Phoenix Fury Box set

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Cassie held onto Dante as tightly as she could. Her memory of escaping from Jon was hazy. In order to block the pain, she’d had to go far into her mind, into the shadows that she’d first found when she’d been a child.

When her father had strapped her to the table in his lab.

He hadn’t experimented on just the paranormals. He’d wanted to create stronger, better humans.

He’d planned for her and her brother to be the first “better” humans. That hadn’t worked out. But their father hadn’t given up easily. He’d just ignored their screams and tears.

The motorcycle braked. She couldn’t see anything in front of her. Just the darkness.

As they’d driven, she’d smelled smoke. A heavy, thick blast of smoke that had followed them on the wind. It was gone now. It was just them. And darkness.

“No one’s here,” Dante said. “You can go inside and rest.” He turned off the bike.

Right. She was supposed to stop holding so tightly to him.

Her body still ached, but not as badly as it had. She climbed off the motorcycle slowly, then stood nervously for a moment to make sure that she wasn’t about to fall on her face.

Dante reached out and steadied her. At his touch, her breath caught. She looked up and found his gaze just inches from hers. The gold in the depths of his eyes was burning once more.

“The place isn’t as nice as the one your friend Trace had for you, but it’s got a bed inside, four walls and a roof, so I figure it will do for now.”

Had she just imagined the emphasis he’d placed on friend ? She wasn’t sure. She was so tired that she just wanted to crash in bed—crash and not worry about someone coming at her with a needle or a scalpel.

But I did that. I was the monster with the needle, too. For so long.

Some would say she’d gotten her fitting punishment that night.

At least…at least the doctors had stopped before getting the bone marrow and the spinal tap. She rubbed her forehead. Or had they? Cassie wasn’t sure just how long she’d been in that lab.

“Come on.” Dante’s hand curled around her shoulder.

She flinched. That area was still sore.

He immediately dropped his hand before she could explain about the samples they’d taken.

Cassie knew she was healing, but she still ached.

His breath eased out on a sigh. “Let’s go in.”

She noticed that the front lock looked as if it had been melted. Interesting lock picking technique. She would have questioned him on that, but just didn’t have the energy.

A few moments later, Cassie realized that he’d told her the truth. A bed waited inside. An old table. Some chairs. Not much, but it sure looked like paradise to her.

She crawled in the bed, then she drew her legs up as she turned on her side and wrapped her arms around herself.

“Cassie?” He was behind her. She should look at him, but she felt frozen.

She’d killed Jon.

“Cassie, I have to leave for a few minutes.”

What? They’d just gotten there.

“You’ll be safe here, and I’ll be back soon.”

The floor creaked. He was actually going to leave her? Her shoulders hunched. “ Don’t .”

Tension seemed to fill the air.

“Please don’t leave me right now.” She couldn’t look at him. She had her eyes squeezed shut so she wouldn’t have to look at anything, but in her mind, she could see Jon. The dark shadow that had been blood as it spread over his chest. He’d looked so surprised.

Cassie, will you marry me?

He’d asked her to marry him—it seemed like a lifetime ago.

And yes, once, she’d thought about walking down the aisle with him. Maybe having a child.

Tonight, she’d killed him.

Dante wasn’t speaking.

She knew what he wanted to do. Go back. Make sure that he destroyed that facility. He wanted to burn the place to the ground. If he did that, if he hurt the humans inside, wouldn’t he be a monster, too?

Weren’t they already monsters?

“I can’t stop seeing him,” she confessed.

Then it wasn’t the floor that creaked. It was the bed. The mattress dipped, and she realized that Dante had crawled into the bed with her.

Her breath stilled in her lungs.

His hand came up and lightly trailed over her arm. The warmth of his touch seemed to banish some of her chill.

“What did he do to you?”

The usual. Strapped her to a table. Took her blood. Her DNA. Samples from her bones and—“What they always do to the people that Genesis wants to experiment on.”

“You aren’t an experiment.”

Yes, she was. There was a reason her blood was poison to vampires. “I’ve been an experiment since I was a kid.” Her father had never seen her as a child.

