Burn For Me (Phoenix Fire #1)(42)
Author: Cynthia Eden

“You need to feed.” Cain’s voice was quiet, calm, such a contrast to the vampire’s frantic words.

Ryder impatiently shook his head. “He did . . . something to me. I can drink other blood. I f**king have. Over and over. But it doesn’t quench the thirst. It just makes me crave her more. Wyatt did something.”

Yes, but with Wyatt, there was no telling exactly what he’d done. Anything was possible with Dr. Frankenstein.

“He wanted me addicted to her.” A hard rush of breath escaped Ryder. “I am. And I’m getting her out of there. I’m not going to let Wyatt keep hurting her!”

“How do you know she wasn’t at Genesis when it burned?” Eve asked him. How do you know Wyatt still has her? Maybe the woman had escaped—from Wyatt and from the vampire who’d killed her.

But Ryder was adamant. “He had two labs. I know he did. I heard him talking . . . he was transferring her to the second lab for more study.”

Study or torture? Eve figured they were the same thing in Wyatt’s twisted mind.

“He wants you,” Ryder said, focusing on her with a sudden intensity that made her breath catch. “He’ll keep coming after you. He won’t stop. Once he gets you, we can follow him back to the second lab and—”

Cain punched him in the jaw. The vampire flew a good five feet back and slammed into the side of the fireplace. Two bricks fell to the ground.

“She’s not bait.” Cain’s deadly growl.

No, she wasn’t. The vamp needed to get that bit clear, yesterday.

“He’s hurting her,” Ryder snarled back at him. He pushed to his feet then, voice ragged, said, “I hurt her. I owe her. I have to get her out of that hell.”

Eve knew the vamp would be willing to trade her life in an instant, if it meant he could get his phoenix back. He was like a drug addict, desperate for his next hit of magic blood.

“You aren’t using Eve,” Cain snapped at him. “Think of another plan, because she isn’t your ticket inside Wyatt’s lab, got it?”

The vamp had better get it.

Ryder’s gaze darted between them. “You’re just gonna leave her with him? She’s like you! She’s one of yours!”

Yours? Eve stiffened a bit and glanced at Cain from the corner of her eye.

Cain was staring at her. “Did you know he had another phoenix?”

She didn’t like the suspicion in his gaze. She’d been the one helping his ass the whole time. So why was he looking at her like she might be the enemy? Some trust wouldn’t kill him. Nothing really does. “I didn’t even know you were a phoenix!” Being in the dark sucked. “When I first found you in Genesis, I didn’t know what the hell you were.” She still didn’t fully understand it. Was he a shifter at his core? With a beast that transformed at his death? Or was he both . . . a blend of man and myth?

She shook her head. Was she supposed to be the all-knowing Oz? Jeez. “I knew there were shifters and a vamp at the facility, okay? I didn’t have intel on anyone or anything else.” Cain had come as a total shock to her. When he’d burned the first time, she’d flipped out. She figured that was a pretty normal response.

Cain just kept staring at her.

Eve straightened her shoulders. “I tried to get everyone out when the explosions started. I was trying to help as many people as I could!” He shouldn’t need the reminder. He’d been there. He’d seen her fighting to save those paranormals.

But her efforts hadn’t been enough. People had died. Wyatt had escaped. And she still hadn’t been able to break her story.

Because she hadn’t broken Wyatt. The ass**le was stronger than her, moving freaking pieces on a chessboard while the world went to hell around him.

“Help her,” Ryder demanded, voice ragged.

Cain finally glanced back at the vamp. “You sold us out to Wyatt.”

Ryder shrugged, apparently unconcerned with that not-so-little issue. “You’re both still alive, aren’t you?”

Eve lunged for him, but Cain grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her stomach and hauling her back against him. “You ass**le!” Eve screamed at the vamp. “He burned me! He locked me a damn room and he burned me!”

The vamp’s eyelids flickered. His gaze swept over her. “Yet you look surprisingly . . . unharmed.”

Cain tensed behind her. “Get out of here,” he ordered, voice clipped. “Get the f**k out of here now, or you’re dead.”

Some of the desperation had faded from the vampire’s eyes. Eve didn’t like the way he was looking at her. His stare was too similar to Wyatt’s. “Interesting.” Ryder smiled, but backed toward the door.

Why were they letting him get away? She still had her stake ready.

“I guess you don’t need to save my phoenix”—a trace of cold bitterness had entered the vamp’s voice—“when you have your own.”

What? Eve frowned. “I’m no—”

Cain’s hold tightened on her and she shut up.

“Your mistake,” the vampire whispered. Hate hardened his eyes and his face. “One I’ll make sure you never forget.”

Then he was just . . . gone.

Crazy. That guy was in-freaking-sane. Eve blinked, chest heaving. She’d been holding her breath at the thick tension in the room. But one minute, the vamp was there, the next—magic act time.

“He’s old,” Cain murmured. He didn’t release her. If anything, his hands pulled her closer against him. “Powerful.”

Eve had made it a policy to learn as much as she could about vampires. Know your enemy. The older a vampire was, the stronger he was. Vamps didn’t usually move at human speed. More like amped-up superhero speed. In a blink, they could run a mile. They could crush steel with their hands. Rip the heart right out of their prey.

Be general nightmares to the human population.

Ryder was a nightmare, no getting around it.

He was also their enemy.

A second lab.

She turned, as much as Cain’s hands would allow, and gazed up into his eyes. No fear there. Just a steady darkness that stared back at her.

How did he feel, knowing another phoenix was out there? One of yours . . .

He didn’t exactly look overwhelmed by the news.

“Cain, did you know?”

He shook his head. “I thought that was the only lab. Not like Wyatt let me out to see—”

“No.” She shook her head and her hair brushed over his chest. “About the woman. Did you know Wyatt had captured others like you?”