Once Bitten, Twice Burned

Control.

Too many eyes were watching them, and he’d already revealed too much weakness to Wyatt.

“If you can keep your fire in check, phoenix, then I’ll try to keep my fangs to myself.”

She frowned at him. “What did you call me?”

His heart slammed into his chest. “You don’t know, do you?”

A small shake of her head.

Fuck. Wyatt had let her die, and the woman hadn’t even known that she’d be rising again. She must have been so afraid.

His gaze fell to the floor. Her blood still stained the heavy, stone tiles. “I’m . . . sorry.” The words sounded harsh to his own ears. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d apologized to anyone.

“Sorry for what? Biting me? Drinking my blood?”

Like a damn moth, he headed for her flame. So beautiful. Her shoulders stiffened as he approached and one foot edged back. Poor phoenix, there was nowhere to run. Wyatt had made sure of that.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.” Too many had died over the long centuries of his existence. He hadn’t stopped death but with Sabine, things were different. She can come back. She’d given him a second chance.

Her breath whispered out. “You . . . you made me drink your blood.” He noticed that her small hands fisted.

If she wanted to take a swing at him, he’d let her. She sure deserved some payback. “It was the only way I could think of to help you. Vampire blood is very powerful. It can heal, just about anything.” And the blood had been working, until the guards had dragged him away from her.

Mitchell had been one of those guards.

After the guards had chained him, Ryder hadn’t been able to break out of the chains fast enough. She’d died.

Burned.

Her fist lifted. He didn’t even brace for the blow. Sure, a phoenix was powerful, but he’d take—

Her palm flattened on his chest. Her fingers were still warm, far warmer than an average human’s, and the heat seemed to sink into him.

Made him want her even more.

“Your heart’s beating.” Her gaze held his. “I can see you breathing. I-I thought vampires were supposed to be dead.”

Hollywood hype. “I think undead is the popular term in use.”

“And are you, um, undead, I mean?” Her hand still pressed against him. So close to his heart. “Were you a human who died and came back as a vampire?”

“It didn’t work quite that way,” Ryder murmured. Things hadn’t worked that way, not for him. That was all he’d say then. All he could say, with Wyatt and his doctor brigade watching. His hand lifted and curled around her fingers. “Do you know where we are?”

Her laugh was bitter, but the sound of it still had his body tightening. “Hell?” Sabine asked.

“Close enough.” His gaze cut to the mirror. “You know we’re being watched.”

Her head inclined. “Wyatt.” She said the name with fury and fear. “Why is he doing this to me? I didn’t volunteer to be here like you—”

Now it was Ryder’s turn to laugh. “Love, do you really think I volunteered to be kept in this hole? To be starved? Tortured?” Oh, Wyatt did enjoy his little experiments.

Her hand trembled in his grip.

“I was taken,” he told her flatly. “Set up. Betrayed. Drugged.” That damn SP tranq.

Her long lashes flickered. “I was taken, too. Kidnapped. They grabbed me when I was going home and threw me in the back of a van. The next thing I knew, I was here, and they were—they told me if I came in the cell with you, then I’d get to go home.” Her voice dropped. “I just want to go home.”

The longing in her voice twisted his heart. The heart she’d thought he didn’t have. Wrong, love. Vampires breathe, their hearts beat. We can love. We can hate.

We can kill without hesitation.

She’d seen him do that already.

“Why won’t they let me go?” She whispered, probably hoping that the microphones wouldn’t pick up her words.

He pulled her into his arms. She gasped and tried to fight, but he just tightened his hold. Ryder put his mouth against her ear and barely breathed the words as he spoke, “Because they know what you are. They suspected before, but now they have proof.”

She shook her head.

“You’re a phoenix. You can die, burn, and rise from the ashes.” There wasn’t any time to build up to this reveal. Knowledge was power in this world, and she’d need as much of it as she could get in order to face the battles coming her way.