Burn For Me (Phoenix Fire #1)(103)

“She’s gonna live,” one of the guards muttered. “I thought he was supposed to kill her.”

He could be more than a killer. She could be more than a victim. Blood soaked his clothes. The power he’d gotten from her rich blood was gone, stolen away by a hail of bullets.

“He did kill her,” Wyatt’s voice was flat. “We just have to wait for her to die.”

No! “Can … help …” Ryder was almost to her side.

“Chain him,” Wyatt ordered. “He’s too weak to fight you. Chain the vampire and let him watch.”

Their arms grabbed him. Jerked him away from her. But he wasn’t as weak as they thought, not even with the bullets lodged in his organs. Ryder fought then, clawing and snapping with his fangs. Half a dozen guards had to jump on him and yank him back to the far wall. Then they locked thick chains around his wrists, trapping him. The guards hurried back as soon as those locks snapped in place. They were bloody—from the wounds he’d given them.

When they moved away, he saw her again. Her chest was struggling to rise. Her eyes were still open.

“Don’t … do this,” he growled as he strained to break free.

Wyatt walked around her, staring down at Sabine as she sprawled on the floor. “Why do you even care? Shouldn’t she just be food to you?”

Ryder didn’t speak. He wouldn’t tell the bastard anything about himself.

“I think one of the bullets must have ripped into your heart.” Wyatt didn’t sound particularly concerned. “You’re bleeding far too much. Hmmm … I should have considered … will that wound to the heart kill you?”

No. It wouldn’t. Ryder was healing already.

“I didn’t intend for them to shoot you in the heart.” Wyatt frowned at the guards. “Errors like that cannot be tolerated here.”

The guy was f*cking psycho.

A bullet to the heart wasn’t normally an error. It was murder.

“You’re just … gonna watch … her die?” Ryder yanked at the chains and didn’t care when they cut into his wrists. He’d heal. He always healed.

She won’t.

“Yes.” Wyatt nodded and offered an almost absent smile. “Yes, I am.”

Her eyes were on Ryder—her eyes …

He saw the life leave them. Actually saw a veil of nothing sweep into her stare. “No!” He yanked at the chains, twisting his hands, breaking his wrists as he fought to get free. He smashed his fingers as he tried to jerk his hand through the ring that bound his wrist. He didn’t feel the pain as he struggled.

Dead.

“Exit,” Wyatt snapped. “Now.”

The guards started hauling ass. They were leaving her like that? Just sprawled on the floor like a broken doll?

Maybe there was still time. His right wrist shattered. Maybe.

“If I were you, I wouldn’t move,” Wyatt advised Ryder with a quick frown as he paused by the door. “This is her first change. I have no idea how powerful it will be.”

Ryder didn’t understand the bastard. He was moving, all right. Won’t give up. Won’t—

The door slammed shut behind Wyatt and his men. And … the scent of smoke teased Ryder’s nose.

What the hell?

His gaze snapped back to Sabine. Her eyes were still open, only her eyes weren’t dark brown any longer. The brown was changing, turning to a gold; then they seemed to burn red.

Red like fire.

The scent of smoke deepened around him. Ryder pulled his broken right hand free. The other—

Her body began to burn.

He yelled then, roaring her name, but the fire didn’t stop. It blazed hotter, higher, and swept over Sabine’s slender form. The white-hot heat from the blaze rushed over his skin, almost singeing him. Sprinklers erupted with a powerful spray from overhead, and the water drenched him, but did nothing to stop the blaze that consumed Sabine.

His breath heaved out. Ryder stopped fighting for his freedom. There was nothing to be done. No one could come back from those flames.

So there was nothing for him to do in the end but watch the fire burn, to hate himself for the monster that he was, and to wish that Sabine Acadia had never had the misfortune to walk into his prison.

As he watched, something began to move within those flames. She moved, and Ryder realized that Wyatt’s experiments were just getting started.

Even though she’d died right in front of him, even though Sabine was burning, it sure looked like she was trying to rise from the fire.




Cassie shoved her way through the crowd, muttering apologies as she bumped into various paranormal beings—and humans—who filled Taboo. Since the paranormals had stopped pretending they didn’t exist—and gotten wild with their coming-out party—clubs like Taboo had popped up in all the major cities in the U.S. and around the world.

Dante stood against the back wall. The vampire, a woman with long red hair and a way too short skirt, had her hands all over him. Bloodred nails, of course. Typical. The redhead was arching up on her toes and putting her mouth close to Dante’s neck.

“Okay. You’re just going to need to get away from him,” Cassie snapped as she closed in on them.

The vampire froze.

Dante tilted his head to the side and glanced curiously over at Cassie. Was there any recognition in his dark gaze?