Marked By The Vampire (Purgatory #2)(37)
Author: Cynthia Eden

He’d said they could be mates. She didn’t want his words to be true, did she?

“You realize that the senator was the one setting you up. Pulling the strings.”

She shook her head. “Donald has been my friend for years.” Her mother had worked as one of his aides. Donald’s daughter had been her best friend when she was a kid. But that had been before…

Before Chloe changed.

She cleared her throat and retreated another step. “Donald pulled some strings to get me clearance for projects like this one, yes, but he wasn’t using me. He was helping me.” Shane and the others had it all wrong.

Shane shook his head. “Pate has known for some time that a powerful werewolf was setting a plan like this in motion. A plan that would turn humans into prey.”

She turned away from him. Kept hurrying down that hallway. There had to be a way out of there. “You’re wrong,” she said again. “He’s no werewolf.” And this place was a maze. Her steps tapped faster against that gleaming tile.

In a blink, Shane was in front of her. She stopped, gasping. She hated that too-fast way he could move. Hated it.

“No, love, you’re wrong, but I guess you’ll have to figure that out for yourself, won’t you?” He seemed sad then, but he pointed to the left. “You can leave that way. You’ll even find a car waiting outside for you. Use the GPS navigation system, and you can be back home by nightfall.”

No way. He was just going to let her go? “Are you serious?”

He nodded. “But it’s a f**king ridiculous plan. The werewolves have your scent. You leave here, and they will find you.”

“And the alternative is…what? To stay hidden here, a prisoner?”

“You wouldn’t be a prisoner.”

She would be. “For how long?”

“Until the threat is over.”

That was pretty much not an answer. “And what happens if Pate gets the urge to bottle me up again?” She glanced to the right and saw the video camera perched on the wall there. No doubt, Pate was watching and listening to them at that very moment.

“I won’t let him.”

She wanted to trust him, but the door to the left was so close…Olivia slid away from him.

“Don’t do this.” His voice was flat. “It’s going to be the wrong choice.”

Her body felt cold. Her wrist—she pushed it against her side. “The werewolves won’t find me. I can disappear.” On her terms. Not Pate’s.

“You don’t want to stand with the Para Unit to face whatever the hell is coming?”

“I just want my life back.” That door was temptingly close. “That’s all.”

Her hand pushed against the door.

“And what about me?”

The question sank into her, and, without looking at him, she found she could be honest in these last moments. “You scare me, Shane. You make me want things that I shouldn’t. You make me…want you.” She shoved against the door. Sunlight spilled inside and on her. “And the way I feel when I want you—” Wild, desperate, on the edge of control. “That terrifies me most of all.”

She walked into the light and left him in the shadows.

***

The door clanged shut behind Olivia.

“You’re really going to let her walk away?” Connor asked.

Shane had known the damn werewolf was close by. “Her life. Her choice.”

You make me want things I shouldn’t. You make me…want you.

Her blood had given him a rush, one that still had him feeling drunk—and needing more. “She doesn’t want to be with the Para Unit.” Not that he blamed her. They’d nearly killed her. He glanced at Connor, gave him a faint nod. “I can count on you for back-up?”

“Yeah, but you and Pate really need to work on coming up with better plans in the future. This one is shit.” Connor leveled his stare at Shane. “You’re risking your life for her. A woman you just met days ago.”

The werewolf didn’t get it. “I’ve been on this earth for more than two thousand years.”

Faint surprise widened Connor’s eyes.

“I’ve seen countries rise and fall. Watched more death and pain than you can imagine.” Those memories would never fade. “I didn’t think there was any pleasure left for me here, then I looked up on a storm-tossed ferry, and I saw her.” In that moment, so much had changed for him.

“It’s…it’s the blood bond that I heard Pate talking about, isn’t it? I overheard him telling Holly that the blood was tying you to Olivia because the woman was some sort of genetic match for a vampire—”

“It’s not the blood. I was addicted to Olivia before my first taste.” He could hear the car cranking outside. Time to go. “Tell Pate that the debt is paid.”

Olivia didn’t want to stay with the Para Unit. She didn’t trust them. Fine.

He yanked open the door. Olivia was starting to pull away.

Did she really think he’d let her face the danger alone? He leapt forward and came down a few feet in front of her car. She slammed on the brakes and the scent of burning rubber filled the air.

Then she honked at him.

His lips twitched.

Olivia rolled down the window. “Vampire, are you crazy?”

He took his time walking to the passenger side of her vehicle. He climbed in. Stretched out.

“Uh…what are you doing?” Olivia demanded. She pointed to the nondescript building behind him. “Your team is in there.”

“And the woman I want is right here.” He caught her hand, lifted it to his mouth. Pressed a kiss to her wrist. “I’m not letting you go off alone, not with the werewolves out there.” And with the senator ready to close in…

Olivia might think the man was her friend, but Shane held no such illusions.

“Wait…are you saying…you’re…choosing me?”

She seemed stunned. Had she seriously thought he wouldn’t keep protecting her? Now that was rather insulting. “Maybe one day,” he told her quietly, “you’ll choose me, too.”

Olivia blinked those dark, gorgeous eyes of hers, eyes that could take a man to his knees.

“I’d advise against going to your place,” he said and pressed one more kiss to her wrist. She shivered. “They’ll be waiting there. After all, the senator knows where you live. The werewolves won’t even have to bother tracking you. They’ll just be staking out the place.”