Ryder focused on Sabine once more. If he didn’t stop Sabine, there would be no saving anyone. “Pull it back, love,” he told her, deliberately using the words he’d said in his cell in order to jar her memory. “Pull it back.” Then he kissed her again. “Focus on me.” Just like they’d done before. “Breathe,” he told her. “Slow. Deep.” His hand moved to rest over her heart. “Too fast,” Ryder told her. “Breathe. You’re safe with me.”
Her breath whispered out. Her hands weren’t pushing against him now. They were digging into his chest.
“I . . . remember you.”
He wanted to yank her against him and hold tight. “Good because I love you.” He’d tell her forever. Every day for the rest of their lives.
The flames were gone from her eyes. Around them, the fire was dying. “Vampire,” she whispered.
He nodded.
“You . . . bit me.”
He had, several times.
“You . . . love me.”
He would, always.
Another tear leaked from her eye. “I remember you . . .”
The good? The bad?
She smiled then, and it wasn’t the deadly, dangerous smile from moments before. It wasn’t the phoenix smiling. It was the woman, and her smile was beautiful. She was beautiful. “My vampire,” Sabine said.
Hell, yes, he was hers. Always.
Then her body trembled. He caught her in his arms, lifting her up when she would have fallen. Holding her so tightly against his chest. His heart.
Then he saw the others. Keith and—Rhett? Hell, that crazy bastard who’d run into the flames had been Sabine’s brother? If Ryder hadn’t been so busy trying to stop the inferno, he would have recognized the man instantly. But he’d been a bit . . . distracted.
Rhett and Keith had just opened the door of the cage. Vaughn was rushing out at them.
They were going to get bitten. Become primal. He yelled out a warning.
Even as a shot fired out. The blast hit Vaughn in the chest, and he fell to the floor, unconscious.
“It’s safe now,” Cassie’s voice called. “You can carry him out.” She stood in the broken remains of the doorway, a gun in her hands. “I gave him a tranq.”
The wounds on her neck were all but gone.
She’d been at death’s door, but now she was back. Moving. Barking out orders. That sure as hell wasn’t a normal recovery. Not even normal for a vampire, much less a human.
The tears of a phoenix. Had she really made that SOB Dante shed a tear? It sure looked as if she had.
“Rhett?” Sabine’s stunned voice. “I almost killed my brother!”
Ryder kissed her. “You didn’t,” he said fiercely against her mouth. “You didn’t.”
Her lips trembled. “I did . . . kill . . . your brother.”
Ashes to ashes.
“You gave him peace.” The peace he’d sure never found on earth.
The last of his family was gone now.
“I’m sorry,” Sabine said as she hugged him.
He realized then that, no, his family wasn’t gone. His family was right in front of him. In his arms. Sabine was his family. The life he’d wanted for so long.
Keith was sobbing as he hauled out his limp son. The human . . . a human Sabine had known for most of her life.
Ryder glanced back at her lovely face. He could still see the tears on her cheeks.
“Cassie,” Ryder snapped out the other woman’s name.
She rushed to him. One look, and she understood just what he wanted from her. She ran away for a moment, then came back with a small vial clutched in her hand. She reached for Sabine.
Sabine flinched away. “What—”
“Your tears may be able to heal him.” Ryder wouldn’t promise her that Vaughn would survive. Not yet. He didn’t know what Cassie could do with the primal infection, what she could do for any of those who’d been hurt by Genesis. Malcolm had faked his recovery, so they had no proof that the tears would have any effect on the primal.
But perhaps Cassie could do something for them.
Sabine stared into Ryder’s eyes, and another tear slid down her cheek. “I could have lost you. Rhett. Everything.”
Cassie took that tear and hurriedly stepped back.
“You remember,” Ryder whispered.
Her lips rose into a faint smile. “You’re pretty unforgettable.”
The ceiling was groaning. Cracking. The building couldn’t withstand the punishment from the fire. Ryder carried Sabine out of the room. He took the lab coat that Cassie gave to them and covered Sabine’s golden skin. The fire had burned away her clothes.
It had burned away everything.
“Start again with me,” he said. I can do this right. “You have the memories, but this time, I swear, I can make things better.”
Her smile widened as she shook her head.
“Please,” he whispered, when he’d never begged anyone or anything.
“I don’t want to start over.”
