Phoenix Fury Box set

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

“We can hide the Jeep in the back,” Cassie said as the car eased to a stop at a cabin nestled in the mountains of Kentucky. Another safe house, courtesy of Trace. She’d stayed in it on her way up to Chicago and knew it would be the perfect place for them to rest up and regroup before the second leg of their journey.

Once the Jeep was covered—they would not be taking that rickety vehicle again because Trace had left backup transportation at his cabin—they went inside.

Trace did enjoy his luxury. Or he had, before his life had become a nightmare.

He was one of the patients that she had to get back to in Belle, Mississippi. He needed her. Cassie’s assistant Charles would do his best to keep Trace stable until she returned, but time was of the essence, for Trace and for the other patient who needed her.

“Is this place yours?” Dante asked as he glanced around at the sleek lines of the cabin.

She shook her head, then realized he wasn’t looking her way. “It belongs to a friend.”

He touched the monitors that she’d activated minutes before. Monitors that showed the exterior of the cabin and the lone road leading up to it. Trace sure seemed to love his security setups.

“This the same friend who owned the warehouse?” Dante’s voice was mild.

“Yes.”

He looked at her with a hooded gaze. “Must be some friend if he lets you have access to all his homes.”

Since Trace was incapable of using said homes at the moment, she wasn’t sure that “letting” was involved so much. “We’re both exhausted. We’ll crash for a few hours, then hit the road again, and we should make it to Mississippi—”

“Is he waiting in Mississippi?” Dante stalked toward her with his head cocked. “The man who owns this cabin—is he waiting down there for you?”

She nodded.

“And he just let you walk away from him?” The back of his hand skated down her cheek.

She absolutely refused to tremble at his touch. She refused. She—

Trembled. Dammit. “It wasn’t a matter of me walking way. I told Trace that I’d be back.”

“He’s your lover.”

“No.” Cassie shook her head. “Trace is just someone who needs me.” Maybe it was time to lay her cards out for him. “He’s the reason I came after you.” Her breath whispered out as she pulled away from his touch. “Do you have any memory of your life before that alley? I mean, have the images started to come to you at all?”

His guarded expression told her that he did have some memories. It also told her he didn’t trust her enough to tell her what he knew.

Fine. She’d tell him. “It was called Genesis.” It had been her father’s brainchild. “The media billed it as being a research facility. Everyone was told that all of the paranormals there had volunteered to be brought in. Our government was supposed to be developing a faster, stronger soldier at Genesis.” Her hands fisted. “It was the next wave of mankind’s development. Our evolution.”

He just watched her with his dark gaze that could unnerve her too easily.

Just watched…

“Some of the paranormals did volunteer, but they didn’t realize they were giving up their lives. The rest of them were taken. Abducted and forced into the program. Then the experiments started.” She swallowed as she remembered the screams that had haunted her for so long. “Most folks these days think that Genesis was a fairly new program. One that started a few years ago once the paranormals merged with society and stopped staying in the shadows.”

“They’re wrong.”

Was he speaking from his own memories? He’d been in Genesis for far longer than a few years.

Before his first escape, anyway.

“My father started Genesis over thirty years ago. That was when he began to play God with the subjects in his labs.” When she’d been eight, he’d started to play God w ith her.

“Where is your father now?” Anger. No, rage.

She could see it in the golden flames that had sparked to life in his eyes.

“Where is he?” Dante pushed.

“In the ground.” True. “He was killed a few months ago.” Maybe she should be sad, but she wasn’t. “He experimented on himself. Hell, he experimented on everyone.” Don’t, Daddy. Please. “He was a vampire, but now he’s just— dead. ”

There would be no coming back for him.

“Trace…Trace Frost was infected.” Because of her father. Because of her brother—though Richard was dead now, too. A whole family of Frankensteins, that was all they were. “Trace was given a drug that brought out his more…primitive instincts.”

“What is he?”

