Once Bitten, Twice Burned (Phoenix Fire 2)

Are you pissed because I took a bite out of you? Ryder shoved the thought right at the guard. As with Thomas, forming the link with this human was effortless. All he’d needed was the blood, and, of course, to actually let the humans keep living long enough to use the link.

Donaldson stiffened.

That’s right. I’m inside of you now. There’s no getting away.

The guard’s trembling hand lifted the gun. This guy was stronger than Thomas had been. There’s no use fighting.You’re not powerful enough to stop me.

“Please, don’t!” Sabine yelled as she yanked against the straps that held her down.

Ryder could easily read Donaldson’s thoughts. She’s not human. The bitch deserves this pain. She’ll hurt, she’ll die, then she’ll come back again.

It’s not like she can ever really die.

The guard’s thoughts enraged Ryder. No, Ryder pushed into Donaldson’s mind as he grabbed the cell key card off one of the fallen doctors at his feet. She won’t die, and you won’t hurt her. So stop pointing that gun at her. Point it at your own damn self.

Ryder swiped the key card at the control box on Sabine’s cell. The lights flashed, and he ran into the room.

He found Donaldson standing near Sabine’s restrained figure. The guard had the barrel of the gun pressed against his own chest. Donaldson’s eyes were wild, and he screamed, “Stop! Stop me!”

Sabine wasn’t screaming. She just stared at the guard in wild horror.

Then she looked at Ryder. Her lips shook. “What’s—what’s happening?”

He rushed to her. Yanked away the restraints and pulled her into his arms. “You’re safe.”

She shook against him even as she wrapped her arms around him and held Ryder as tight as she could. As if she’d never let him go.

No one had ever held him like that. Most were too eager to escape him.

She knows what I am. What I can do. What I did to her.

And still she wants me? His chest ached. My second chance.

His arms curled around her. “I’m going to take you out of here.” Take her out, then come back to destroy the place. Wyatt wouldn’t get away with his sick experiments any longer.

She nodded against him, and her silken hair brushed over the side of his neck. He inhaled her scent, bringing it even deeper into his lungs. The scent soothed the fury that had been boiling to such a dangerous degree within him.

“I want to go home,” she told him, the words a whisper. She’d longed for her home before.

He eased back just enough to stare down at her. She didn’t seem to realize it yet, but her “home” wasn’t going to be a real option for her, not anymore. She’d changed.

The humans at her “home” hadn’t.

But he found he couldn’t crush the faint hope in her eyes.

Then her gaze darted to the guard and her dark eyes widened in alarm. “What is he doing?”

“Can’t stop!” Donaldson yelled before Ryder could speak. “He’s in my head.”

Ryder pulled Sabine up to her feet. “Forget about him.” He wouldn’t give the order for the guard to shoot. Not until Sabine was out of the room. No sense in her seeing that blood and gore.

But I’m not letting you go, Donaldson. You put a gun to her head. You were about to shoot her, both in my cell and now, with her tied down like an animal. Do you think I’ll let you live after this?

Tears leaked from Donaldson’s eyes. No, the man didn’t think he’d be living past these last few moments.

Ryder pushed Sabine toward the door. “Come on.” He didn’t know how long they’d have before his escape was discovered. An alarm could ring out at any second.

But Sabine stopped walking. The woman froze against him. She looked over at Donaldson, then back at Ryder. “He doesn’t . . . why is he pushing the gun against his own heart?”

Because I’m telling him to do it, love. And as soon as you leave the room, I’ll tell him to pull that trigger.

Ryder shrugged. “Maybe he just can’t live with the crimes on his soul. Bet he’s played attack dog for Wyatt plenty of times.”

And he had. Ryder could see the memories. So many dark, terrible deeds. Donaldson had killed before. Shifters. Witches.

As long as they weren’t human, did you think their deaths didn’t matter?

Donaldson gave a faint nod.

Wrong answer, bastard. They mattered.

Sabine’s fingers caught his hand. Squeezed. “Whatever you’re doing, stop.”

He blinked at her in surprise.

“Don’t be like them. Don’t kill just because they do.”

So misguided. He wasn’t killing because the humans had started a battle. He was killing because that was his nature. You didn’t tell the snake not to strike, and you didn’t tell the vamp not to kill.

“Promise me,” she said, shaking her head and still refusing to move when he gave her a harder shove. “Promise that you won’t kill him. Just leave him here, lock him up in this cell, and let’s go.”

Ryder didn’t like to make promises that he couldn’t keep. In fact, he never made a promise unless he was sure that he could follow through on his words.

Others had broken their vows to him. They’d paid. In blood.

“If you don’t give me your word,” she hesitated, then said, “I won’t leave with you. I-I’ll find my own way out. I’ll stay until I’m sure you’re gone, sure that you won’t kill him, then I’ll escape.”

He lifted his hand. Stroked the silk of her cheek. Watched with interest as her pupils dilated. Sabine had such a fast, primal response to him. Did she realize that?

I have the same response to her. “My love,” he breathed the words, “that man was about to put his gun to your heart and pull the trigger. You don’t need to feel sorry for him.”

Her gaze searched his. “It’s not him I care about. It’s you. Be better than the ones who hold us here.”

He wasn’t better. Would never be. She just didn’t understand who he was yet. What he was. Despite what he’d done to her, she didn’t understand.

Sabine stared up at him, hope struggling desperately to shine in her eyes.

He found he couldn’t destroy that hope. “He won’t die by my hand. Not right now.”

But when he came back to Genesis, once Sabine was safe . . . Ryder lifted his head and met Donaldson’s wild eyes. I will come back then. I will make you suffer. The bullet would have been too fast anyway.