The door opened behind her, and she turned with a greeting. The words stalled in her throat. “Zach,” she whispered.
He nodded and stepped inside. The door swished shut and locked automatically. He’d dyed his blond hair a deep brown, and a new dark suit covered his body. A wild glint lit his eyes. “Nora.”
She gulped and tried to look normal. The FBI disguise was a good one since so many new agents were suddenly milling around the temporary CDC labs. “How did you get in here?”
He smiled, the expression a parody of the sweet look he’d given her the previous month. “I borrowed a card. No big deal. Why do you keep forgetting I’m smarter than, well, everybody else around here?”
Nora tried to reach for the phone in her pocket. “What happened to the guard outside?”
Zach drew a gun from behind his back and pointed it at her. “He’s in a supply closet right now, hopefully bleeding out. Now toss your phone over here.” He flicked the gun toward where Lynne stood beyond the glass doors, her eyes wide. “Move, and I’ll shoot you,” he mouthed clearly. He waited for her nod before turning back to Nora. “Now.”
Lynne was across the entire lab from a phone. Nora took out her phone and tossed it at him.
He dodged to the side, and the phone spun by to smash against the wall. “Good enough.” He gestured toward a chair. “Sit down.”
She took a seat, her gaze meeting Lynne’s frantic one. “Zach, I don’t really think you want to hurt me,” Nora said.
“I don’t.” Zach walked toward her and yanked a pair of handcuffs from his jacket. “From the guard. Moron.”
Panic bubbled up in Nora, and she tried to push off the chair. Zach clicked her hands into place, securing her to the leg of the heavy oak desk. She could remain seated, but her arm dangled at a painful level. “Please let me go.”
“We’ll leave in a minute.” He turned and approached the lab, yanking open the two protective doors and kicking stoppers into place to keep them open.
“Zachary, don’t go in there,” Nora hissed.
He continued on. “Why not? I’ve already had the infection, and since it’s Scorpius, you can’t catch it in the air. Now just sit there and shut up.”
She shook her head, tugging uselessly on the cuff. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m curious about this bugger,” Zach said, crossing toward Lynne.
Shit. The woman was hampered by the big suit and wouldn’t be able to fight well. She backed away, her hands up. “Nora, how tight you bound?” Lynne yelled.
“Can’t move. Cuffed,” Nora screamed back. “If you can get by him, run.”
Lynne winced. “The suit is probably contaminated.”
Zach laughed, the sound high and slightly off. “What exactly is this bacteria, doc? I’ve felt better in the last week than I have in years. Years and years. Talk to me.”
Lynne’s gaze sharpened. “You feel different since recuperating?”
Zach walked toward her, smiling as she backed away and hit the counter. “I do. No more doubt, no more silly thoughts. I’m meant to be here and get what I want.”
Nora’s chest compressed. “Zach, leave her alone. Please. I’ll go with you right now.”
He turned and smiled, his expression the closest to evil Nora had ever seen. “You’ll go with me when I’m ready.”
Taking advantage of his momentary change in focus, Lynne dodged forward and hit him in the gut. He turned, faster than Nora would’ve thought, and tackled Lynne to the floor.
Nora screamed as loud as she could.
Zach released the zipper and yanked the helmet off Lynne before straddling her. She yelled, trying to fight him off, her gloved hands useless. Laughing, Zach reached up for one of the test tubes.
“No!” Nora jerked against the cuffs. He’d grabbed the deadly green strain, and they had no idea what it’d do to a person. “Let her go. Please.”
For answer, he flicked off the cover and shoved the end in Lynne’s mouth. She coughed, shoving at him, her body jerking. Green spat over her face. The vial clinked on the floor. Then, almost in slow motion, Zach slapped his hand over Lynne’s mouth, forcing her to swallow several times. She flapped against him, her legs kicking the tiles.
Finally, Zach stood, turned, and shot a back kick into one of the monitors. Sparks crackled, and the screen tumbled over the desk to the floor. In an almost manic series of hits and kicks, he destroyed every piece of equipment in the lab.