He’d seen her as a weapon.

“I had a brother once,” she whispered. “He’s dead now.” Though she’d discovered his death only recently. Before he’d died, she’d learned that he’d become twisted, just like their father.

Would she become that way, too? Was she already?

“My father gave him the same injections that he’d given to me.” At first, anyway. Later, she’d been given separate treatments.

Because she’d died during one of those experiments, they’d had to change up her dosage levels. Then her brother Richard—he’d started getting different treatments. Her father had said Richard would be so special.

“I remember…” Her voice came out quiet and husky. “My brother and I were once tossed into a pit with vampires. My father wanted to see if they’d come after us, or if our poisoned blood would keep them away.”

Dante’s arm curled around her, and he pulled her back against the cradle of his body. His warmth surrounded her. Made her feel safe, when she knew safety was a lie.

“Did they bite you?”

“One did, but when he died, no one else touched me. The vampires were different. Enhanced. ” How she hated that word. They’d been soldiers. Volunteers who’d been given a trip to hell.

Dante’s hold tightened around her.

“That was the first time I ever killed anyone.” The first time, not the last, despite her efforts to be careful. She’d always tried to stay away from the vampires. One sip of her blood would kill most of them. “I didn’t want to kill Jon.”

“You should have let me burn him. I wanted to kill him.”

She knew that. It was part of their problem. “There’s so much darkness in you.” Her words were hushed. “It scares me sometimes.” Maybe she shouldn’t have said those words, but she was long past the point of a filter. Too tired. Too broken. Too everything.

In the morning, she could pretend to be strong again.

“If you’re so afraid, then why are you in my arms now?”

“Because you’re the only one who’s ever made me feel whole.” Her eyes were still closed. Hiding in the dark, that was her way.

Silence filled the small cabin.

She became aware of his steady breathing behind her. In. Out. In.

Her own faster breaths slowed to match his.

Dante didn’t speak again.

“Thank you,” she finally told him.

“You shouldn’t thank me.” The words seemed to be a warning.

She shook her head slightly against the pillow. “You saved me.”

“No, I just didn’t let you get away.”

Her heartbeat wasn’t racing any longer. He was behind her, around her, and nothing could hurt her while her phoenix was close. Cassie stopped fighting the lethargy that wanted to pull her down into a deep sleep. She stopped fighting and just let go.

She wondered if she’d see Dante in her dreams or if she’d see Jon’s ghost haunting her.

***

Cassie was asleep. He could leave her, slip away, and be back before she awoke.

She’d curled into herself, like a frightened child. Her voice had trembled with fear and pain, and she’d thanked him.

Cassie should have been running from him.

He glanced toward the door. He could go back to finish his enemies. Burn the buildings with a thought.

There’s so much darkness in you. It scares me sometimes.

She had asked him to spare the humans at that facility. He leaned closer to her, and his lips pressed lightly against her cool cheek.

She whimpered in her sleep, and the fear in that small sound tore at him.

Cassie still needed him. Someone had to keep her nightmares at bay. Carefully, he turned her so that she faced him. He pulled her closer, lowering her head over his heart and threading his fingers through her hair.

The humans were lucky. The battered angel in his arms had given them a reprieve. If they were smart, they’d run fast and far, and they would never cross his path again.

As for Cassie…Her body was a slight weight against his. His beast was quiet, as close to calm as it ever was, and he realized that he could just hold her like that, all night long.

So he did.

***

“How long have you been here?” Cassie’s voice was quiet as she stood behind the two-way mirror.

He knew that she’d realized—months ago—that he could see past the reinforced glass.

She stood less than a foot behind the mirror, her eyes up and clear—and on his.

“Too many years,” he said softly as he headed toward the glass and to her.

“I remember you,” she told him. “When I was a kid…”

She was little more than a kid. Nineteen, twenty?

“When you do get out, please don’t ever come back. Just run and run.”

His lips tightened. “What makes you think they’ll ever let me out?” He was their prized specimen. They tortured him, they killed him, but they weren’t letting him go.

