He wanted to give her a choice, but if she didn’t choose him, Shane wasn’t sure what he would do.
I just found her. I’m not prepared to let her go.
So he figured the plan had to be simple—
I need to make her love me.
Okay, maybe not so simple.
“You look like you lost your best friend.” She wrapped her hands around her knees. Her hair was a dark curtain running down her back. “What’s wrong?”
There would be no point in deception. “They’re coming.”
She stiffened. “They?”
“I can smell them.” Werewolves. In his building. He was a bit surprised that they’d taken such a direct approach. He’d thought they might try for a sneak attack.
Olivia jumped from the bed, giving him one gorgeous flash of her body before she started to frantically yank on her clothing.
He had on a pair of jeans, and he didn’t move. He wasn’t feeling so frantic. More pissed, yes.
The wolves need to leave us alone.
One way or another, they would.
“We have to get out of here!” She did a little dance as she shimmied into her jeans. Then she ran toward him and grabbed his arm. “Come on!”
He didn’t move. “We don’t have to worry about any humans getting caught in the crossfire here.”
Her brow furrowed. “There are five floors below us—”
“I own them all. No one else is here.” They’d entered the parking garage and taken the elevator straight up to his apartment. So Olivia hadn’t realized how alone they’d been.
We aren’t alone now. The werewolves are closing in.
“We still have to leave, we can’t be sitting ducks—”
“I have the advantage here. The wolves were able to attack us so well at the cabin because they had the woods for cover. All of the animal scents were already there. Here it’s different. I control everything here.”
Her fingers tightened around him. Suspicion flashed on her face, but vanished almost instantly. “Control is great. Staying alive is even better. Let’s
go.
”
He inhaled. “Two werewolves are coming up the elevator now. A man and a woman.”
“Why aren’t we leaving?” Again, suspicion flashed across her face.
“I won’t let them hurt you,” he promised.
And he saw understanding sink in. She looked at the bed. At him. “You control everything here,” Olivia repeated his words in a quiet, hurt voice. “I-I was never free of the Para Unit, was I?”
The car had been equipped with a tracking system. Just in case she’d tried to slip away without him. She wouldn’t have been able to go far. The Para Unit would have been able to remotely disable the car.
“Bait.” She said the word like a curse. “You didn’t want to compromise the precious location of the Para Unit, so you tossed me out? To the wolves?”
She had it wrong. “No one will hurt you.” He sure as hell hadn’t tossed her anyplace.
Olivia ran from the room. He followed her, body tense. “Olivia—”
She was at the window, looking down. “It’s too high for me to jump.”
Hell, yes, five stories up was too high for her to jump.
Olivia spun around and rushed for the door. “Guess that means I have to run.”
He beat her to the door. This was the moment that they had been waiting for. The leverage the team needed. “They’re on the other side of that door.”
Her eyes were stark. “What have you done?”
He pushed her back. Opened the door. Stared at the man and woman waiting there.
It was easy enough to recognize the warden. Case Killian looked like hell, though. Deep lines marred his face. Dark shadows swept under his eyes, and stubble covered his jaw.
Shane had never met the woman who stood just beside Case, but he’d seen pictures of Chloe Quick. She was petite, deceptively fragile, with bright blue eyes and black hair that skimmed her shoulders.
“I need to see Olivia,” Chloe said softly. Then she added, “Please.” Her voice broke on the plea.
Shane lifted a brow but before he could speak, Olivia was hauling him out of her way. “Chloe? What are you doing here?”
Chloe’s lower lip trembled. “I’m so sorry…”
“Sorry? Why?”
Olivia was far too trusting. “Because, love,” Shane told her, his words an angry growl, “your friend Chloe is the one who set you up.”
Apparently, she couldn’t trust anyone.
Chloe, Shane, and the warden—
the warden!—
were all pacing around the apartment like caged beasts.
Olivia sat on the couch, her spine ram-rod straight, her hands between her knees, and she tried to figure out just what the hell was happening.
“You…aren’t the bad guy?” Olivia blurted to Case.
He stopped his pacing. Winced. “No, I kind of fucking am. Especially after getting bitten.”
“He needs a cure,” Chloe said, rubbing her arms, still pacing. “Just like I do.”
“There
is
no cure for a werewolf bite. You know that!” Her words flew out, but…they were wrong. Because Holly had told Olivia that
she
had survived the werewolf bite. That
she
might be the cure.
Chloe swung toward her. Anger and pain battled in her eyes. “If that’s the case, then why didn’t you turn? We were both bitten when we were teens, Olivia.
Both
of us.”
No, she didn’t remember that. Olivia shook her head.
“You went down first. That whole pack—they came for
you
. You were bleeding, and I tried to help you.” Chloe lifted her hands. Claws had sprouted from her fingertips. “But they turned on me. They bit me, clawed and attacked, and then they left us…to die.”
Only they hadn’t died. “I don’t remember the attack.” Because when the first wolf had leapt at Olivia, he’d knocked her to the ground. Her head had slammed into the concrete and she’d passed out. When she’d woken, Chloe had been on the ground beside her, covered in blood.
“You had already healed when the EMTs arrived,” Chloe whispered. “They didn’t believe you’d ever been bitten, but I knew the truth.”
Shane’s hand settled on Olivia’s shoulder. He was—what? Trying to comfort her? Now? She glanced back at him. He stood behind the couch, behind her, and his face was a dangerous mask. “You told your father about Olivia,” he accused Chloe.