They left the ash and blood and smoldering fire behind. Rhett and Keith and Cassie came after them, pulling out Vaughn’s body.
There was no sign of Dante.
Ryder took Sabine outside, where she could breathe the fresh air. Hear the sights and smell the scents of the city she loved so much.
He didn’t know if she was back to being a full phoenix or if part of her remained a vampire. And, really, he didn’t care what she was. He loved her. That was all that mattered.
“What do you want?” he asked her.
Her lips stretched into a smile. “I want to be with you.”
She probably deserved better. No, she damn well deserved better, but he’d kill any man or supernatural who ever tried to take her from him.
So Sabine was pretty much stuck with him.
If she wanted to leave me, could I let her go?
It was a dark thought, and one he didn’t want to examine too deeply. He needed her so much. Too much? Maybe he wasn’t what she—
Sabine’s soft laughter stopped him. “You just faced me and my fire, so why worry now? Don’t you realize, vampire, you’re all that I want? The only man who can get through the flames and get to me?” She pulled his head down toward her. “I want to go where you go. I want to be with you.”
And the only place he wanted to go? Wherever the hell she was.
If she wanted to stay in New Orleans, he’d make the city safe for her. If she wanted to fucking fly to Paris, he’d buy her a jet. He’d do anything for her. Risk anything.
Give anything.
His forehead pressed against hers. “Don’t ever die on me again.” Because he’d wanted to cut out his own heart when her eyes had gone blank.
“If I do,” she whispered, “I’ll come back. I swear, I’ll never leave you.”
He believed her. After all, his Sabine had never lied. She’d also never said . . .
“I love you, Ryder.”
He kissed her.
Then heard the disgruntled, “Hell,” that came from Rhett. “Looks like I’ll have a vamp brother-in-law.”
Yes, he would.
Ryder ignored the human. Rhett had managed to shake off his compulsion, just as Ryder suspected he might do. He’d come back to the city, ready to face any enemies.
Ryder could respect him. But even though he had that respect, he wasn’t about to stop kissing Sabine. Because she was all that mattered.
Fire. Blood. Fury.
Life. Death.
Lust.
Love.
She’d given him the world, and he’d spend the rest of his days laying the whole damn world at her feet.
EPILOGUE
Cassie paced down the narrow corridor. The fluorescent lights barely flickered over her head. She’d made the serum from the phoenix’s tears, and the primal cure had actually worked.
The tears from the phoenix were amazing. She’d been able to inject Vaughn Adams, and, while he hadn’t become human again, he’d managed to lea
sh the beast that had been created within him. He could function once more. Could control his ravenous hunger.
He didn’t have a mouthful of fangs. Actually, he only had two fangs now. Just like any other vampire. His knife-like claws had vanished. His eyes showed sanity, not the delirium of the beast.
And there was enough serum left that she could possibly treat five other primals. If any others were still out there.
The tears had been just what she needed. But a phoenix couldn’t exactly cry on demand. It seemed that only a life-or-death situation could bring forth the tears of a phoenix. The phoenix had to care, had to love.
And had to break before the tears would fall.
Ryder wasn’t about to let his phoenix break again, so Cassie knew there would be no more tears from Sabine. But Sabine had done more than any other before her. She’d shed tears to save Ryder, and the female phoenix must have also cried to save Cassie’s life.
Because Cassie knew that she’d been about to die. She’d felt the cold touch of death sweeping over her. But she’d recovered. Cheated death. All because of a phoenix’s tears.
Thank you, Sabine.
The floor creaked behind her.
Cassie froze.
She should be alone on this level of her lab. She’d been working with a wolf shifter—one who’d been the unfortunate prisoner of Richard Wyatt—but she was making headway with him. He was housed downstairs, but that creak . . .
It came from steps behind me.
Slowly, she turned around. In the shadows at the end of the hall, she could just make out the tall, dark form of a man.
And she could see his eyes. Glowing, burning with flames.
Her heart slammed into her chest.
Those eyes had haunted her memories. Her nightmares.
“Hello, Cassandra,” his deep, rumbling voice seemed to pour over her, “I’ve missed you.”
Then Dante stepped forward, and Cassandra was pretty sure that her world stopped.
He couldn’t have cried for her. Dante didn’t care about anyone. Not anything.
He couldn’t have.