She smiled, and the sight stopped his breath for a moment. “I know you’ll get out because I’ll help you.”

Her hand lifted. Touched the glass.

His hand lifted too, as if pulled by her.

But then the guards came in…

And Cassie left him.

***

Dante climbed from the bed as the moonlight streamed through the old blinds. So many memories were in his head. They fought to get to the surface and break free.

He hated some of the memories.

Treasured others.

Her hand, rising against the glass.

He never would have thought to find a glimpse of heaven in that hell, but he had.

His gaze fell back on the bed. On Cassie. He’d known just what she was the first minute he’d seen her. When she’d only been eight, the promise had been there.

He could have broken out of Genesis sooner, but he’d needed to wait. He’d had to see for sure if she would become—

“Dante!” Cassie screamed his name as she jerked up in bed.

He crossed to her instantly. “I’m here.”

A shudder shook her slender frame and then her hands were around him and holding on tight. “I was afraid it was a dream. That I was back there. They were going to keep hurting me.”

I should have gone back and finished them.

“It wasn’t a dream,” he said as he shoved down his fury. “You’re safe.”

Her mouth pressed over his shoulder. Her lips were soft and silken. Her breath blew lightly over his skin.

Then she pulled away. Looked up at him. Her gaze searched his and her green eyes widened. “Dante.”

She seemed to finally be seeing him.

No, she wasn’t seeing him, but rather seeing in to him.

“You remember, don’t you? You remember me?”

“I wouldn’t have been able to track you if I hadn’t.” His voice had roughened because she wasn’t hurt any longer. No scratches or bruises on her skin. Completely healed.

She was in bed. Alone with him.

He’d wanted her for so long.

He’d been close to having what he wanted.

He would have what he wanted.

“What all do you remember?” Her voice was husky. Hopeful?

His fingers lifted and brushed back her hair. “Every damn thing.”

I’m the one she was going to marry.

Dante’s jaw locked.

Once, she’d been a virgin. She’d come to him, sneaking past the security and offering him her body. Offering pleasure and paradise.

He’d been a fool to refuse.

I knew what she was. I should have held on tight.

Her lips lifted into a smile. “You know me?”

He didn’t return her smile. “I’m going to devour you.” Fair warning.

Her smile dimmed. “Dante?”

He pushed her back onto the bed. The control he’d held so effortlessly while she slept—cradled in his arms—was shredding with each passing second. She wasn’t hurt. She wasn’t trapped in a nightmare.

Cassie was in his arms, and he meant to have her. “Are you afraid?” Dante asked her.

“The fire…what if…?”

He knew what the idiots at Genesis had said—in moments of extreme passion, his fire would rage out of control. That he would hurt—kill—a lover.

That wouldn’t happen with her.

Couldn’t.

Because the phoenix wasn’t allowed to hurt her.

I knew what she was…

“I’ll keep you safe,” he promised her.

His lips pressed to hers. He had to kiss her. He wanted her to forget the man she’d shot and any other bastard out there. The others would no longer have a place in her mind or heart.

There would only be room for him.

Her mouth opened beneath his. Eager and sweet. He thrust his tongue past her lips and savored her.

So good. She’d always tasted of innocence and sin, a combination that had made him crazy so many times.

Every time he got his hands on her.

He should go carefully. Use finesse and charm. But Dante had never been one for charm, and if he didn’t get inside Cassie, he thought he might just go insane.

Been there…

And he’d left the flames behind to prove his descent into madness.

His hand slid between them. She was wearing some kind of little gown—like a hospital gown?—and when he shoved it up, he touched the smooth silk of her panties.

He’d come so close to tasting Cassie between her legs.

Mine.

His head lifted. Their eyes met.

De-fucking-vour.

Her breath caught as he eased down her body. “Dante, you don’t—”

He put his mouth on her, right through the panties. He pressed down, kissing that silk, then blowing lightly against her.

Cassie’s moan filled his ears, and he knew that her nightmare was gone.

