Burn For Me (Phoenix Fire 1)

Her breath rushed out. He saw fear flicker in the depths of her stare, but she controlled the emotion quickly. Too quickly.

She would be smart to be afraid. “He wants to experiment on you, just like he did with the others at Genesis.” Actually, Cain thought the bastard wanted more than that, but he’d already said enough. For now.

“No.” She spun away. Marched into the other room.

Cain followed. He’d found a pair of old jeans that fit with the aid of a belt and some beaten boots that would do. The T-shirt he wore was old and faded, but he didn’t exactly have a lot of options.

She was pacing in front of the main door. “This isn’t going to happen.” Back and forth, she paced. “It’s not.”

Paranormals disappeared every day. Didn’t she realize that? Since they’d come out to the world, they’d become the experiment of choice for Uncle Sam.

And for every other government out there.

Everyone wanted to have the biggest, strongest military. You didn’t get stronger than the paranormals.

We should have stayed in the f**king dark. He’d never wanted the world to know his secret. Humans were better off not knowing.

When they found out the truth, most of them just freaked the hell out and stared at him like they thought he was going to eat their kids.

He was on a no-kid diet.

“I’m going to the press. I might not have the laptop anymore”—she whirled around and pointed at him—“but I’ve got you. We’ll tell our story. They’ll listen. I’ll make them listen.”

A big reveal to the media was the last thing he wanted. “You don’t think they’re waiting for you there?”

She blinked.

“Wyatt knows you’re a reporter. He’s probably staked out every media outlet you’ve ever worked for in your life. And he’s got the cops in this area in his pocket. The government hired him. Shit, baby, there’s no place you can go that he won’t be waiting.”

Her shoulders straightened. “He wasn’t waiting here.”

Cain shook his head, knowing she didn’t understand. “He let us get away.”

“Bull. He—”

“He knew I was dying, and he probably wanted to find out what would happen if you were left alone with me when I rose.” Cain headed toward the window. “He could be out there right now, watching and waiting to see what we do.”

“W-what would happen if we were left alone?” she repeated, frowning. “Just what did he think would happen?”

Cain knew that he might as well tell her. “That I’d kill you.” He looked back at her. “Usually when I rise, I kill.” Wyatt had learned that lesson soon enough. So after each rising, Cain had been kept chained tightly to the wall.

Until his control came back.

Then Wyatt had loosened the leash, just a bit.

Some days, the control could come back within thirty minutes. Other days . . . it could take hours for sanity to reign once more.

Her lips parted, and he heard the faint whistle as she sucked in a deep breath. “But you—”

“I f**ked you instead.” Because he hadn’t risen and looked at her as an enemy.

She was something more.

Damn you, Wyatt. You won’t use her against me.

“When he sees that you survived my rising, he’ll want you in his lab. He’ll want to know what you are.” Just as Cain wanted to know.

Did she even realize how powerful she could truly be? How deadly?

To me.

“I’m going to the media.” Her hands fisted at her sides. “I’m not—I won’t be hunted. I’ll break this story. Wyatt will be the one who runs. Not me.”

She turned away. Yanked open the front door. Sunlight poured into the small cabin.

“Eve . . .”

Glancing back over her shoulder, she hesitated.

“The minute you call one of your contacts, Wyatt will have you. The minute you show up at a news station or paper, you’ll vanish.” She had to realize this.

Eve shook her head. “You’re giving him too much power. He won’t be in a hurry to attract attention. He’s not going to try and grab me when others are around.”

Wyatt wouldn’t give a damn who was around. With enough money and power, anyone could vanish. “He’s got connections you can’t begin to imagine.”

“I can imagine a hell of a lot.”

The woman just wasn’t getting it. “The only way to stop him is to kill him.”

She turned back toward the sunlight. “I don’t kill as easily as you do.”

He took the shot—it was true. Few could kill as easily as he did. “It was harder once.” He hadn’t meant to say that.

A small shiver slid over her body. “How old were you?”

The first time you killed.

He wouldn’t tell her. “Doesn’t matter.” The only thing that mattered was stopping Wyatt. “I’m gonna find the bastard, and I will stop him.”

“No.” She stared into the sunlight. He’d never noticed the red highlights hidden in her dark hair before. Almost like fire. “We’re going to stop him because I’ll be damned if I let that bastard take my life away.”

The way he’d taken so many others?

“Maybe it’s time we became the hunters,” she said and stepped into that light. “Maybe it’s time we taught him to fear.”

A lesson Cain would happily teach.

Only he wouldn’t stop with fear. He wouldn’t stop at all, not until Richard Wyatt was nothing but ash floating away in the sunlight.

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Atlanta Daily building stood stark and strong in the middle of the downtown business district. Eve had been to that building hundreds of times before. She’d worked as a freelance reporter, and she’d damn well brought in topnotch stories for Gloria Long, the paper’s editor in chief.

When it came to stories, Gloria was a bulldog. She never backed away from anything or anyone.

Gloria would believe her. She’d help to bust Genesis and their work wide open. The paranormals wouldn’t have to fear being snatched away and locked in a lab, not anymore.

“This is a mistake,” Cain told her. He stood right behind her on the busy street corner, gazing up at the building.

Her shoulders stiffened. “So you’ve told me about ten times already.” But he was still with her. He’d said that he’d stay by her side until they stopped Wyatt.