Marked By The Vampire (Purgatory #2)(42)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Case braced his legs apart and glared at Shane. “And I thought he was some dick vampire out to destroy Purgatory. I wasn’t told he was an agent, either.”

A snarl slipped from Shane.

Case held up his hands. “So my methods are…unorthodox. The bastards in there are killers. What did you want me to do? Bake ‘em brownies? They deserved what they had coming to them.”

“Not your call to make,” Shane snapped.

Olivia’s temples throbbed.

Case’s lips thinned and he said, “Look, Pate knew there was still corruption at Purgatory. He wanted someone in with the prisoners…” He inclined his head toward Shane. “And he wanted someone keeping tabs on the guards. I found out that Evan Jurant was the one who sabotaged your collar remote and he—”

She jumped to her feet. Evan. “He was the one who left me with the werewolves.”

Case gave a grim nod. “If it makes you feel better, he’s dead now. David ripped out his throat.”

That was supposed to make her feel better? Case sure wasn’t high on social skills.

“He’s dead, I’m bitten, and David Vincent is free.”

“Damn straight he’s free,” Shane fired. “You’re the one who has been hanging around with the guy. Or do you think I didn’t recognize you when you attacked us at the cabin? Your scent was the same, whether you’re wearing the body of a gray wolf…or pretending to be human.”

“I was undercover,” Case gritted out. “I convinced David that I’d been working with Evan all along, that he could trust me and take me into his pack.”

Olivia didn’t know if she believed him. She wasn’t about to put her trust in that man.

Olivia closed the distance between her and Chloe. “Are you in that pack?” Had she been so wrong about Chloe all this time?

“No!” Chloe grabbed her hands. “I-I can’t even shift all of the way! I get stuck. I can’t control the shifts and it’s just…it’s hell.” A tear leaked down her cheek. “My dad tried to fix me, but he did something that made it all worse. I’d rather be a full werewolf than what I am now. Then at least I wouldn’t live in fear every second that I’d lose my control and hurt someone.”

Olivia wanted to believe her.

“David’s pack is working for the senator.”

Olivia glanced over at Case.

“I got in deep enough to learn that. The senator researched everything he could about your kind, Olivia, and he made sure you were pushed to your limits—so that the only way for you to survive was to bring out your djinn side.”

Fire and blood.

Case hesitated, then said, “I think he killed your mother.”

Shock rocked through Olivia. “Why would you say that? My mother died in a car accident when I was eighteen!”

“He tried to make her talk about you…about your father. He made her talk,” Case corrected. “And the car accident was just the way to cover up her death.”

Bile rose in Olivia’s throat. She’d always thought that Donald was looking out for her.

“I’ve been working to bring that bastard down for a long time,” Case continued. “Hell, you and I—we even crossed paths before when I was tailing him. I just got lucky because you didn’t remember me when we met again at Purgatory.”

No, no, she didn’t remember him…

My mother? The senator killed my mother?

“I’m so sorry,” Chloe whispered. “I didn’t know…not until Case came to me and told me. I didn’t know, I swear!”

She was going to be sick. Rage and pain and horror were swirling within Olivia.

She stumbled back, but Case caught her shoulders and stopped her retreat. “David got access to the senator’s research. The senator trusts that wolf too damn much.” He huffed out a breath. “You have to watch your emotions—they’re the trigger for your power. When you lose control, that’s when your magic is at its strongest. That’s what the senator wants.”

For her to break? She tried to steady her racing heartbeat. “Where is the senator?”

Case glanced over at Chloe.

“Where is he?” Olivia demanded again.

“We don’t know,” Case confessed. “That’s why we’re here. We thought…we thought he’d be coming after you.”

She pulled away from him and forced herself to look at Shane. “I guess there’s a lot of that going around.” Her chin lifted. “Shane, when you first sensed werewolves in the building, did you think it was David and his pack—coming for me? Coming to get the bait in your trap?”

His gaze held hers. “I knew it was Case.”

“But you’d hoped it was the others?” She rushed back to the window. Stared down at the city below. “That’s the whole point, right? Everyone is using me, manipulating me, and I’m so blind that I didn’t realize it.” Her laughter came then, and it was bitter. “I was supposed to be so good at reading people. I mean, I do it for a living! And the ones closest to me…” She looked at Chloe. At Shane. Pain tightened within her. “The ones closest to me deceived me the best.”

Shane hurried toward her. “I didn’t deceive you. I got you out of the Para Unit. You wanted to be free, and I made that happen.”

She wasn’t free. “Sometimes, you don’t see the cage.”

“The senator has to be stopped! David has to be caught or killed. It’s not safe for the humans if they’re still out there, plotting. It’s not safe for you.” He leaned in toward her, and she could see the fury swirling in his eyes. “I will do anything and everything to make your world safe, don’t you see that? I would do—” He broke off and his gaze jerked toward the window. “No!” Shane yelled.

“What—”

Bullets blasted through the window, shattering the glass. Fast. One after the other. Shane grabbed her, pushed Olivia behind his body even as he faced the window, and she heard the terrible thudding impact as the bullets sank into him.

Chloe cried out as she was hit. Olivia’s gaze flew to her, and she saw her friend jerking like a marionette on a string.

Case went down, crashing into the coffee table even as blood soaked his shirt.

The bullets kept firing. Shane was on his feet, still protecting Olivia even as his body shuddered. Then—