That wasn’t good enough. He wanted her thinking only about him and the pleasure that he could give to her. Because she was all that he could think about.

He tossed away the gown. No bra. Her gorgeous breasts bobbed toward him. He licked her breasts. So sweet. His fingers grabbed the edge of her panties and yanked them down. The underwear was shredded before he tossed the garment away. He put his mouth directly on her sweet core.

She tasted so damn good. He licked her. Kissed. Slid his fingers into her tight, hot sex.

Cassie’s breaths came faster. Harder. Her nails sank into his shoulders.

It still wasn’t good enough.

He licked her hard. Sucked the center of her need. Thrust two fingers into her. Kept up the friction, enjoying every single taste of her—and becoming desperate for more. Always, more.

She stiffened beneath him—her whole body tensing—and he knew that her climax was close. He wanted that first climax to be when he was in her. As deep as he could go. He lifted up and positioned his heavy cock at the entrance to her body.

Cassie’s gaze found his and her breath caught. “Your eyes…”

He wondered what she saw in his gaze, but whatever it was, it didn’t seem to be scaring her. She reached for him. Her arms curled around his shoulders.

He stroked her once more, then drove deep into her. His thrust sent the headboard thudding against the wall. “Cassie?”

She’d tensed beneath him once more, but the tension was different, and she was so tight.

So amazingly tight.

He had to pull back. Had to thrust deeper. Again and again. But…

Her lashes had lowered, and he couldn’t see her gaze. That wasn’t the way he wanted it. He needed to see her. All of her.

“Look at me.”

Her lashes flew up.

Was that pain in her eyes? Cassie couldn’t know pain. Only pleasure.

His hand eased between their bodies, found her clit, and stroked her. He choked back his own need as he brought her to a feverish pitch once more. He’d take no pleasure until she found her release.

Her hips started to arch against him, and her nails dug into his back.

Yes, yes, this was what he wanted. What he needed.

Cassie climaxed beneath him, and he felt the strong contractions of her inner muscles along the length of his cock. Her gasp filled his ears—the sexiest thing he’d ever heard, sighing with pleasure—and he thrust harder, faster into her.

The headboard kept thudding against the wall.

The pleasure hit him, crashing over him, into him, and her name roared from his lips as the release seemed to rip him apart. His hands fisted around the covers. His hips pistoned against her, and the pleasure consumed him.

His breath heaved from his lungs. His mouth took hers. He kissed her, tasting the pleasure on her lips, and Dante knew that nothing had ever been this good.

No other lovers. Only her. Cassie had just ruined him for anyone else. But he’d known that truth about her for a very long time. Right from the moment he’d realized she had the potential to be a phoenix’s mate. One of the few who could handle the fire and fury that was within him.

His lips gentled on hers even as he still thrust lightly into her. He didn’t want to leave her body. After so many years of wanting, he was finally where he needed to be.

He licked her lower lip, then slowly raised his head. Her cheeks were flushed. Her eyes sparkling. And she smiled at him.

Lethal.

His breath stilled in his chest.

“That was worth waiting for.” Her smile widened.

He shook his head.

Her smile instantly dimmed.

“No,” he told her, his voice a growl because that was all he could manage, “that was just the beginning.”

Once more, his thrusts became stronger. Harder.

Her eyes widened.

Her smile returned.

So did the pleasure. So much pleasure. Enough to make a man lose his mind.

His fingers twined with hers. Her legs lifted and locked around his hips. When he thrust, she arched into him. Her sex was slick and—judging by those sweet moans—sensitive from her release. It didn’t take long until she was coming for him again. Her sex contracted, squeezing him. Slick and eager. He pumped into her. Dante drove as deep as he could possibly go.

The second orgasm left him feeling hollowed out, sated, and more at peace than he’d ever been before.

He knew it wasn’t the orgasm that had truly done that for him, though. It was her.

In the aftermath, he pulled her closer against him. Pressed a kiss to her cheek. And slept for the first time in centuries with a woman in his arms. He’d never been able to hold another while he slept. He’d feared that his nightmares would bring fire—and that he’d wake to see death and hell.