Olivia glanced back at her friend and saw Chloe’s head sag forward. “Yes. After I changed…I-I was desperate to go back. To be human again. I hated what I was.”
“Not like it’s a fucking cake walk for me,” Case snapped.
Chloe flinched. “I thought if my father could just get a sample of your blood, that maybe he could find out what made you different. I tried asking you directly, but you acted like you had no idea what I was talking about.”
Because she hadn’t known. And she remembered… “That’s why you insisted I give blood with you that time…” Hell, she’d thought she was participating in some kind of blood drive back then—several freaking blood drives—but all along, they’d been studying her?
Shane’s hand tightened on Olivia’s shoulder. “After he got the results of her blood work, your father knew Olivia was special, didn’t he?”
Was “special” a code word for djinn?
Miserably, Chloe nodded. “He knew she was different, but he didn’t know what she was.”
Olivia’s gaze slid to Case. “Is that where you come in? Did the senator pay you to find out what I was? To throw me in with those werewolves at Purgatory?” Only the plan had backfired, and Case had been the one bitten.
Case shook his head. “I’m not working for Senator Quick.”
Uh, oh…If he wasn’t working for the senator—
Shane’s hand slipped from her shoulder. “He’s working for the Para Unit. Another undercover agent that Pate sent in, only I didn’t learn about the guy until yesterday.” His voice was an angry rumble. “Until then, I just thought he was some dick who needed taking down. A psychotic asshole who got off on hurting the inmates.”
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—
Silence.
The gunfire had stopped.
She wasn’t hit. Shane…
He fell. His body slammed onto the floor, and he took her down with him. Olivia struggled with him and managed to roll him to the side. “Shane!”
There was blood everywhere, bullet wounds all over him. Her hand pressed to his chest.
That was when she realized there was a bullet in his heart.
“R-run…”
Olivia’s head turned at that faint whisper. Chloe had tried to heave herself up a few precious inches. Blood soaked her shirt. “G-go…”
She was supposed to just leave them? Hell,
no.
“S-silver in m-me…” Chloe shuddered. “Bet…w-wood…in v-vamp…”
A wooden bullet to the heart would put a vampire down. Freeze him, as if he were dead. She had to get the bullet out of Shane.
“C-coming…h-hear them…” Chloe fell back. “
Run…”
She couldn’t leave them!
She wouldn’t leave Shane. Her fingers pushed into his wound, the wound right over his heart. She gasped as she did it, terrified, but Shane didn’t move at all. Her fingers slipped, fumbled, and she tried to find that bullet. If she could get it out, then he’d wake up. He’d heal. Then they could grab the others and all get out of there.
If she could get the bullet… “Come on, come on…”
She heard the thunder of footsteps. So close. Right outside of the apartment?
Sucking in a deep breath, Olivia pushed her fingers even deeper into Shane’s chest. She wouldn’t think about touching his heart. She’d only think about saving him. Saving them all. She had to get the bullet out.
The door crashed in. She looked up as men in black rushed into the room. All of the men wore ski masks. She didn’t know if they were humans or werewolves—they were in human form, though, and all armed with guns.
“Get away from him!”
That voice…she knew that voice. It was Donald Quick’s voice.
He rushed right past his daughter’s fallen form and put a gun to Olivia’s head. “Get away from the vamp. Leave him or you die now!”
He had his gun aimed right between her eyes. “L-liar,” Olivia said. “You want me alive.” She almost had the bullet. Almost. “That’s the whole point of all this, right, Senator Quick?”
He stiffened. What, had the guy thought she wouldn’t recognize him? Or that she wouldn’t call his bluff?
“You’re right,” he said softly. “I won’t kill you.” Then he backed away from her. Grabbed his daughter and jerked her upright. He put his gun to Chloe’s head. “But what do you think will happen if I fire a silver bullet into her at point-blank range?”
Chloe’s eyes were closed. She sagged in his hold.
“She’s your daughter!” Olivia shouted.
“She turned on me. Who the hell do you think has been tipping off the FBI bastards? She turned on me…when all I wanted to do was help her.” Rage blasted through his words. “Now get away from that vamp, or she dies!”
Olivia’s fingers slowly slipped out of the wound. She put her hands behind her back as she rose.
“Good. Damn good.” He dropped Chloe, as if she didn’t matter at all. “Now, come on because we’re leaving.” He motioned with the gun. A “come here” gesture.
She didn’t go anywhere. “Did you kill my mother?”
He tensed.
“You did.” He’d been at her mother’s funeral. Hugging Olivia. Comforting her. Rage pulsed through her. “You sonofabitch!” She lunged for him. “I wish—”
He shot her.
Olivia’s words ended in a strangled gasp as she looked down at her body.
“Can’t have you making any wishes, not just yet.”
She saw the blood blooming near her stomach.
“Not fatal, not yet.”
Her breath choked out as she staggered toward him. But one of his men rushed forward and shoved a needle into Olivia’s neck.
“Got you,” the man whispered. Her head turned as the world started to get foggy and dark, and she found herself staring into David’s eerie silver eyes.
“I wish…” Olivia whispered, trying to force her words out. “I wish…”
She slumped to the floor.
And the bullet she’d hidden slipped from her fingers.
***
“Olivia!” Shane roared her name even as he sucked in a deep gulp of air. He lurched to his feet and slipped in blood. His blood.