Marked By The Vampire (Purgatory #2)(28)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Pate slanted a glance toward Connor. “Your brother will be coming with her.”

Connor’s expression hardened. “Wherever she goes, he’s never far behind.”

Damn straight, Duncan McGuire wasn’t. The guy was mated to Holly. Once a werewolf, Duncan had become something a whole lot more dangerous thanks to his connection with Holly.

“We’ve got this,” Pate assured Shane. “Now go and try to dilute the blood you took—get her out of your system.”

He turned away. Took one step. Another.

“Out of curiosity…” Pate’s voice was halting. “What happened when you bit Dr. Maddox?”

She came for me. I got addicted to her.

Instead of answering, Shane amped up his speed and left that cabin in his dust.

***

She was on her knees when the door opened. Olivia’s hair had fallen over her face and she tilted her head back so that she could see who’d come to torment her now.

It was the dark-haired man who’d piloted the seaplane. Connor. He shut the door then leaned back against it, staring at her with a hooded gaze. The gold of his stare seemed far too deep, too dark.

“You know…” Olivia had to clear her throat. “I was actually glad to see you back at Purgatory.” She rose to her feet. Her knees only trembled a little. “Now…not so much.”

His lips quirked a bit. Then he glanced around the area. Her little prison. My bottle? She’d grabbed the broken chair with her cuffed hands and smashed it against her invisible walls. The chair had gone straight through.

Olivia hadn’t.

“You don’t look so dangerous,” Connor told her.

“Neither do you,” Olivia threw right back. Obviously that was the wrong thing to say because in the next instant, claws burst from his fingertips.

Werewolf.

“Don’t underestimate me,” he warned her.

So he was far more dangerous than he’d appeared at first glance.

She jumped back a few feet. “Why is the FBI hiring werewolves?”

“Because we can get the job done for Uncle Sam. We can track the killers.” His too-sharp teeth snapped together. “And we can stop them.” He took a step forward and she automatically retreated. Connor shook his head. “What’s wrong, doctor? I thought you liked interviewing your monsters.”

But she hadn’t been the prisoner during those interviews. She was now. “A week ago, I was teaching a criminal psychology class to freshmen at Wellswright University. Now I’m…here.” She looked down at the markings on the floor. Markings that held her prisoner. Markings that assured her this was no nightmare. This was real.

“Someone’s coming to study you.”

Her head whipped up at that bit of news.

“A physician will be here soon. She’s going to take your blood. Analyze your DNA. Then we’ll have conclusive proof about what you are and what you’re not.”

Human.

Her skin seemed to itch then, as if—as if something were moving within her. She’d felt too hot for the last few moments. Too scared. “You all think I’m being used, don’t you? That I was sent to Purgatory as some kind of power play?”

He advanced toward her, but didn’t cross the markings. “I think you’re a pawn.” There was pity in his golden eyes. “I think you had no clue what the hell you were, last week, when you were teaching those freshmen. And I think your world has been wrecked around you.”

He felt sorry for her. Maybe she could use that. Maybe she could use him. “I didn’t ask for any of this.”

“We never do.” Pain flashed, swallowing the pity in his gaze. “But we still have to live with what happens to us.”

Her eyes swept over him. This man—this werewolf—was close to Shane’s size. His shoulders were broad, his arms muscled. Where Shane was classically handsome, Connor’s face was harder. Rougher. Stubble lined his jaw and his eyes blazed with emotion.

“They’re going to dig into your life,” Connor told her. “Learn every secret that you ever kept. They won’t stop until they discover everything, and then, they’re going to give you a choice. Except it won’t be a choice, not really. You’ll either work with Pate or…”

And he didn’t finish.

She swallowed the lump that wanted to choke her. “How do you know?”

“Because that’s what they did to me.”

There was a ring of truth to his words that she couldn’t deny.

“I’ve been in Purgatory, as a prisoner.” His jaw locked. “And let’s just say I would have done anything to make sure I didn’t get caged again.”

Her shoulders were aching. The cuffs were still behind her back and she hurt. “Will you uncuff me?”

“The Para Unit uses those specifically to restrain the stronger paranormals.”

The stronger paranormals.

“The more you struggle against them, the tighter they’ll become.”

“That tidbit would have been helpful sooner,” she muttered as Olivia tried to relax and not struggle any more. That was a whole lot of too little, too late, and her aching muscles needed relief.

Her gaze slid behind Connor. “Is…is Shane outside?”

“No.” Clipped.

Did his short response mean that sharing time was over?

“Where is he?”

“He left.”

That answer shouldn’t have hurt. It did. “He…left me?”

Connor stared back at her. “He was shot several times back at Purgatory. He healed, but he needed blood to get his strength back up.”

Oh. So he’d gone to feed on someone.

Her cheeks flamed as she remembered what had occurred when he bit her. Then her stomach knotted as she realized that he was out there, and probably getting ready to sink his teeth into some other woman.

She spun on her heel, giving the wolf her back.

Olivia tried to take in deep, even breaths but her fear and fury were pumping together within her. “I guess he’s not drinking from a blood bag.” Really, would that have been too much to ask?

“No, he’s not.”

She flexed her fingers. “I can’t feel them, you know.”

Silence.

Olivia looked back at Connor. “I’ve lost all sensation in my fingers. I get that these cuffs are used on the paranormals. On the vampires. On the werewolves.” She paused a beat. That flash of pity had been real in his eyes before. Maybe she could use it. “But I’m not a werewolf. Or a vampire. These cuffs are hurting me, and I-I’m afraid…” The tremble in her voice wasn’t faked. “It’s too tight. I can’t see my fingers, but are they…are they starting to discolor?”