What…ah, so Dante did understand. “Trace is a wolf shifter. He used to have control of the beast, but thanks to Lycan-70, the beast has control of him now.” If she couldn’t reverse the effects of that drug, the man that Trace had been would never come back.

“You care for him.”

“I care for anyone who is tortured like that. From all accounts, Trace Frost was a good man before he was given the dosage. I want him to be that man again.” Cassie squared her shoulders. “And I want you to help me.”

A line of stubble coated Dante’s jaw. He looked big and dark and dangerous. Normal for him.

She crept closer to him. “You’re with me now. Stay with me. When we get to Mississippi, come with me to my lab—”

She had just said the wrong thing.

He grabbed her hand and yanked her right up against him. “I remember being in a lab. ” Snarled at her.

She didn’t flinch.

“They cut me open. They shot me. They drugged me. They even drowned me a few times.”

He had far more memories than she’d realized.

“I won’t ever fucking go back in a lab again.”

Her gaze held his. “Trace isn’t the only one who is suffering down there. There is a very sick vampire. And there’s an infection that’s spreading faster than anything I’ve ever seen. The humans who get bit—they can’t think or reason any longer. All they do is hunger and kill—”

“Then they need to be put down.”

“They have families. Lives . If I can cure them, they can go back to the way they were before.”

Dante’s eyes narrowed. “You think you can cure a vampire? Turn him human again? That’s not possible.”

“A man who dies and burns and rises from the ashes shouldn’t be possible, either.” She swiped her tongue over too dry lips and noticed that his gaze followed the small movement. “Because you are so powerful, I am hoping your tears can provide me with the answers I need so I can help others. If I can just get a sample from you…”

He pushed her away. “Is that what you want? For me to cry for you?” His face twisted into lines that looked cruel. “They tried for years to get me to break. I never did.” He spun away from her. Headed for the stairs.

“You did.” The words slipped out. She shouldn’t have said them. Big, big mistake.

But they were the truth.

He froze with his hand on the wooden banister. “What?”

Her hands curled into fists. “You did break. The phoenix shed a tear.”

He glanced back at her.

“If you hadn’t cried, I wouldn’t be here.”

“Find another fucking phoenix!”

It wasn’t like they were easy to find. “As far as I know, there are only three phoenixes in the United States.”

He whirled toward her.

Right. Ahem…phoenixes had a tendency to kill each other. She probably shouldn’t have mentioned that the others were actually in the U.S.

A phoenix was truly vulnerable only in that one moment of rising. When a phoenix’s body regenerated, and he rose from the flames, it was during that instant of time when he could truly die. A forever death—one from which he would never rise again.

Most enemies couldn’t brave the heat of the fire long enough to kill a phoenix.

Another of your kind could do it. Phoenixes could—and had—killed each other before.

“You’re the oldest phoenix that has ever been discovered,” Cassie continued, voice quiet. “According to my father’s journals, you are the first.”

Dante simply stared at her.

His stare made her nervous and shaky and so she kept talking. “I took a tear from one of the other phoenixes and tried to synthesize a cure. It didn’t work.” She stepped toward him. “ You are the key. You have to be. If you’re the first, I can study your DNA. I can analyze your tears. They could be a more pure form than anyone else has so they could potentially work to help—”

“I’m not your damn experiment.”

She flinched at his fury. “I didn’t say that you were.”

“But you want to put me in your lab, don’t you? Want to run your tests—cut me open—just like they did.”

“I’m not like them.” She forced the words through numb lips.

“Aren’t you?”

Damn him. She’d worked hard to save lives. To help those who’d been injured by her father and Genesis. “Why are you even here with me?” Cassie demanded. She closed the space between them and angrily grabbed on to him. “If you don’t trust me, why are you here?”

“Because I can’t walk away.”

Her laugh was bitter. “You didn’t seem to have that trouble in Chicago.”

His nostrils flared. The banked flames in his eyes lit. “When I breathe in your scent, I ache.”

Her lips parted in surprise.

“When I kissed you, your taste drove me wild.”

