Once Bitten, Twice Burned (Phoenix Fire #2)(23)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Through the flames, he saw her head turn toward him. Her hair seemed to be floating in the fire, and a rough brush of wind—hot wind—whispered over his skin.

“Now’s . . . your . . . chance,” he managed. He wouldn’t be able to stay conscious much longer. But he didn’t have to last long, just until she escaped. “Go!”

And she did. Sabine—his phoenix—turned and rushed into the woods. The flames around her dimmed as she reached the trees.

“Shoot!” Wyatt yelled.

More SP tranqs were fired at her.

But Sabine disappeared into the woods.

She’d gotten away. Hell, yes.

His head fell back against the ground. Ryder stared above him. The sun. Big and bright, and, right then, f**king gorgeous.

He could always think clearly when the SP tranq hit him. He just couldn’t move his body an inch. It took all of his strength to keep his eyes cracked open just a few minutes more.

Vampires were supposed to hate the daytime. It made most of ’em weaker.

Not him.

The tranq was doing that all by itself.

Then he couldn’t see the sun. Not because his heavy lids had finally closed, but because Wyatt stood above him, blocking the view. “Don’t worry,” Wyatt assured him. “We’ll get her back. I’m sure that last shot hit its mark.”

No!

Wyatt offered a smile. “Perhaps if you cooperate fully with my experiments, I’ll even let her visit your cell once more.”

Ryder tried to turn his head so that he could look over and see the woods. Sabine had gotten away. Wyatt was a lying sack of shit. He was—

A guard was carrying Sabine’s limp body from the trees.

“Oh, didn’t I mention?” Wyatt murmured. “I had guards waiting in the woods. Just as a precaution. They had orders to dose her with the SP tranq until she went down.”

Son of a—

“When you wake up,” Wyatt told him, “you’re going to be very, very hungry.”

His lashes were closing.

“Sorry, but I’m afraid I’ll have to drain you nearly dry. For science, of course.”

Science could f**k off.

His eyes closed.

I’m sorry, Sabine.

He’d promised her freedom. One way or another, he’d find a way to keep that promise.

Sabine was naked.

When Ryder opened his eyes, she was the first thing he saw. What a damn fantastic sight. His body hardened and he lunged for her.

Only to be yanked back—before he could touch that smooth skin of hers—by the heavy chains that wrapped around his wrists.

Sabine flinched. She lifted her head, and her eyes—dark once more, no longer flaming red—met his.

His memory flooded back. The escape. The fire. Her. “You didn’t get away.”

She just stared back at him.

Hell, did she even know who he was?

She’d pulled up her knees. Wrapped her arms around her legs. Sabine was shielding her body from him.

A good idea, because the lust cutting through him was already reaching a fever pitch, after just a few seconds.

Physical lust . . . and bloodlust.

Because he didn’t just remember their failed escape attempt. He remembered being strapped down. Remembered Wyatt shoving needles in his arm and draining his blood. Draining and draining until it had felt as if there was nothing left inside of him. Until Ryder was just a hollow shell. No blood.

After that kind of torture, he should have been no more than a beast. A wild creature that only wanted to feed. That was what Wyatt had wanted him to become.

Ryder backed away from her, retreating until his shoulders hit the wall. Won’t attack her. Can’t.

“I . . . fed you.” Her voice was hushed.

Ryder blinked, not sure he understood.

Sabine lifted her wrist. He could see the narrow slice that cut across the faint line of blue veins. “I fed you while you were asleep. I thought I’d be able to, ah, control you better that way.”

Ryder could only shake his head. That had been too risky. When it came to a starving vampire and feeding, control didn’t exactly apply. And when he was unconscious, anything could have happened. “You remember me this time.”

Her hand dropped. Went back to curl around her knees. “It’s been five days since we tried to get out. My memory—I didn’t lose all of it this time, and what I did lose, yes, it’s back.” Her gaze was stark. “I died again.”

He wanted to touch her, and, despite the blood she’d so generously given to him—I can taste her. There’s a sweetness in my mouth—he wanted to sink his teeth into her delicate neck and drink.

Sabine wasn’t safe with him. She needed to be in another cell. Needed to be far away.

“Wyatt said that sometimes I’ll remember who I am. Sometimes I won’t. If I—if I die enough, he thinks I’ll totally lose myself . . .” He saw her throat move as she swallowed. “Wyatt said—”

“I don’t give a shit what he said!” Okay, maybe he shouldn’t have snarled the words. Her flinch had shame knifing in his gut.

And realizing that, dammit, he was naked, too.

Playing a new game, are you, Wyatt? What, now the guy wanted them to f**k?

Ryder sucked in a deep breath and tried to calm his fury. His gaze flew around the cell. Same room. Same inner pit of hell. But if he was back there, then that meant Wyatt and his cronies had retrieved Jim Thomas. If the guy was still at the facility, then maybe he could use him.

“I think Wyatt wants me to lose myself. To just become the—the phoenix.” Her shoulders were hunched.

“That’s not going to happen.”

Her gaze met his. “Yes, it is.”

She was so beautiful that she made him ache. Beautiful, strong, a creature of myth.

And Wyatt had stripped her and tossed her into a cage with a bloodthirsty monster. All for his twisted science.

Sabine’s voice was husky as she said, “Wyatt told me that I will die, again and again, and rise in the fire . . . rise until the only thing left is a monster that just kills and destroys everyone in its path.”

Wyatt was a talkative bastard, in addition to his million other sins. Heaving out a heavy breath, Ryder walked to her. The chains trailed behind him. He needed more blood in order to be strong enough to break those chains.

“I can’t pretend this isn’t happening. My life . . . everything’s changed.” She shivered and glanced at him. “And you know the worst part?”

Having a na**d vampire standing over you, wanting a bite of you so badly his mouth is watering?