“Are you angry, Olivia?” Donald asked as he leaned in close to her. “Are you afraid?”
She was pissed, and he should be the one who was afraid.
“I know all of your secrets. I know more than you can imagine.”
She hated him. This, this was the man who’d attended all of her graduation ceremonies? Who’d been such a solid supporter in her life over the years?
He was using me, all along.
“Your father was a full-blood djinn. Your mother didn’t realize that, though, not until it was too late. I actually think that part of her was always afraid of you. Afraid of what you might be.”
No, no, her mother had loved her.
“She saw your father die. Vampires came after him…they like the taste of djinn blood, you see. The blood of a paranormal always gives them more power, but a djinn’s blood—that’s something quite special to them.”
My vampire will come after me.
“The vampires came in full force and attacked your father. But he fought them. Took out most of those fanged bastards, slaughtered them, right in front of your mother. You were there, too, screaming.” His lips twisted in a stark smile that was revealed by the faint light in the SUV. “At least, that’s what she told me.”
The SUV hit a pothole and the whole vehicle lurched.
She squeezed her eyes shut because she thought he might shoot her then. How easy would it be for that gun to discharge if the SUV hit another pothole that hard?
“Better move this,” Donald murmured. “Don’t want to accidently destroy all that magic.”
That was all she was to him. Magic. Power.
But her eyes opened and she saw that he’d lowered the gun.
“Do you remember how he died?” Now he sounded curious.
Olivia shook her head.
“It was her,” Donald whispered. “He’d fought the vamps. He was weak, and she killed him. Your mother thought he was evil. She’d seen what his wishes could do…watched as he twisted desires and played with the lives of humans. Your father—all djinn enjoy torment. Your mother knew he’d make you just like him, so she had to act.”
Tears slipped down her cheeks. She wanted his words to be nothing more than lies but…
I don’t think they are.
“Your powers were dormant. I knew I had to wake them, I just didn’t know how.” Now frustration thickened his words. “I sent you to killers. I put you face to face with evil, hoping it would trigger your own darkness.”
He’d gotten her access to all of those serial killers in prison. She’d thought he wanted to help people, to stop death. But he’d just wanted to use her.
“But the humans weren’t enough. They couldn’t break through your wall. I’d met a shaman who told me that fear would be the key for breaking you.”
So he’d sent her to Purgatory. Opportunity of a lifetime, my ass.
“Everyone fears the monsters there.”
Olivia swallowed.
“But it still wasn’t enough. So I had to try once more…all in,” he murmured. “I thought…maybe what kills a djinn can make a djinn.”
She glared at him.
“Blood and fire,” he said.
The cabin. The werewolves.
“That woke you up, didn’t it?” he whispered. “That woke up the beast that was sleeping in you. And now, that beast is mine.”
He thought he was going to control her?
He needed to think the hell again.
“You know the secret to controlling a djinn?” He put his hand on her chest. Right over her heart. “It’s here.”
The SUV stopped. Behind them, more headlights flashed. Another vehicle had pulled up behind them.
“You’re going to grant my wishes, Olivia. You’re going to give me everything that I want.”
The SUV’s door was opened. Donald shoved Olivia out. She hit the ground. The damn gag was still in place.
“Your power only works when you speak. So you’re helpless now.”
She heard a whimper. Olivia glanced over and saw Chloe being dragged out of the second SUV. Behind her gag, she shouted her friend’s name.
A knife pressed to Olivia’s chest. Right in the same spot that Donald had touched moments before. “I’m going to cut out your heart.”
He was insane!
“Don’t worry. You’ll stay alive. The djinn do.” He leaned toward her. Dropped his voice to a low murmur as he told her, “The hearts were kept in the bottles so long ago. That’s where the real power was. Control a djinn’s heart, control a djinn’s power. I will control you.” He smiled at her, the smile glinted in the darkness, and she realized that his teeth were too sharp. And his eyes were almost glowing.
The senator was a werewolf. Had he been born that way? And passed the DNA of a paranormal on down to his daughter? That would explain how Chloe had survived her attack as a teen. Or maybe…had the senator been bitten at some point, too?
“You’re going to give me more power than anyone else has ever possessed. The world will be mine.”
Olivia realized that how the guy had become a werewolf didn’t matter—not then. All that mattered was that he was the enemy, and she couldn’t let him win. The blade of the knife cut into her. Olivia twisted, shoving out with her feet, and she hit the senator in the stomach. He grunted and staggered back. She took that opportunity and rolled, as fast and hard as she could. She would get away. Somehow. That bastard wasn’t cutting out her heart!
The blade sliced over her arm. He grabbed her legs. “Soon, you’ll never fight me again.”
She’d fight him until she died.
“Get your fucking hands off her!”
Shane’s voice. Shane’s wonderful roar of rage.
Then he was there, yanking the senator back, tossing him away from her. Shane reached for her legs. Ripped the rope away. He caught her hands and jerked—
A white werewolf—fully shifted—tackled him. Shane tumbled to the ground, rolling with that beast. The wolf sank his teeth into Shane’s neck.
She twisted and yanked her hands as she struggled to get out of the rope. The rope wasn’t giving, so—screw it. Olivia contorted her body as best she could. Her shoulder popped, and she knew she’d dislocated it, but she managed to get her hands around her bunched up legs so that her bound hands weren’t behind her anymore. They were in front of her, and she could reach her gag.
She grabbed for the gag just as Shane locked his fingers around the werewolf’s jaws.
Shane pried the jaws off him.
Olivia yanked out her gag.
“I wish the beast would be a man!”
The werewolf shifted before her, changing instantly. The white fur melted. His bones snapped and popped. Shane lost his grip on the werewolf—a man now—and David curled into a ball on the ground.
David was completely naked and—sobbing?
“You fucking killed him!” David yelled as he tipped back his head and glared at her. “I felt it—you killed my beast!”
The senator had gotten back to his feet. He also had his knife—now pressed over his daughter’s heart.
“Lost it,” David muttered as he rocked back and forth. “Lost my beast, lost my beast!”
Shane, bleeding but still standing, crossed to Olivia’s side. He tore the ropes away from her raw wrists even as he kept his glare on David. “Guess that means you aren’t an alpha any longer.”
Shane was looking at the wrong threat. “I wish you’d let her go,” Olivia said to Donald.