“Dante…”

“I look at you, and I think… mine. ”

Could he hear the drumbeat of her heart? It felt like it was about to race right out of her chest.

“You say we aren’t lovers, but in my dreams, I’ve seen you naked.”

She dropped his hands. He wasn’t supposed to—

His hand rose. Touched her just over the curve of her right breast. “There’s a freckle here. I’ve licked it. I’ve kissed it.” His gaze swept down her body. “In my dreams, I’ve kissed you everywhere.”

Her memory was absolutely fine and that had not happened. “Just dreams,” she breathed out. “Not reality. That hasn’t happened!”

“I’m not leaving you because I can still taste you. I’m not leaving you because I fucking want you under me. I want to be buried so far inside of you that I stop caring about what’s real and what’s a dream.”

“That’s why you’re with me? Sex?” He wanted her to sleep with him? Like that was some kind of hardship. Sign me up.

“Possession.”

She didn’t understand what that rough growl meant. “I don’t—”

“I feel like you’re mine. I’m here…fucking here …because I can’t let you go.” Then his mouth was on hers. He’d wrapped his arms around her. Lifted her up against him and crushed his lips to hers.

He didn’t kiss her softly. She was sure that he’d known little softness in his long life. There was no tentative hunger from Dante. Just an avalanche of need that should have frightened her.

It didn’t.

Cassie wrapped her arms around him and held on tight. Her lips parted more beneath his. Her tongue met his. An electric surge of lust seemed to pulse between their bodies wherever they touched.

She wanted to touch him everywhere .

There were no monitors to watch them. No guards. No fear of pain or retribution. For once, they were alone. They had a bed upstairs. They had time.

She could have him.

He could have anything he wanted from her.

His hands were trailing over her body. Curling around her hips. His fingers spanned her ass, and he pushed her up higher against the hard length of his cock.

Her phoenix was aroused. Definitely aroused.

“Why?” He pulled his mouth from hers, but he didn’t let her go. He just started to kiss her neck, and, oh, the skin was so sensitive there.

She felt the rasp of his tongue on her and quivered. Yes, quivered. She’d never done that in her whole life.

“Why do you want me?” Dante growled the words, and they seemed to vibrate against her skin. “You know what I am.”

Didn’t he realize that was why she wanted him? “I’ve wanted you for a long time,” Cassie confessed.

He’d been her first crush. The star of too many fantasies. He’d talked about dreams. She’d sure had her share of them.

Dante’s hold hardened on her. Then he pulled back. Glared down at her. “You think if you fuck me, I’ll do what you want.”

Wow. Talk about being able to kill a mood. Her cheeks went ice cold, then she felt them heat with her embarrassment and fury. “No, I thought if I fucked you,” she tossed right back at him, “then maybe the constant need I feel for you would go away.” She raked him with a glare. “But right now, maybe we both just need to cool down.”

No, she needed to get away from him before the jerk saw that he’d made her cry.

A phoenix didn’t cry easily. But she wasn’t a phoenix. And she’d sure shed plenty of tears for him over the years.

“Cassie!”

She didn’t stop. She stomped up the stairs. “Give me space, Dante. Just, dammit, give me some pride.” She was swiping away her tears. She’d forgotten how easily he could hurt her. Just a few careless words.

Cassie reached the landing and didn’t glance back at him. She’d looked back at him before—other times similar to this, when he’d wound up rejecting her in some way, and there had never been regret on his face.

He might lust for her—she’d felt the strength of that need—but Dante had never loved her.

Sometimes, she wondered if he could love anyone.

***

He dreamed of her again. Dreamed of a room with a silver ceiling, silver walls, and a silver floor.

A bright hell.

“You shouldn’t have come back.” Her voice.

His Cassandra.

He turned and realized…one of the walls was actually a mirror. When he focused just right, he could see through that mirror.

He could see her.

“You were safe. You should have stayed away.” Her voice was sad.

He strode toward that mirror. He could see his own image staring back at him. But, through that image…

Her.

She had her hand on the glass. He put his above it. Could have sworn that he felt the silk of her touch.

