Once Bitten, Twice Burned

“A cure you promised them?”

“A cure I was close to finding.” Wyatt’s hands fisted. “So close . . . until Cain O’Connor brought down Genesis. The phoenix burned my facility to the ground. He destroyed all of my research!”

“Yeah, cry me a f**king river. I’m betting you had plenty of backup research to keep you busy. Hell, all you did was retreat to this facility.” Enough talk. Time for the kill. He lifted his claws.

“They’re out!”

The fast words didn’t give him any pause. Ryder shoved his claws into Wyatt’s chest.

Wyatt groaned. “The vampires . . . the primals . . . most of them are dead, but some got out. They aren’t contained any longer.”

The hell they were. He wasn’t about to believe another lie.

“I was trying to . . . fix them.”

Ryder’s claws jerked back. Wyatt’s body swayed.

But the doc kept talking. “You were the first. Your blood was . . . pure. I thought the pure blood would . . . fix what was broken.”

“Did it?” Not that he was buying this but . . .

Wyatt’s gaze held his. Blood streamed from his wounds. Somehow, the guy was still on his feet. Were his wounds healing? Maybe. “I gave it . . . just to three of them,” Wyatt muttered. “Needed a . . . test pool. They grew stronger and more . . . savage.”

Not what he’d been hoping to hear.

“Primals have . . . a strong psychic sense. They pick up emotions . . . needs . . . your blood tied them to you.”

Wasn’t that grand?

“You want her blood . . . they feel what you feel . . . they want her.”

This shit just got better and better. “Then they’re dead.” Simple. Because no one else would take Sabine. He was there to protect her. To claim her.

“Like me, they’re . . . not so easy to kill.” Wyatt looked down at his chest. Ryder knew his claws had sunk past flesh and bone. But Wyatt was still on his feet. Still talking. “My blood . . . it will keep them away. It can hurt them.”

“Yeah, well, I’m betting I can hurt them, too.”

Wyatt shook his head. “Not if they get to your . . . phoenix first.”

They wouldn’t.

Wyatt’s hand flew up and locked around Ryder’s wrist. “I wish you could kill me.” The words were growled with a dark intensity. His eyes glittered. “I didn’t want to be this way. I was a kid . . . I begged him not to change me, but he said I had to be stronger.”

What the hell?

“Stopping my heart won’t stop me . . . You’ll have to try harder.” Wyatt’s hand tightened on him. No, he was lifting Ryder’s hand, and trying to shove Ryder’s claws back into his chest. “I’ve tried, too . . . I wanted a cure. I wanted to be free.”

The doctor was breaking apart right before his eyes.

“The urges come to me. I can’t control them. I . . . hurt people. Not just the subjects. Humans.”

Ryder yanked his hand out of the guy’s grip and stepped back. “Then I guess you’re as much of a monster as me.”

“No, I’m more.” Desperate. Wild. “And I am what he made me.”

“He?” Wyatt wasn’t going down from his wounds. Whatever this guy was . . . he had a whole lot of strength and healing power.

“My father.” Wyatt’s smile was cold and evil and sad. “He liked to . . . experiment, too.”

Son of a bitch.

Ryder heard the thunder of footsteps in the hallway. More company, coming for them. Only the company heading their way . . . that company carried the scent of fire.

Not my phoenix. He’d never forget Sabine’s scent. Flowers, sin, woman. But he also recognized this scent . . . it belonged to the male phoenix he’d met at the first Genesis facility. Subject Thirteen. Cain. Like Ryder, Cain wanted to get his pound of flesh from Wyatt. They all wanted vengeance. Every test subject Wyatt had tortured—we all want our payback.

“If you want death, then I think I can deliver it.” Ryder stared into Wyatt’s eyes, searching for truth. Did the bastard really want out of this world? Was that just another trick?

Wyatt’s lashes flickered. Ryder caught the scent of fear.

He backed away from the doctor.

The scent of fear lessened. Ah, Wyatt thought he was safe. No, he was bait. “Cain is coming for you.”

He’d follow the odor of Wyatt’s blood. He’d find the bastard, and Cain would use those flames to send the guy to hell.