But the fire wouldn’t come with Cassie. It couldn’t.

She brought peace.

***

The faint light of dawn pressed onto Cassie, and she blinked, slowly opening her eyes. Something was on top of her. Something warm and strong and heavy.

Dante.

He was sprawled half on top of her, with his arm wrapped around her stomach. His eyes were closed. His face relaxed.

He’d always looked so fierce to her. So dangerous. Now, he just looked handsome.

Her hand lifted. Her fingers were trembling. After last night, how could she still feel nervous around him? But her fingers shook as she brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen over his forehead.

At her touch, his eyes immediately opened. There was no grogginess in his gaze. Too alert, far too aware, his eyes locked on her.

Since it was her first official morning after, Cassie wasn’t one hundred percent sure what she was supposed to say. Actually, she wasn’t even ten percent sure, so she offered him a smile.

Dante didn’t smile. But then, he never did.

One day, he will.

“There’s no going back,” he said.

No, they’d crossed a line last night.

“We’ll leave this town,” he continued and his fingers stroked over her shoulder. “Head north. I had a place in Canada once that I think—”

Wait. She stiffened beneath him. “I still have to get to Mississippi. I have people there who are counting on me.” He knew that.

A furrow appeared between his brows. He sat up, pulling the covers with him.

She was naked. That fact hadn’t embarrassed her at all last night. But it wasn’t night any longer, and her face flamed as she yanked the sheets away from him.

Dante frowned at her. “Those people want to use you. If you go back, Genesis—what’s left of it—will keep hunting you.”

Yes, he was right. They would. “I can’t leave the people in Belle. They need me.” She was the only one who could help them. “The other phoenixes are going to meet me there and—”

Dante’s hands locked around her wrists. “Other phoenixes?”

“I-I thought that your memory was back.” Surely he remembered the female phoenix in New Orleans? He’d gone to New Orleans to find that woman because— Oh, crap. Because phoenixes have a history of killing each other.

Since phoenixes could come back from nearly any death, they didn’t have many natural enemies.

Just their own kind.

In order for a phoenix to truly die, he had to be killed during the moment of his regeneration, the moment when the flames burned at their brightest. A moment when only another phoenix could get through the fire. Those fireproof suits that Jon’s men had worn certainly hadn’t been strong enough to get the job done.

“Sabine doesn’t want to hurt you,” Cassie rushed to explain as she referred to the only female phoenix she’d ever met. Cassie clutched the sheet closer to her body. “Don’t you remember? She just wanted—”

“I remember Sabine.” Flat. Cold. “Her vampire tried to transform her.”

Cassie nodded. Sabine’s lover, a vampire, had attempted to turn the phoenix, but the results hadn’t been quite what Ryder had anticipated.

“Sabine never wanted to hurt you.” Cassie struggled to make her voice sound soothing. “You don’t have to worry about a threat coming from her.”

“And her vampire? You think he will want me to keep living, knowing that I can kill his woman?”

Cassie’s heart pounded too fast. Her death grip was about to rip the sheets. “Are you planning to kill her?” Before Dante could answer, she grabbed for his hand and dropped her sheet. “Sabine wants to help us! She’s working with me to try and find a cure for Trace—”

Dante’s eyes glinted, the fire simmering.

Uh, oh. What was that about?

But he said, “Phoenixes. Plural.” His head tilted. “You know of another phoenix? Not just Sabine?”

She swallowed. “I do. Another male, not as old as you, but he’s still strong. Cain has agreed to—”

“Cain O’Connor?” Dante’s voice had gone lethal.

“Yes.”

His hand twisted, and he was holding onto her. “You are not to get near Cain O’Connor.”

“He’s going to meet me in Belle, Mississippi. Sabine is going there, too.” Once she gets back in the U.S. Her vampire had taken her away for a while—a honeymoon time, of sorts.

Cassie straightened her shoulders and tried to pretend that she wasn’t naked in front of Dante. “I am going. I wanted—I wanted you to come, too. That’s why I came after you in Chicago. I’m so close to making a breakthrough. With your help, I know I can do it.”