He knew why he’d come back. Because he hadn’t been able to leave her. He’d tried to stay away, but he’d needed her too much.

He’d had to get back to her. Every step away from her had seemed to rip a hole into his chest.

Now he would have her.

Even if he had to burn that whole building down to claim her.

***

Dante stared out in the night. The cabin was quiet behind him, still. His dreams had tormented him for hours. No, not dreams. Memories, streaming through his mind.

Different times. Different places.

The thing that had always been the same? The fire.

Consuming.

Destroying.

Cassie was in the bedroom at the top of the stairs. Did she dream of him?

Something had been done to them, he knew that now. The attraction that he felt for her was unnatural. The ache to be close to her…the pain of being apart…

Another fucking experiment?

When he’d been in Chicago, he’d felt like part of him had been missing. At first, he’d thought that hole came from not having all his memories. That it was just the result of all the dark spots in his mind.

Then he’d looked up in Taboo and seen her and thought—

There you are.

Did she feel the same intense need that he did? Probably not. In his dreams—fucking memories—she’d been one of the people wearing the white lab coats. She’d been there to experiment on him.

Whatever had been done to make him need her so much, hell, maybe she’d even been a part of that manipulation.

He turned away from the window and its view of the darkness. His gaze centered on the stairs. Had she known? Had she deliberately manipulated him so that he’d need her?

That way, I’d never truly be free. Because the lust he felt for her compelled him to seek her out.

It was what he was doing even as he stalked up the stairs. They creaked beneath his feet, the only sound to penetrate the stillness of the cabin. He climbed slowly, heading for her, the need to see her driving him.

In front of her closed door, his fingers curled around the doorknob. He twisted.

And found the damn thing locked.

What the hell?

“Did you really think I’d just leave my door unlocked for you?” Cassie called out.

Not asleep. For a second time, she’d fooled him with that sleeping trick. So he just shoved open the door, splintering the lock.

She jerked up in bed with a gasp.

He headed for the bed. For her. “No, what I thought was that if I fucked you, this constant need I have for you would go away.” He tossed her own earlier words right back at her, but they were the truth. Maybe that was what he needed. Just one time with her. One long, hot time.

Cassie had a death grip on the covers as she clutched them to her chest. “You—you have a constant need for me?” She blinked. “Wait! That’s what I told you.” Her head shook, whipping her hair around her shoulders. “You’re making fun of me now? Asshole! Get out of here! Just get—”

He was on the bed. On her. Crushing her down onto the mattress. His body caged hers. Held hers. His fingers twined with hers as he pushed them back against the pillow near her head. “I’m not making fun of you.” Unbidden, the thought came… I’ll kick the ass of anyone who dared.

“You don’t even remember me,” she whispered the words to him. “So don’t act like—”

“I remember flashes of you.”

Her body tensed beneath him.

“In my first dream, you drove a knife into my chest.”

Her lips trembled.

He bent his head and brushed his lips over hers. “But I realized soon enough that it wasn’t really a dream, was it? That was a memory.” He knew she’d killed him, so why was he there, holding her so tightly?

Her scent surrounded him and made him nearly feel drunk.

“I had to do it,” she told him, her voice a husky tremble that seemed to stroke right along his skin. “It was the way you were able to escape. The other doctors thought we were just running new blood work on you. They hadn’t planned for a containment with your fire. When I stabbed you and your fire broke free, you were able to get away.”

“I got away, but I lost my memories.” His legs were on either side of hers, but he couldn’t feel the smooth silk of her thighs. The sheet was between them.

He wanted nothing between them.

“For a time, you did forget. But then we met up again in New Orleans, and your memories seemed to be coming back.”

He wished he had all of his memories.

“You wanted to forget.” Sadness darkened her words. “You told me that you never wanted to remember Genesis.”

Or me.

She didn’t say those words, but they seemed to hang between them.

“There are some things you can’t forget.” He brought his lips to hers once more. He didn’t trust her. The story about helping him escape could be pure bull, but the need for her overwhelmed everything else in that instant.