Lynne turned over, coughing, and tried to crawl away. Her chest heaved and a mournful groan rumbled up from her chest.
Nora struggled against the cuffs, tears blurring her vision. “Inject the blue. It’s your only chance.”
Zach watched Lynne, his face passive. Then he smiled as she pulled herself up the side cabinet to stand, weaving back and forth.
“Fuck, it hurts. Hurts so bad,” Lynne mumbled, both hands clapping against her temples. “God, please help me.”
Zach tipped back his head and cackled. “I am God, and I’m not likely to help you. Bitch.” Venom filled his words.
Nora shook her head, trying to clear her eyes. “Leave her alone.”
Lynne dropped to her knees, her hands clutching her chest, fumbling up for the blue vial.
“Zach, please help her,” Nora yelled, fear ripping into her. “Drink the blue, Lynne. Now. We can make more.”
Lynne’s eyes widened, a continuous keening coming from her until her voice cracked. She grasped a syringe and filled it with blue liquid, her hands shaking. The vial dropped to the floor.
Sucking in air, she stuck the needle into her arm and depressed the plunger. She dropped all the way down, face-first, her body going into convulsions. The scream that erupted from her sounded like it came from the depths of hell.
Aqua blue filled the visible veins at the back of her neck, brightening and then winking out.
Nora gasped, her gaze on her friend.
Zach frowned and stepped over debris to reach the downed woman. Humming to himself, he reached down and flipped her over. Quick motions had the suit removed. Frowning, he ripped open her shirt and unclasped her bra.
Blue glowed up from Lynne’s skin. How was that possible? Nora shook her head, trying to clear her vision. Lynne’s heart was a bright greenish blue, cascading out in arteries and veins. Blue morphing into a bright aqua. She lay limp, unconscious.
Zach palmed a breast, and she didn’t move.
Nora gagged. “Let her go. Zach, this isn’t you. Please.”
He looked up and squinted as if he’d forgotten her. Then he smiled. With another almost absent pinch to Lynne’s cheek, he stood.
He stalked toward Nora, a bizarre smile lifting his lips.
Fear ricocheted through her. She hissed out air, her feet kicking to somehow move the chair. “Leave me alone.”
He reached her and bent down, his face an inch from hers.
She stopped breathing and pressed back into the cushions.
Zach licked his lips.
Nora shoved down a whimper of terror.
The door opened, and one of Lynne’s techs strode in. His name was John or Joe, or something like that. “Where’s the guard?” he asked, munching on a bagel.
Zach shot forward and tackled him into the metal door. His head impacted with the sound of a melon on concrete, and he slid to the tile unconscious.
“There’s no way to get you out of here unwillingly. Not through all the hallways and security.” Zach sighed. “Any chance you’ll come with me?”
Nora slowly shook her head. The man had completely lost it, but he had to have known she wouldn’t cooperate. “Why did you come?”
He shrugged. “I wanted to see the green vial and what it would do. My normal curiosity seems to have moved into obsession. Like it has for you. I have a couple of things to take care of, and then I’ll be back for you.” He paused at the door and blew her a kiss. “You and me, Nora. It’s gonna be great.”
Chapter Ten
Deke set his gun on the night table, his senses on full alert. Behind him, Nora perched on his bed, way too quiet.
He sighed, his gaze remaining on the darkness outside his window. His gut roiled, and his fingers curled with the need to extract vengeance. With great pain. “Are you sure you’re not infected?”
“I’m sure,” she said softly. “The infection is spread by bodily fluids.”
He shut the blinds and turned to face her, masking his expression. “So only kissing, sex, blood, urine, semen?”
She shook her head. “Those for sure, but it’s like any bacteria. If it’s on a surface, and you touch the surface and then your eyes, nose, or mouth, you can catch it.”
He nodded, his chest heavy. The memory of having to wait while they’d performed so many tests on her would haunt him forever. “It’s contained for now?”
