Marked By The Vampire (Purgatory #2)(15)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Pate had thought that he’d taken out all of the corrupt staff members at Purgatory. Talk about thinking wrong.

But at least Shane knew the layout of the place. He’d studied maps of the prison for days before he’d gone in undercover. He’d looked for places to hide. Ways to escape.

Because he’d been aware that the mission could go to shit at any moment.

Guess what? That moment happened. He swiped the keycard at another turn, rushed through the door that opened, then he went left, nearly flying down a flight of stairs and—

He yanked Olivia closer. Pinned her to the wall, and put his hand over her mouth. “Not a sound,” he ordered because he could hear the others…coming toward them.

Two guards, running fast, both armed with tranqs. He could kill them, quickly and efficiently, but Pate had ordered him to keep the human body count down as much as possible.

But if Olivia alerted those guards, the option of life for those two would be out of his hands.

Olivia had frozen against him. They were in the dark shadows underneath the stairs. To her, he was probably just a big, heavy shadow, but he could see her completely. Her eyes were wide as she stared up at him. Her hair was a wild tumble around her shoulders and—

Her lips had just moved against his palm. His c**k stiffened because he was pretty damn sure he felt the lick of her tongue.

He yanked his hand away from her mouth.

Her breath rushed out. “Are we—” Olivia began, her voice the faintest whisper.

But he covered her mouth with his because he wanted that tongue of hers against his. He kissed her deep and hard, and he loved the feel of her body crushed against his. Lust rose within him. Physical lust because he’d wanted her from the first moment he saw her. Bloodlust because the fool doctors had taken too much of his blood and he hadn’t taken enough from them.

He remembered the taste of her blood, such a delicious sample he’d had. Her blood had given him a rush of power unlike anything he’d felt before.

He needed more of that power.

He also needed her, na**d and moaning, beneath him.

But not there. Not then. Shane forced his head to lift. “The guards are gone.” Time for him and Olivia to haul ass. He still had her right hand in his grasp, and he started pulling her again, leading her down into the underbelly of the prison. If they were going to get out, then first they’d have to go down…and straight into the dark.

Behind him, her breath came in quick pants as she tried to keep up with him. Slowing down wasn’t an option, so when he hit another flight of stairs, he just picked her up and slung her over his shoulder.

“Shane!”

He ignored her struggles and moved as fast as he could. The warden and the others would realize he was gone soon. The alarm from earlier would prove true. Someone was about to escape from Purgatory.

Me.

He hit the bottom floor, and saw the grate to the right. A grate that was supposed to be reinforced with silver to keep the werewolves from ever trying this particular escape route… provided that the wolves even realized it existed.

No one else is supposed to know about it.

Carefully, he put Olivia back on her feet.

“I’m not a sack of potatoes!” she snapped at him.

Really? Shit, like he didn’t know that. “You’re welcome for the ride and the rescue.” He curled his fingers in that grate and heaved. The grate popped free—hell, yes! “Get in,” he ordered her.

She crouched, peered inside. “There are going to be…things in there.”

Things? His teeth snapped together. “And there are werewolves upstairs who want to tear you apart.”

She shot through that opening. He followed her, moving gingerly as he tried to put the grate back in place. He couldn’t get it in as securely as it had been before, but he mostly managed to wedge it back up. Someone would have to look very closely to be able to see that he’d moved the thing.

He turned around and bumped right into Olivia. “I-I can’t see anything,” she whispered.

Because the tunnel they were in was pitch black. The place was old, centuries old, a tunnel that could crumble around them if they weren’t careful.

“Hold onto me,” he told her softly. “I’ve got this.” He could see everything, including the things that she’d worried about.

Her fingers clamped around his arm. “Are we just going to hide out down here? They will find us, sooner or later, or we’ll just—”

“I’ve got a plan, love. Trust me.” He advanced into the darkness.

Her nails sank into his skin. “No. Look, dammit, I get that it’s too little, too late, but I wasn’t exactly high on choices upstairs.”

He frowned down at her. She wasn’t looking at his face in that total darkness, but instead staring just over his shoulder.

“Give me something here, other than dragon—I mean, make me know that I’m with the good guy.”

Oh, but he couldn’t do that. He’d never been exactly good, not even when he’d been working with the FBI. If she only knew the things he’d done, she might just run back up to the wolves. “I work with Pate.”

“Give me more. Why are you at Purgatory? What’s going on?”

He pulled her closer. Wanted to take her mouth again but didn’t. Control. “We don’t have time for a f**king long discourse here, love. So here are the simple facts. I’m working undercover—a cover that I blew for you. And right now, I’m the only thing standing between you and death, so if you want to die, then by all means…” He let her go. “Don’t trust me.”

In the darkness, he saw her wrap her arms around her stomach. “You…you haven’t killed? Your file was all lies?”

“I’ve killed plenty.” Brutal truth. “And that’s why I’m your best hope of survival.”

She rocked back on her heels. “Have you killed innocents?”

The woman was so naive. “There are no innocents in this world.”

Her body trembled. He could see the small ripple that shook her.

With his back teeth clenched, he demanded, “Now are you coming with me or do you want to try your luck with the wolves?”

Her hand lifted, tried to find him in the dark. He stepped toward her so that she touched his chest. “He called me a djinn.”

I heard him. “Are you?”

“Am I what?”

Fuck. “A djinn?” If she was, then they were in for a whole world of trouble.