So why not take her?

They were alone. She was beneath him. His body was so hard for her that he ached.

Why not take her?

When he kissed her again, the kiss was harder. Deeper. His tongue swept inside, taking every bit of sweetness that he could. And she was sweet. Her taste made him eager for more.

Her fingers curled around his, and she was shifting beneath the covers. Arching her hips against his.

He wanted those covers gone.

His mouth went to her neck. Her scent was stronger there, and he loved that light, sexy smell. He licked her skin, sucked the tender curve of her throat, then scored her with his teeth.

“Dante!”

The covers had to go.

He freed her hands. Yanked at the covers. When they got tangled up, he just ripped them away.

She was naked.

For some reason, he hadn’t expected that.

“I couldn’t find extra clothes in the cabin. I-I…only had the one pair of clothes and when I got into bed…”

His fingers caressed the tip of her breast. Her nipple was tight and tempting.

“I didn’t want to sleep in—” Cassie’s words choked off in a moan.

And when he bent his head and took that nipple in his mouth, her whole body trembled.

Yes. This was what he’d wanted. Her. All of her. Spread before him. Her body was perfect to him. Smooth and sexy, making his cock grow heavier and harder. He wanted to drive into her as deeply as he could go. But he held himself back. His savage instincts screamed for him to—

Take.

But another part, a part somewhere deep inside whispered…

Savor.

So his fingers trailed over her skin. He caressed her breasts. Kissed her nipples. Loved the sound of her gasps as her nails sank into his back.

I haven’t had her before? He must have been insane.

More covers ripped as he pushed down between her legs. His hands slid up her thighs. Up, up…

“Dante?” There was a note of fear in her voice.

He didn’t want her afraid.

His gaze held hers, even as his fingers slipped over her sex. “I won’t hurt you.” That was a vow.

Her lips parted on a sharp breath.

His fingers eased into her. Tight. So incredibly tight. Wet. Hot.

His fingers slid out.

Her eyes widened.

He pushed into her again, then slid out, letting his fingers trail over the center of her need.

Cassie’s breath came faster and harder with her rising arousal. He could make her come just by caressing her so slowly, he knew he could.

But he wanted more.

Savor.

Take.

He wanted to taste all of her. To put his mouth on her and mark her as his. He’d been looking for something ever since he woke in that alley. Now he’d found her. Once won’t be enough. So much for that brilliant plan. Already, he was sure once wouldn’t even begin to take the edge off his hunger.

He began to kiss a path down her stomach.

Then he heard the faint rumble of a car.

They’d taken a long, twisting drive to get to the cabin. There were no other homes nearby.

Just them.

He kissed her skin once more. He was so close to what he wanted most. So damn close.

But that rumbling engine was getting louder. And it wasn’t just one car. He heard a whoop-whoop-whoop . His jaw locked, and he glanced up at Cassie. In the dark, her eyes gleamed. Her breath panted out.

“Company.” Fucking company. “Someone’s coming, Cassie.” Coming in fast, and, from the sound of things, by land and by air.

Hating it— hating it— he pulled away from her body. That someone was going to pay for denying him what he’d wanted most. Someone would burn.

Cassie blinked and shook her head. “What?”

Whoop. Whoop. Whoop.

Louder. Closer.

“A helicopter,” she rasped as her eyes widened. “How? How did they find us?”

The how didn’t matter. Getting away mattered.

Dante jumped from the bed, and Cassie rushed to dress in her jeans and T-shirt. A damn shame, that. He much preferred her naked. I didn’t get to taste all of her.

But he would. Every single inch of her.

“Dante?” She stilled and stared nervously at him. Probably because he looked like he was about to leap on her again.

He jerked a hand over his face. “The cabin’s isolated,” he said as he paced to the window. The isolation would work against them now that they’d been found.

One road in.

One road out.

They wouldn’t be able to use the Jeep to escape. And with a helicopter watching from above, it would be even harder to ditch their pursuers.

