. “And where is this Evan now?”
“The last I saw of him,” Shane said softly, “a fully shifted werewolf was going for his throat.”
“Shifted?”
“The warden was letting the wolf track me and Olivia. The fool took the werewolf’s collar off.”
“That’s against every protocol they have at Purgatory.” Pate started his frantic pacing again.
“Yes, well…” Shane jerked a hand through his hair. “Protocol isn’t big there. The place is still out of control. I don’t know what bull you’re being fed, but it’s chaos there.”
Pate yanked out his phone. Marched for the door. “My men will take over. They’ll secure the place.”
Shane tilted his head as he studied Pate’s retreating figure. “Who’s responsible for caging them?”
Pate glanced back at him. “Senator Donald Quick, the man who guaranteed that Purgatory would not fail this time.”
Is he the man you believe is setting us all up for disaster?
Pate’s stare darted back to Olivia. “I’ll be right back, Dr. Maddox, and when I return, you will tell us your secrets.”
“I’m
the victim here!” Olivia yelled at him.
Pate grunted and left the cabin. The door shut softly behind him.
“This is insane.” Her breathless voice had Shane glancing at her again. “Uncuff me. Stop this madness right now!”
He wanted to but… “There are two ways this can work.”
She shook her head.
“You can tell us what we want to know. Start talking now, on your own…” He closed in on her. Shane leaned close to Olivia. Her sensual scent wrapped around him. “Or we make you talk.”
Fear flashed in her beautiful eyes. He hated that look of fear. Hated that he was the cause of her terror.
“I thought you were protecting me,” she whispered as she gave a confused shake of her head. “Why are you doing this?”
He leaned in even closer. Close enough to kiss her. And he could still taste her on his tongue. “Because you’re a weapon that can be used to hurt a lot of people. I can’t let that happen.” He’d seen too much death, too many slaughters in all of his centuries.
“I’m not a weapon.” She shook her head once more. Her hair slid over her shoulders. “I’m just a person.” Her voice lowered to a desperate, husky rasp, “Please, Shane, don’t do this to me. I-I’m scared.”
His gut clenched. “Just talk, Olivia. Tell us what we need to know!”
She jerked and the chair bounced on its legs. “There’s nothing to tell! I’m a normal woman, I’m not some—some djinn! I thought you were helping me!” Now her voice wasn’t a whisper, it was closer to a yell. “But you’re playing some game that I don’t understand!”
His hands closed around her delicate shoulders. He pushed down, stopping her frantic movements. “Why are you drawn to monsters?”
“What?”
“Human killers. Paranormal killers. Why do they fascinate you so much?”
Her eyelashes flickered. “Because I want to stop them. I-I don’t want anyone else to get hurt—”
He brought his mouth next to her ear. “You’re lying to me,” he murmured. “Don’t do that. Not again.”
The scent of her fear deepened.
He pulled back. Stared into her eyes once more. “Why do you like the monsters?”
She shook her head.