Eve jumped back, away from the flames.
“Run.”
Her head lifted and she found herself staring into Cain’s eyes. He’d turned back to look at her. Only … fire was in his eyes. She could actually see the flames burning right in his gaze.
“Run … or die,” he told her, the words more growl than anything else.
When he put it that way … Eve ran. The facility was going down, burning around her—some guards were fighting, shooting at Cain. But the guards weren’t the only ones in the facility.
If this place went up in flames, and it sure looked like it would, then all the other test subjects would die.
The corridor sprinklers burst on from overhead. About freaking time. They drenched her clothes and fought the fire. Some of the flames died. Some grew stronger.
Chaos reigned.
She grabbed a white lab coat from a storage closet. Yanked it on. Tried to blend with the other researchers who were running for the exits.
Only … Eve didn’t head for the nearest exit. She raced for the stairs that would take her down to the next level of the facility. The level she’d never accessed.
More test subjects waited down there.
She shoved her hand against the stairwell door. The alarm blared constantly, driving her crazy. She hurried, nearly fell, but caught herself as she staggered down the steps.
She opened the next door—and came face-to-face with an armed guard.
“What are you—” he began.
Eve hit him. Just punched him right in the face. She guessed that she hadn’t looked particularly threatening, because he sure seemed caught by surprise. She grabbed his gun when he stumbled back. “Now get the hell out of here!” she told him. Screams reached her from upstairs. “Before you burn.”
His eyes bulged, but then he ran up the stairs.
He was smarter than he appeared.
She hurried toward the guard station. Heard some order on the intercom system about using something called an SP-tranq. Whatever. She got down on her knees as she yanked open the drawers, shoving her hands in. She found key cards—had to be for the cells—grabbed them, and jumped to her feet.
More guards rushed by her, but she just tucked the gun down next to her leg, and they barely glanced her way. They were too busy fleeing to pay her much attention. No, they were hauling ass.
And leaving the paranormals as prisoners. Not on my watch. The test subjects weren’t just going to be left to die.
She found the first room down a twisting hallway. A two-way mirror let her see into his room. A man. Tall. Muscled. Pacing back and forth. Back and—
He whirled to face her, and Eve caught sight of his gleaming fangs.
Hell.
“Fresh blood …” he whispered.
Okay. Eve hesitated. Maybe freeing him wasn’t the—
Smoke drifted toward her. The vamp’s head snapped up. He wasn’t looking right at her, not the way Cain had, but the vamp sure seemed to be … smelling her. “Fire.”
Yeah, his sense of smell was working just fine.
And even though he was a vampire … I can’t leave him. Vampires were just like humans—some good, some bad. She just had to keep reminding herself of that. He doesn’t have to be bad.
Eve rushed around the corner. Flipped through the key cards and tried to find the one that would give her access to his cell. This holding room didn’t have a manual code, not like Cain’s. The door looked thicker, heavier, and—
The third card she swiped had the lights near the door’s handle flashing green. She brought her gun up in an instant even as the door flew open.
“Don’t bite me!” Her quick yell.
The blond vampire had already lunged forward, but he froze at her yell—or maybe he froze at the sight of her gun. Didn’t really matter why to Eve.
Freezing was good. Better than biting. “I’m here to help you.”
His eyes narrowed. “Says the woman with the gun aimed at my chest.” His fangs were way too sharp.
“Look, that’s just to—”
He ripped the gun from her hand in a lightning-fast move. Grabbed her. Shoved her back against the door and yanked her head to the side.
“Hungry …” Cain had said something like that, too, only he hadn’t raked his fangs against her skin the way Dracula was doing.
“I’m … helping …” Eve muttered. “Trying … to … help …” Damn the vampires. Always biting the hands—or the necks—of those who helped.
“Need … you …” the vampire rasped.
Then he was the one being yanked away. The vampire’s body hit the wall with a thud. “Too fucking bad,” Cain snarled at him. “Cause I saw her first.”
Uh, what?
Cain offered her his hand. Eve glanced at his open palm, then back at his blazing eyes. She didn’t move toward him. Right then she wasn’t sure who was safer—the guy who’d almost torn out her throat, or the man who was destroying the whole building.
“You have to get out of here,” Cain told her, a muscle flexing along his jaw.
The vampire rose slowly to his feet.
“Touch her again”—Cain’s deadly focus was on the vamp—“and I’ll turn you to dust.”
A very real threat. Vampires and fire didn’t mix so well.
Cain stopped waiting on her to take his hand. He grabbed her wrist and hauled her to his side. “Come on.”
Every instinct she had screamed for her to run from the fire, but … “There are others. They’re trapped and—”
An explosion shook the building. A fierce detonation that had the walls shuddering and thick cracks breaking across the ceiling.
The vampire stared at Cain for an instant, then when the screams started—screams that seemed to come from everywhere—the vamp shoved past Cain and Eve and raced away.
So many screams … and more explosions.
“He’s not letting us out.” Cain’s grip was unbreakable. “The fucking bastard … Wyatt is gonna kill everyone before he lets his experiments get away.”
Wyatt was blowing up the lab? She shook her head. This wasn’t supposed to happen. None of this should have happened. “We have to help the others!”
A chunk of ceiling fell down, barely missing her leg. Cain pulled her down the hallway. She fought him, dragging in her heels. “No, the others—”
She choked on the smoke.
They were almost at the stairwell.
“Please …”
The one word stopped him.
“They’ll die.” Unless they were like Cain, and that was highly doubtful. She’d never met anyone else quite like him.
He grabbed the key cards from her hand. “Then I’ll get them out.” A push sent her into the stairwell. “You get that sweet ass out of this place.”
Another explosion rocked Genesis, and Cain left her—rushing back down the winding hallway even as the building began to collapse.
The smoke was thicker than Seattle fog as Eve fought her way down the corridor toward Wyatt’s office. The coldhearted bastard was trying to kill everyone, even his own research teams. The detonations had gone off with near perfect timing. Sealing doorways. Destroying equipment.
Burying evidence.
He wasn’t going to get away with this. She wouldn’t let him. People deserved to know the truth—and the truth was that vampires and shifters weren’t the only monsters.
Some humans could be the worst monsters out there.
Her lungs burned as she shoved against his office door. Locked. Sealed tight from the inside. Eve snarled as she pushed against that door. Just—
The door opened with a hiss, and she fell inside. The place was perfect. Freaking pristine, while hell stalked the hallways outside.