He was coming for her. Stalking slowly out of the shadows. Cassie didn’t know if she should scream or reach for him.
“Cassie?”
Another voice. Coming from the opposite end of the hall. Cassie whirled around and saw Ryder striding toward her. He’d just come up the stairs. A frown pulled down the handsome lines of his face.
Ryder . . . right . . . he’d said that he would stop by to check on the serum’s progress and on the status of the werewolf. Somehow, Ryder knew the wolf. Seemed to actually want to help him, too.
He’s making amends, just like me.
Ryder glanced over Cassie’s shoulder, then he looked back at her. “Is everything all right?”
What? Of course, things weren’t all right. A phoenix was stalking her, he was—
She looked behind her. The hallway was empty. There weren’t even any shadows there. Just a too-bright fluorescent light.
Cassie shivered.
What was happening to her?
He touched her arm, and she flinched. “S-sorry . . .” A phoenix is haunting me. Wherever I go, I feel like he’s with me. She forced her shoulders to straighten. Cassie cleared her throat. “I need to tell Sabine how much I appreciate all that she’s done.”
“Sabine wanted to help Vaughn.”
Because Sabine was a good person. Sabine wanted to help everyone.
And she was doing it all out of the goodness of her heart. Not just because she was trying to erase the black sins from her soul. Not like me.
“She saved me,” Cassie continued, clearing her throat. I imagined Dante. He wasn’t there. I’ve just been working too hard. That was the story of her life. “I was a stranger to her, I—”
Ryder’s tightening expression told her all that she needed to know.
Not Sabine.
“It took Sabine a while to get her control back.” Ryder shook his head. “You . . . you wouldn’t have lasted that long.”
Her lips were numb. Her cheeks. Her hands. “What happened to me?”
“Dante took you from the room.” A muscle flexed along the hard line of his jaw. “Then the next thing I knew, you were rushing back inside and shooting at Vaughn.”
Because she’d woken to the smell of fire. Her throat had still been bleeding. Her fingers rose and traced over the healed skin. She’d heard the screams and she’d rushed into the burning back room.
Sabine had been alive then, the only phoenix she’d seen there. And Dante, he hated her, so why would he have brought her back? Why would he have wasted a single second on her, much less actually shed a tear?
A shiver skated over her. Impossible. The wounds just must not have been as severe as she’d thought. Ryder was mistaken about what he’d seen. Obviously, the guy had been distracted as he focused on saving Sabine. There had been so much fire and smoke. He hadn’t seen clearly.
I dragged myself out of the room. Yes, that’s what happened. Then I got . . . I got stronger when I breathed some fresh air. I was able to go back inside and help the others.
“Why do you look so scared?” Ryder asked her as he tilted his head to study her. “Has someone been threatening you?”
She remembered eyes that burned. “N-no.” Cassie forced a smile. “Everything is fine. The patients are getting better.” The nightmare that was Genesis—it was over.
Dead.
She wouldn’t tell Ryder about Dante. Besides, there was nothing to tell. Just the nightmares that were now haunting her days.
And the dreams that haunted her nights. Dreams of Dante touching her. Calling for her.
She grabbed her stethoscope. “Let’s go check on the wolf.”
Her steps tapped over the tile. Cassie didn’t look back, but she could have sworn that she smelled . . .
Smoke.
And where there was smoke . . .
A phoenix often waited.
Want more?
Look for Cassie and Dante’s story
PLAYING WITH FIRE
Available Fall 2014
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
USA Today bestseller Cynthia Eden is the author of paranormal suspense tales—sensual stories with dark twists. Cynthia has always been intrigued by the supernatural, and she loves to answer “what if” questions in her books. In college, she worked for the school newspaper while she completed her studies in sociology and communication. She freely admits to being a bit of a Lois Lane wannabe. Cynthia lives in the Deep South with her husband and son. She loves to hear from readers, and you can e-mail her at
[email protected]. For more information on Cynthia and her upcoming releases, please visit her website at www.cynthiaeden.com.
BRAVA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2014 Cindy Roussos
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
BRAVA and the B logo are Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-0-7582-8407-5
First Electronic Edition: May 2014
ISBN-13: 978-0-7582-8409-9
ISBN-10: 0-7582-8407-8
Cynthia Eden, Once Bitten, Twice Burned
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