She winced. “Lynne’s team got her into isolation, and she’s being treated with the highest protocols. Then they disinfected the entire room and everything in it. I stayed with her for a couple of hours while you looked for Zach, but she hasn’t regained consciousness.”
Deke scrubbed both hands down his face. “Our biggest problem now is Zach Barter.”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen next. He wanted to infect Lynne, so maybe he wants to infect other people. Perhaps part of the bacteria’s strength, when it strips the brain, is to push for more infections. There are contagions with similar symptoms.” Nora clasped both arms around her knees, looking unbelievably fragile.
Deke remained still. “Great.”
Nora leaned her chin on her knees. “You should’ve seen Lynne’s chest. It turned blue. I mean, her heart glowed almost aqua. I’ve never seen anything like it. Ever.”
“You’re sure you’re not infected,” Deke said.
Nora huffed. “No, I’m not infected, they did plenty of tests and they know how the bacteria works.”
His temper pricked his shoulders as if the old fury really wanted out. Yet his woman had been through an ordeal, and now wasn’t the time for him to lose it. “If there’s a chance you’re infected, then I want you in the hospital with doctors all around.”
She dropped her gaze. “He didn’t touch me after being in the containment area. There’s no way, Deke. I’m going to head back into the lab and find something new to work on while I wait for more results.”
“No.” Deke kicked off his boots and set a knee on the bed, the pressure in his chest easing. He believed her, and thank the gods. All of them. “We have a couple of hours to sleep, and then I need to go out hunting again.” He’d spent hours trying to find Barter, with no luck; he had to contain the bastard, and soon. “Now we sleep.”
Dark smudges marred the pale skin beneath Nora’s eyes, and weariness hunched her shoulders, yet her eyes shot sparks. “Just because we’re in a crisis right now doesn’t give you the right to tell me what to do.”
He lifted his chin. “You’re right.”
She blinked. “I am.”
“Aye. I’m telling you what to do because we’re together, and it’s my job to keep you safe. If you’re passing out from exhaustion, it makes my part more difficult.” He kept his voice level and tried to add some humor, but he spoke the truth, and damn it, she could tell.
“We’re barely together, and that doesn’t give you rights,” she muttered.
He needed sleep, as did she. So he skipped the argument and instead grabbed her up and shoved her under the covers. Her halfhearted struggle did nothing but make him more determined. Then he reached over his head to turn off the lamp before lying down.
“You’re not getting in?” she asked, her voice small in the darkness.
“No.” Deke could get enough sleep lying on top of his covers. Getting through the security system he’d installed that morning would be nearly impossible for a guy not trained in systems. Even so, Deke would be prepared. “Go to sleep, Nora.”
“Fine.” She rolled over, and even the rustle sounded huffy.
He shut his eyes and relaxed his body from the bottom to the top as he’d been trained. The slightest of movements in the bed caught his attention. Then another. A soft, muffled sob came from next to him. Well, shit. He stood and kicked off his pants and shirt before sliding under the covers and turning her to face him. Her fight this time was a little more impressive, but he was patient, and before long, he’d tucked her wet face into his neck. “Let it out.”
She smacked his ribs. “I thought you had to be vigilant.”
He sighed against her hair. “No way can Barter get inside this place without my knowing it.” Truth be told, Deke had wanted to sleep on top of the bed to keep from reaching for her. Even now, with her so warm and soft against him, his groin stirred.
She hiccupped, and the slight knock of her knee against his balls seemed deliberate. “You’re not the boss here, and I’m going back to work, jackass. Now let me go, and get out of my way.”
So she wanted to fight, did she? A good brawl would make her forget her troubles for a while, but she’d have to cry it out and face them sooner or later. “No.”
She pushed against his chest. “I’m not going to sleep, so I might as well head back into the lab and work.”
“You’re exhausted, and that’s where mistakes are made. Rest a little, and you can go back to work.”
She shoved against him, her nails digging in. “Let me go.”
“No.” His quick smack to her ass reverberated up his arm. “Knock it off.”
Her gasp heated his collarbone. “Oh, you did not,” she hissed.