He stared back at her. The golden flames in his eyes seemed to be growing brighter. So not good.

Cassie pressed her lips together. Then, unable to help herself, she asked, “You’re the oldest, aren’t you?”

He nodded.

I knew it. Excitement had her feeling a little giddy. “You’re the key! If Trace can be cured, if the primal vampires can be reverted—”

“Primal vampires?”

Ah, yes. Another confession. “Genesis made monsters—real monsters that have no control. They exist only to feed and kill. Their virus is spreading like wildfire, and if I can’t stop them…” She didn’t even want to think about what could happen. “If I can’t stop them, the primal vampires could take over the world as we know it.”

No hint of worry or fear flickered over his face.

Okay. “This isn’t about me,” Cassie added. “It’s about fixing the mess that Genesis created. About saving lives. I have to go back to Belle. And the phoenixes— you —are the best hope that we have.”

His jaw locked. “Then you have no hope. You get the phoenixes together, and we will kill each other.” His gaze swept over her face. “If Cain O’Connor gets anywhere near you, I’ll send him to hell myself.”

Cassie decided not to mention the fact that she’d already been around Cain a few times. He’d been the first one to seek her out because he’d wanted her to help Trace.

“Leave them all. They can sort out their own lives. Or they can die.” Dante shrugged. “You and I will go north. We will—”

“How can you not care?” She pulled away from him and jumped to her feet. “I’m talking about people—innocent people! If they can be saved, we have to try!”

He shook his head. “I don’t care about them at all.” He climbed from the bed and stretched to his full length.

She backed up a step. Damn. Naked, the guy was intimidating.

Rippling muscles. Hot body. Intimidating and sexy.

Her tongue swiped over her lower lip. Focus.

“I saved you,” he said, and his words fell heavily into the room. “You are what matters to me. The others can—”

“Die?” she finished, hating that a chill had slipped over her skin.

A slow nod. “If they don’t stay away from me, that is exactly what will happen.”

He wasn’t going to help her. The realization was staggering, and it hurt. “You know what it’s like to be trapped, to be an experiment, and you’d still walk away from them?”

“I cannot cure them, Cassie.”

“You’re wrong! Your tears cured me in New Orleans!” That was the part she’d clung to for so long. Her one instant of hope. He’d saved her, so that meant he cared about her. Maybe not as much as she cared about him, but he’d cried, actually shed a tear. He cared. “Your tears must be the most powerful, the most potent, since you are the strongest phoenix and—”

“I did not cry for you.”

She shook her head. “Of course, you did.” He’d felt some of the same emotion that she did. She was alive—her life was proof of that. “I’m alive because of you.”

Dante stared back at her. His face was an implacable mask.

“I’m alive because of you,” she said again, her voice rising as fear spiked in her heart. “I was dying in New Orleans! You were there. You took me out of that horrible room and you—”

“I was watching you die.” Brutal words that drove her fear higher.

“Then you saved me,” she said stubbornly. “Because your tears—”

“I did not cry for you.”

She spun away from him. She wasn’t about to put on that damn exam gown so she started yanking open closets and drawers and—

“I…got you clothing earlier. I wanted you to have everything you might need. It’s there.” He pointed to a bag near the old table.

She grabbed for the bag and hurriedly dressed. Jeans. Underwear. T-shirt. Even shoes. All a perfect fit.

“You remembered everything.” She knew he truly had. He knew my damn clothing sizes. Once dressed, she turned toward him. “So why are you acting like you don’t remember what happened in New Orleans?” Why was he trying to rip her world away? “You had to save me. I’d be dead if you hadn’t—”

“I thought you were dying.” He was still naked. Damn it. Dante didn’t even seem aware of his nudity. She was aware of everything about him.

“You were in my arms, and your blood was all over me.” His voice held no emotion. “You were staring up at me, trying to talk, but you were too far gone.”

Goose bumps had risen on her skin. “That’s when you saved me.”

He shook his head.

