Marked By The Vampire (Purgatory #2)(23)
Author: Cynthia Eden

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?”