Burn For Me (Phoenix Fire #1)(3)

What were the bastards thinking? Sending in a little morsel like her. Didn’t they know what he could do to her? What he wanted to do? After all these months …

Maybe they’d wanted to tempt him. He pulled on the chains, testing their strength. They weren’t made of any metal he’d ever come across. Reinforced with who the hell knew what. The Genesis pricks thought they were so smart with their inventions. “Supernatural-proof” as that ass Wyatt had gloatingly told him when he’d asked about the chains.

The chains wouldn’t hold him forever. This prison would end. Their nightmare would begin.

Soon.

The door of his cell opened. He caught a glimpse of her—Eve—as she glanced back at him. Her blue eyes were wide, afraid. She should be afraid. She should run as fast as she could from this place. Before it was too late for her.

It was already too late for the others. He’d marked them for death. Especially that bastard Wyatt. The doctor got off on torture.

How will you like it when you’re the one screaming, Wyatt? Will it be so much fun then?

The guard stepped inside. He smelled of sweat and cigarettes. The door closed behind him. No more Eve.

But Cain could hear her footsteps. Hers and Wyatt’s. His senses were far more acute than he’d let on. Why give the enemy any advantage?

Why give them any f*cking thing at all?

The guard, a stocky bastard with shifty eyes and a definite taste for torture, had his weapon out. Cain’s jaw locked. He knew what the gun meant. This time, they were going to try old-fashioned bullets.

Would they take a heart shot? Or a head? Maybe the guard would shoot him right between the eyes and blow his brains out.

“What are you doing?” Eve’s voice. Drifting lightly to his ears like a whisper. They thought they’d soundproofed his room.

They were wrong. He couldn’t hear the voices perfectly, but he caught the whispers. Knew so much more than the not-so-good doctor realized.

Cain glanced toward the mirror. He saw right through the reflection and into the room. All it took was a little focus, a slight push of power …

There she was.

Her dark hair was pinned at the base of her neck. Her face—so damn pretty. Glass-sharp cheekbones, red, plump lips that made him think of sin and sheets.

And her eyes … f*cking lethal.

Perhaps one of the few things that could be lethal to him.

“Why does the guard have his gun out?” Eve demanded, and he heard the fear shaking in her words.

He didn’t like the sound of fear in her voice. Didn’t like the smell of it on her, either. When Eve had gotten close to him, she’d been afraid.

Poor Eve. She probably didn’t know who she should fear more … him or Wyatt.

Cain looked at the gun that Barnes held. “Hardly seems fair,” Cain muttered, “shooting me when I’m chained.”

“You’re gonna let the guard shoot him?” was Eve’s immediate cry.

Ah, she was definitely not like the others. That could be a problem. When hell came calling, and it would be calling soon, he’d have to make sure she didn’t get burned.

Not too much, anyway.

The intercom clicked on. “Proceed with the test,” Wyatt’s annoying drawl ordered as it drifted through the speakers and into Cain’s cell.

Dammit. Cain tightened his muscles. He hated for the woman to watch this, but perhaps she needed to see just what these bastards were capable of doing. She’d signed on for this, so she should understand just how psychotic her boss truly was.

“He can’t proceed—” Eve shouted, her words tumbling through the intercom—

Just as the guard fired.

The bullet drove right into Cain’s side. Tore through flesh and muscle. Blood spattered. Agony had his body shuddering.

But he didn’t make a sound. That was a pleasure he wouldn’t give the sadistic bastard watching.

“Silver bullets can pierce the subject’s flesh,” Wyatt’s cool voice rattled off as if the guy were talking about the weather.

Cain’s hands clenched into fists. The next shot would be to a vital organ. He knew the drill. Wyatt liked to play at first. Torturing SOB—

“Stop!”

Cain glanced up. Eve was pounding on the glass. The mirror was shaking beneath the force of her fists. “Guard, get away from him!” she yelled, the desperate words echoing through the intercom system. “Drop the weapon!”

Not like the others.

Wyatt grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her back. Anger pulsed in Cain’s blood. The doctor shouldn’t be touching her.

“Proceed.” Wyatt’s order.

Eve shrieked and twisted in Wyatt’s arms.

Cain saw her break away from the doctor. She ran for the cell door. Yanked it open.

“Proceed.” Ah, now Wyatt sounded pissed.

Eve was rushing inside. “Get away from him!” she yelled at the guard. “Drop your weapon and just—”

The guard fired.

The bullet drove right into Cain’s heart. He heard the thud as it tunneled into his flesh. Felt the sharp tear as it ripped through his heart. One instant of time. Two.

His gaze met Eve’s. Her eyes—so blue—widened and her lips parted in a scream he didn’t hear.

Too late. Cain was already dead.