She grabbed his arms. “Why are you lying to me?” He’d never lied to her before. “Sabine didn’t save me. I know the wounds I had would have killed me. The only way I could have survived was if a phoenix saved me.” Cassie wanted to shake him. “Why can’t you just admit that you actually care enough about me that you cried? After everything we’ve been through together, the feelings aren’t just mine. You have to—”

“I did not cry.”

Her heart was breaking.

Dante spoke softly. “You…healed yourself.”

Her nails dug into his arms, then she pushed away from him. “That’s not possible.”

He laughed, and the sound was rough and bitter. “You’re talking to a myth, and you want to tell me about possible?”

Cassie wrapped her arms around herself. They’d made love. He’d held her through her fear.

I did not cry.

If he hadn’t saved her, if he hadn’t shed a tear to spare her life in those last desperate moments, then what did that mean for them?

He doesn’t care. The cold seemed to deepen around her. His fire had never been farther away.

“Your father experimented on you. The first time we met, you were only eight.” Dante’s eyes seemed to cloud with the memory. “And you told me that he’d killed you.”

She didn’t want to think about that memory. She’d shoved it so far back into her mind.

“He’d killed you, but you were there, walking around, talking. Trying to save me. ”

“I was a child, confused—”

“You were an experiment.” The faint lines deepened around Dante’s eyes. “Just like the rest of us. Your father made your blood into poison, but he did something else, too. He gave your body the ability to regenerate. To heal.”

“He didn’t.” Her father had done things like that to her brother—she knew he had, but she had never been able to heal. Not until Dante. “I was dying in New Orleans.” Choking on her own blood. Her last memory had been of his face, then…darkness. When she’d opened her eyes again, he’d been gone.

I was alive. She’d been so sure her survival had been because of him.

“Your heart stopped. You did die, but you came back.” His body was so still. “Not the way I do. There were no flames and no tears. You returned on your own. Your skin mended before my eyes, and then you took your first breath once more.”

Her world was splintering apart. If Dante hadn’t saved her—

Then he doesn’t love me.

And she…was truly nothing more than an experiment.

“That was why Jon came after me,” she said, voice weak. “He must have found some files, something that told him what I could do.” He’d wanted to replicate her healing, not just her poison.

A body that could survive anything, minus the trip to hell that the phoenixes took with each of their risings. An experiment. Wasn’t that all she and her brother had ever been? She’d been foolish to think otherwise.

Nausea rolled in her stomach.

“Cassie—”

“I-I need a moment. I need—” What Dante can’t give me. What he’d never be able to give. If he’d just watched her die and felt nothing…Oh, God. She’d been so sure that her future was tied with Dante. That when his memory came back, he’d realize they were linked.

But he didn’t care.

And she…Cassie didn’t even know what she was anymore.

He didn’t stop her as she hurried into the bathroom. Didn’t stop her as she slammed the door and clutched desperately for the bathroom sink so that she wouldn’t fall to the floor.

She’d been so ridiculously sure of Dante. Even with his memory gone, she’d thought that the emotions that connected them were still there, right beneath the surface. She stared at her ashen reflection in the mirror. There was no connection between them. Dante felt nothing for her.

Her world seemed to be crumbling around her.

***

Dante’s hands clenched into fists. He wanted to run after her, to kick in that door—and what?

He’d given her the truth. One that was long overdue. Cassie saw herself as a human, but she was something far more than that. Death hadn’t been able to take her.

In New Orleans, he’d been frozen, mute, so desperate when she died, but then she’d opened her eyes and seen him again.

No fire. Just life.

The water was running in the bathroom. He was very much afraid that she’d turned on the water to drown out the sound of crying. He didn’t want her to cry.

Dante jerked on his jeans. Pulled on a white T-shirt he’d brought back to the cabin when he’d made a fast run for her clothing. Even took the time to put his shoes on—shoes he’d also grabbed during that fast trip while she slept.

Cassie didn’t come out of the bathroom.

His breath exhaled in a hard rush. They had more talking to do. As much as Cassie wanted to head back to Mississippi, he couldn’t let her go. Another male phoenix would recognize her for what she was.