He turned toward Cassie. “They’re closing us in.”

She hurried toward him. “There’s supposed to be a motorcycle hidden in the shed behind the cabin. We can get it, then cut across the mountain.” She hesitated, then mumbled, “Or we can try to. I don’t actually know how to drive a motorcycle.”

Didn’t matter. They’d figure out the how—hell, maybe it would be one of those things that he “knew” how to do. The bike was an escape option. He caught her hand, and they flew down the stairs to the back door.

The beat of the helicopter’s blades had grown louder. A flash of lights lit up the cabin.

Dante yanked open the door and saw the helicopter touching down. Air rushed against him, blowing hard as the blades whipped. It looked like half a dozen SUVs were driving into the area, too.

He ducked, held tight to Cassie, and ran as fast as he could. They hadn’t been spotted. Not yet. Not—

Dante lifted his leg and kicked open the shed door. They hurried inside. Cassie grabbed a tarp and tossed it to the ground. He saw the long, hard lines of the motorcycle and climbed on. Cassie jumped on behind him.

They were pinned by another flash of lights before he could even start the motorcycle. Lights that were too bright as they focused right on him and Cassie, nearly blinding him for a moment.

A voice shouted, “Get off the motorcycle!”

Dante felt Cassie tense behind him.

“Get off the bike and get away from the woman!”

Screw that. “Get out of my way.” Dante had the motorcycle growling and lunging forward. Huh, so he did know how to drive a motorcycle.

There were more shouts, and a hail of bullets slammed into the motorcycle. It looked like those guys weren’t in the mood to play nice. Fine. He wasn’t exactly in a nice mood, either.

As the motorcycle flew out of the shed, Dante let his rage build. The fire crackled through his veins and burst from his fingertips. It was a round swirling ball that grew and grew. He lifted his hand, ready to toss the flames at their attackers.

He got his first look at the line of men who’d come out to surround the shed. They were all wearing heavy, white uniforms and masks—they almost looked like they were astronauts as they lifted their weapons and took aim.

I’ll take aim, too.

But he heard Cassie whisper, “Fireproof,” right before his flames flew toward the men.

They didn’t burn.

Hell.

He revved the engine. If his flames wouldn’t push them back, he’d drive right over the jerks.

“If you don’t stop, we’ll shoot you both!” It was that same voice, calling out from behind the line of men in white. “You’ll come back, but will the woman be so lucky?”

Dante counted a dozen guns aimed at him.

Cassie’s hold tightened on him. “Go, Dante. Don’t worry about me, just go. ”

Because she could heal? She had healed before, but what if a bullet hit her in the head? The heart? Would she—could she—heal from an injury like that?

“Go!” Cassie yelled. “They’re not going to shoot me!”

But she was wrong. They were firing at them. He bent low and chose the weakest link he could find in that sea of white then drove forward fast and hard.

The man screamed as Dante bore down on him. Screamed and shot. A bullet drove into Dante’s chest. One ricocheted off the motorcycle. Another sank into his shoulder.

Dirt flew up around the motorcycle. People were yelling. The helicopter’s blades were still spinning and sending the air rushing against him.

“Aim for the motorcycle!” It was that same shouting voice. The man who had to be in charge. The man that Dante wanted to rip apart.

Instead, Dante sent a ball of flames flying back at their attackers as the motorcycle raced toward the trees. There were too many men for Dante to stop them all. His fire melted some of their weapons, but others kept shooting. Dante and Cassie were close to that tree line. Once they made it inside the sweeping band of trees, their pursuers would have a hard time catching up to them.

He tightened his hold on the handlebars, fighting to keep the bike steady.

A bullet sank into the front tire.

Then another hit the back.

The motorcycle spun out of control. Cassie’s arms weren’t around him anymore. He tried to grab for her, but Dante was thrown from the bike, too. His body flew through the air even as Cassie’s scream seemed to echo in his ears.

Then he hit a tree, slamming headfirst into the thick wood, and he didn’t hear her scream anymore.