He nodded. “Right…” His voice was soft. “I will…let her go…”
And he shoved the knife into his daughter’s chest.
Olivia screamed as Chloe fell to the ground.
“I let her go,” Donald whispered.
Horror froze Olivia. Too late, she remembered that a djinn’s wishes were twisted. What had she been told? That they could turn dreams into nightmares?
She’d just killed Chloe! “I wish she was alive!” The words tumbled from her in a frantic shout. “I wish—”
“Olivia, no!” Shane grabbed her and held tight. “Stop it! He’s pushing you! Manipulating you!”
But Chloe was moving now. Gasping. Shuddering. Alive.
“You are as strong as they say,” Donald murmured, with a flash of his fangs. “How fucking wonderful.”
Another vehicle raced to the scene. A big, black van. The driver’s side opened and Pate leapt out. Connor and Duncan jumped out, too, and they rushed toward the senator.
David kept whimpering on the ground. “Lost my beast, lost…”
“It’s over, senator.” Pate’s voice rang out, strong and clear. “You’re done.”
“Oh? And here I thought I was just getting started…”
Olivia had clamped her lips together. She wanted to make another wish. Wanted it so badly.
But it was a dark wish. Evil.
I shouldn’t wish for a man’s death.
“They’ve been using you, Olivia,” Donald called out as Pate and Connor closed in on him. Duncan stalked toward David. “I told you…the way to control a djinn is through the heart. I would’ve kept your heart safe, but what do you think the vampire will do to it?”
Shane’s arms tightened around her.
“His family is corrupt. They’ve bathed in blood for centuries. Do you know how many innocents your lover slaughtered? He and his family—they’re the reason vampires exist today. The reason so many humans hunt and kill.”
Pate yanked the bloody knife from Donald’s hand. “Guess where you’re going, senator? I’m glad you liked Purgatory so much because it’s going to be your new home.”
Donald didn’t look at him. His eyes were on Olivia. “He didn’t even have to cut out your heart in order to control you. All the vampire had to do was make you love him. You gave him your heart, and he’ll use it. He’ll use your power. You’ll do anything, everything, he wants now, and you’ll be helpless.”
Pate locked his hands around the senator’s shoulder, but Donald jerked away from him.
“They’ve all been using you!” He screamed at Olivia.
She kept her mouth closed. Don’t wish his death…don’t!
“The vampire marked you because he wanted that power for himself! He doesn’t love you, he’s just screwing you for—”
Shane rushed at the senator. He grabbed the man’s shirt. Lifted him high into the air. “You were going to cut out her heart!”
The senator smiled. “One day, I will,” he promised. “I’ll come back. I won’t stop, I’ll have everything—”
“You’ll have nothing.” Then Shane sank his teeth into the senator’s throat. Donald howled and slashed out at Shane with his claws. He punched and twisted, but Shane didn’t let him go.
He kept drinking. Kept taking.
Kept…killing?
“Stop,” Olivia whispered.
Shane instantly stilled.
“Send him to Purgatory,” she said, her voice weak, but determined. Because death would be too easy for that bastard. “Let the prisoners there torture him.” You can see what it’s like to be locked up with them.
Shane dropped the senator to the ground. Donald didn’t move as the blood gushed from his throat. He didn’t move…at first.
Then he started to laugh. The laugh was rough and broken, and evil. “I…made Purgatory. My monsters…planning to attack. They won’t hurt me.” He pushed to his feet. “We’ll be stronger. We’ll never stop! No one will ever stop me—”
“I will,” Chloe said. She was on her feet, too, swaying. She lifted her hands and Olivia saw that her friend had grabbed a gun. A gun that she must have taken from one of the downed guards. “Goodbye, daddy.” She fired the weapon.
The bullet slammed into the senator.
“Silver,” Shane muttered. “Straight to the heart.”
The senator fell then, his face slack with surprise.
Chloe dropped the gun. “He was a monster,” she said, pain heavy in her voice, “long before he became a werewolf.”
Chapter Twelve
“She can’t just run loose out in the world, Shane.” Pate was seated behind his desk, and currently sweating one hell of a lot. “She’s too dangerous.”
Shane leaned forward. He was done with the Para Unit…for now. He had other plans. Other priorities. Priority one was Olivia. But Pate had taken her back into custody, and that shit just wasn’t flying for Shane. “You found the senator’s Intel on her.”
Pate nodded. “Her wishes…she can wreck the world. There is no limit to her power. If she speaks it, it happens. Only her wishes twist up and can hurt thousands. With a djinn, no wish is a simple matter—they are all dark.”
Shane’s eyes narrowed. “Olivia isn’t evil.”
“No, dammit, I know she’s not.” Pate yanked a hand through his hair. “It’s all about her and her emotions. Don’t you see that? If she’s happy, then freaking fantastic—her wishes will come out good and smooth and millions won’t die.” His chair squeaked as he leaned forward. “But if she’s scared…if she’s angry…if someone pisses her off, then her wishes are designed to wreck and punish. It’s the way of the djinn—”
“That’s not Olivia. She’s not evil,” he said again. Olivia was the best thing that had ever happened to him.
“She’s not,” Pate agreed once more, but he paused. Pate swallowed as his eyelids flickered. Then he slowly asked, “But are you?”
Really, the SOB had just gone there?
“Because the senator was right,” Pate said. “You don’t have to cut out her heart to control that woman. I saw the way she looks at you. She’s half in love with you already. And according to the senator’s research, a djinn has to grant the wishes of the person he or she loves. Hell, that’s why Olivia’s father didn’t kill her when she was a kid and he went on that rampage. Her mother wished for Olivia’s safety, for her protection.”
Shane didn’t like where this was going.
“I know what you’ve done,” Pate spoke quietly, the words low and intense. “And I know what you could do. Are you seriously telling me that you trust yourself with her? Can you promise me that you’d never use her?”
His back teeth ground together. “I only want her safe. Happy.”
Pate shoved to his feet. “Right. That’s the damn problem. You want her happy so you wish there would never be a threat to her.” Pate snapped his fingers together. “Boom…your girl just took out all the werewolves in existence.”
Shane rose, slowly.
“Some bitch in a store says something catty to Olivia one day, and you wish the chick would shut her mouth…” Pate snapped his fingers again. “Boom…that woman doesn’t have a mouth. She can never talk.”
“I wouldn’t wish—”
“Donald found some damn shaman who told him that when a djinn mates—truly mates—she doesn’t even have to hear her lover’s wishes. She can feel his emotions. She grants all that he desires.” Pate lifted his hand, his fingers poised to snap once more. “So if—”