The roar of his blood through his veins filled his head, and he struggled to contain himself. “Go to sleep, or I’ll do it again. I’m in no mood, Nora.” Wrong thing to say, and he knew it the second the words left his mouth. But enough was enough, and his hold on his temper was rapidly failing. A sociopath wanted his woman enough to taunt Deke in a fucking journal. “Go. To. Sleep.”
She kicked against him and landed a punch near his mouth.
Damn it. He rolled them over, flattening her to the bed.
She got off another good punch, this time nailing his bottom lip.
“Fuck.” He grabbed her hands and manacled her wrists.
Her tight nipples scraped across his chest, and she groaned. Then she widened her legs, making room for him. “Deacan,” she breathed.
“No.” He could barely make out her face in the darkness, so he lowered his closer. His emotions were raw, and he needed time to gather himself. “I’m garna release you, and you’re going to roll over and go to sleep. You feel me?”
She wiggled her butt in the bed and rubbed her wet cunt against his dick. “I definitely feel you.”
Hunger clawed through him. He shut his eyes, struggling for control. While he understood her need to escape reality, and sex was a good way to do that, he wasn’t ready. Gentleness lay nowhere within him at the moment. Shit. From the second he’d busted his ass to get to the hospital and seen her, so pale and frightened, huddled under a blanket as the medical teams tested her, he’d wanted to beat somebody bloody. So he took a deep breath and slowly released her wrists. “Nora, heed me.”
“I’m trying to heed you,” she hissed, rubbing herself against him.
He swallowed, his biceps quivering with the fight to keep from implanting himself so deep danger never found her again. “I’m not in control.” Damn, he hated admitting that. “If I take you, baby, it’s gonna be my way, and that ain’t gentle.” Nowhere near, actually.
She laughed, the sound deep and throaty. “No kidding. Geez. What do you call the other day?”
He paused and blinked. The other day? What other day? Realization dawned. “That was play. We were playing.” The woman really didn’t know him if she thought that was him out of control.
She leaned up and licked along his jawline. “Let’s play again.”
His cock hardened to the point of pain. His chest burned, and his vision hazed. “Let go. Time to sleep.” His voice sound
ed as if he’d eaten glass.
She shifted against him, her nails scraping his palm. “Stop being such a pussy. You want me? Take me.”
His body actually jerked as if held by invisible chains. Her use of the word was deliberate, and he bit down a retort. He drew in air through his nose, trying with every ounce of strength he had not to take her up on the offer. Or dare. “Trust me, Nora.”
“I do.” She freed her hands and reached for his hair to yank, and the pain shot straight from his scalp to his throbbing dick. “You’ve always held back, haven’t you.” Wonder filled her voice as she made the statement that didn’t remotely sound like a question.
“Aye.” The breath caught in his chest, and he forced it to remain there. Held. Waiting. Like a jaguar about to strike, everything in him coiled.
She went still beneath him as if instinctively knowing how close he was to the precipice. Then slowly, with pure deliberation, she released his hair and caressed down his neck, back, and buttocks, her nails lightly scraping. She reached his hip bone, and he stopped breathing.
Tension filled the room, smothering any oxygen still left.
Then she slid over his hip and wrapped her hand around the base of his shaft. Tight.
He growled, the sound more animalistic than human.
Her shoulders came off the bed, and her lips brushed against his. “You want me, Deacan McDougall? Then fucking take me.”
Nora knew the second his control snapped. She not only heard it, she could feel it. After the fear of the day, after the sadness, she just wanted to get lost. Pushing Deacan McDougall to lose control was by no means a smart move. But it was all she had, and once she’d started, she couldn’t stop.
He reared back and flipped her around.
“Hey—” she protested, trying to lift her face from the pillow.
He grabbed her hair and pulled back—hard. She scrambled up onto all fours to keep the ache at bay, her mind swirling. Her chest filled until her lungs protested, and she tried to breathe out. Deke had taken her from behind before, and this shouldn’t feel like a big deal. But something . . . was different.
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