And Dante couldn’t allow that.

The others would have to fend for themselves. He’d crossed a line with Cassie last night, and there would be no other for her.

They’d head north. To Canada. Hell, maybe they’d even cross an ocean soon. He’d been away from his home in France for far too long.

Cassie still hadn’t come from the bathroom.

He walked toward that closed door. He rapped lightly. “Cassie?”

He heard only the running of the water.

“You can’t stay in there forever.” And you can’t hide from me. He knew that was exactly what she was trying to do. Not happening. He’d seen all of her last night. She’d seen all of him. “Cassie?”

He heard nothing but—

The revving of an engine.

Dante kicked in the door. The bathroom was empty. The window—a damn tiny window—had been left open.

“Cassie!” He bellowed her name, then he was spinning around. Running back through the cabin and outside. He saw the whip of her hair as she raced away from him, riding hell-fast on the motorcycle.

And leaving him behind.

For a moment, he just stared at her in shock. He’d saved her at that ranch. He’d taken her in the cabin. Finally claimed her. Cassie wouldn’t just leave him.

Dust and dirt drifted in the motorcycle’s path.

She’d fucking just left him.

He stomped back into the cabin. The water was still running. He yanked it off. Left. Me. He knew where she was going—to Mississippi. To meet up with the other phoenixes and with the werewolf who seemed to matter far too much to her.

Inside the cabin, he smelled her. That light, seductive scent. The scent that had nearly driven him out of his mind so many times.

She ran from me.

Because she’d known what he wanted? Her, far away from any others.

He inhaled deeper and stalked toward the bed. The sheets were tangled, and her scent was deeper there. More lush.

He grabbed the sheets. Yanked them from the bed. Hadn’t she realized what was happening between them? There was no escape. There was—

Blood, on the sheets. Her blood.

From a wound that she’d received at the ranch? But, no, she hadn’t been bleeding by the time they’d gotten to the cabin. Her healing ability had kicked in.

His fingers clenched around the sheets as he remembered the slick, incredibly tight feel of her.

Mine.

His breath came harder and the sheets burned in his hands. Ashes drifted to the wooden floor.

“You’re not getting away.”

She could be afraid, she could run, but there would be no escape.

His gaze swept the cabin, making sure they’d left nothing of import behind. Then, just to be safe—because he didn’t want any others following them—he let his flames take the old cabin. He walked out as the crackling fire rose up the walls.

There was no other motorcycle. No other transportation. He’d have to run up to the main road, then hitchhike. Dante knew that he didn’t look like the kind of guy most folks would want to pick up.

People just didn’t jump at the chance to give the devil a ride.

No matter. He would make someone pick him up. He had to stop Cassie before she reached Mississippi.

The flames devoured the cabin, and he watched it burn. Watched until only embers remained. Then he waved his hands and quieted the fire.

Only the most powerful of the phoenixes could stir and soothe the fire.

Cain O’Connor wouldn’t have power to match his. If the two of them came face-to-face, Cain would be the one to die.

Phoenixes had a drive to seek dominance. One of their flaws. To dominate was to survive.

When phoenixes got close, they fought.

Until one was dead.

Dante strode toward the narrow highway. He didn’t hear the rumble of the motorcycle’s engine any longer. Cassie was long gone. Riding with no helmet. Even though he knew firsthand just how little damage death could truly do to her, he wanted her to be safe.

She’d been driving far too fast.

He stepped onto the old, broken highway. Cassie shouldn’t drive when she was so upset. It wasn’t good for her.

An engine growled in the distance behind him. The sound was deeper, rougher, than the motorcycle’s had been. Dante paused and looked over his shoulder. In the rising morning light, he could just make out the shape of a big rig, heading steadily toward him. His eyes narrowed, and he headed into the middle of the road.

Then he waited.

The big rig ate up the highway. Its horn blared a warning for him to move.

He wasn’t moving. That big rig was stopping.

Dante held his ground, and the big rig came ever closer.