Burn For Me (Phoenix Fire #1)(11)
Author: Cynthia Eden

A very real threat. Vampires and fire didn’t mix so well.

Cain stopped waiting on her to take his hand. He grabbed her wrist and hauled her to his side. “Come on.”

Every instinct she had screamed for her to run from the fire, but . . . “There are others. They’re trapped and—”

An explosion shook the building. A fierce detonation that had the walls shuddering and thick cracks breaking across the ceiling.

The vampire stared at Cain for an instant, then when the screams started—screams that seemed to come from everywhere—the vamp shoved past Cain and Eve and raced away.

So many screams . . . and more explosions.

“He’s not letting us out.” Cain’s grip was unbreakable. “The f**king bastard . . . Wyatt is gonna kill everyone before he lets his experiments get away.”

Wyatt was blowing up the lab? She shook her head. This wasn’t supposed to happen. None of this should have happened. “We have to help the others!”

A chunk of ceiling fell down, barely missing her leg. Cain pulled her down the hallway. She fought him, dragging in her heels. “No, the others—”

She choked on the smoke.

They were almost at the stairwell.

“Please . . .”

The one word stopped him.

“They’ll die.” Unless they were like Cain, and that was highly doubtful. She’d never met anyone else quite like him.

He grabbed the key cards from her hand. “Then I’ll get them out.” A push sent her into the stairwell. “You get that sweet ass out of this place.”

Another explosion rocked Genesis, and Cain left her—rushing back down the winding hallway even as the building began to collapse.

The smoke was thicker than Seattle fog as Eve fought her way down the corridor toward Wyatt’s office. The coldhearted bastard was trying to kill everyone, even his own research teams. The detonations had gone off with near perfect timing. Sealing doorways. Destroying equipment.

Burying evidence.

He wasn’t going to get away with this. She wouldn’t let him. People deserved to know the truth—and the truth was that vampires and shifters weren’t the only monsters.

Some humans could be the worst monsters out there.

Her lungs burned as she shoved against his office door. Locked. Sealed tight from the inside. Eve snarled as she pushed against that door. Just—

The door opened with a hiss, and she fell inside. The place was perfect. Freaking pristine, while hell stalked the hallways outside.

She stumbled to Wyatt’s desk and yanked up the laptop that looked like it had been waiting for her.

“I was wondering when you’d come my way.”

She whirled around. The bookcase to the left wasn’t a real bookcase. Wyatt had rigged the place, all right. Given himself the perfect exit, one hidden so easily.

“There’s no data there.” He inclined his head toward her and the laptop. “I erased those files.”

More screams. Cries for help.

Eve shifted forward, moving onto the balls of her feet, then she went completely still when she saw the gun in his hand.

“You really f**ked things up for me.” Wyatt sighed. “And to think, I had such hopes for you.”

What? Hopes to do what—torture and maim her? Freak. “It’s over, Wyatt. Your facility is burning. Your people are dying—it’s over.”

Wyatt shook his head. “I’ll take my data. Go forward, but you . . .” That gun didn’t waver. “You’re not going anywhere.” His clinical façade was cracking right before her eyes as the rage swept through him.

“Why?” The question tore from her. “Why are you doing this to them?”

“Because they don’t deserve to be the ones with the power.” Disgust tightened his mouth. “They won’t be the strong ones. They won’t destroy us!”

Sounded like the doc had some personal issues going on. She could understand. Seeing as how vampires had killed her family, she wasn’t exactly warm and tingly when it came to all the supernaturals. But killing them?

Torturing them?

No.

“We don’t get to play God.” She edged behind his desk. The laptop was clutched in front of her. Like it would stop a bullet.

“Some of us do.” Wyatt’s response, arrogant and so cold, drifted across the room.

Her eyes narrowed. “You’re gonna blame all of this”—her free hand waved toward the smoke filling the room—“on them, aren’t you?” He was setting up the explosions to make it look like the paranormals were the ones who’d attacked. I bet he blames everything on Cain.

Wyatt smiled. Sometimes, it was easy to see madness. Sometimes, it was harder to see evil.

Wyatt kept the gun up as he said, “When no one walks away but me . . . there will be no other story to believe.”

“Cain . . . Cain will walk away.” The fire wouldn’t stop him. Not when he could control the flames so easily. “You know he’ll live, you know—”

Wyatt laughed. “Cain’s the worst monster there is. You think I’m bad? You don’t even know what he’s done.”

Then he shot her. Not in the heart or head, as she’d expected. But in the stomach. She fell down, gasping at the pain. The laptop fell from her fingers.

“You will, though,” he promised her. “You will.”

He stepped back into the small opening made by the bookshelf. His perfect exit strategy. He’d planned so well—and now the jerk was going to get away.

“No!” She couldn’t stand. Her whole body felt heavy, weighted. She tried to crawl to him. “You can’t—”

The bookshelf closed, sealing him inside. No, sealing her inside the room and letting him get wherever the hell he wanted to go.

“Help!” She yelled, crawling a bit more. She’d find something. Something she could use to help her and she’d get out. She’d—

Fire raced into the room.

Fire . . . and Cain.

“Help me,” she begged him, staring up—and looking right into his eyes. Into the fire.

He’s worse than me.

Cain lifted her into his arms. Held her against his chest. Fire blocked the door. Blazed down the hall.

“Can you . . .” The smoke was choking her. Dammit, if they didn’t move, that would be what killed her. Not the fire.

Never the fire.

She’d lied to Wyatt. To Cain. To just about everyone. She had plenty of secrets that no one knew, not even those who were supposed to be her closest friends.