She’d caught Ryder’s attention. “What are you talking about?”

Eve’s mouth tightened, then she said, “The vampires that Wyatt kept locked in that hole, they weren’t . . . normal.”

Cain frowned at her. There was a normal for vampires? Not likely. Supernaturals were abnormal by their very natures.

“Their claws were black, and their fangs . . .” Her hand reached up to Ryder’s mouth.

If that prick nipped her fingers . . .

Eve let her hand fall away before she ever touched Ryder. “It wasn’t just their canines that were sharp. Every tooth was long and curved. They had a mouth full of fangs.”

Ryder stared down at her with wide eyes. After a moment, he shook his head. “That’s not . . . possible.”

“Sure it is,” she said as she glanced back over her shoulder at Cain. “With Wyatt, anything is possible.”

Then she stepped to the side.

Cain sprang forward, but he didn’t drive the stake into Ryder’s heart. He just shoved the tip into the vamp’s chest. Let the bastard know that if Cain had truly wanted . . .

You’d be dead on the ground.

That wasn’t what he wanted . . . yet.

“I knew one of them.” Eve’s voice pulled Cain’s gaze to her.

Ryder yanked the stake from his chest. “Asshole.”

Cain ignored him.

“I remembered him,” Eve said. “His voice, what he said—I remembered him.”

Cain could hardly recall those vampires at all. When he’d fallen into the pit, his spine had broken. Blood had choked him. He’d heard the vampires. Smelled them. Felt them bite into his flesh.

But then he’d burned. When he’d risen, he’d barely seen the vampires at all. They’d just been prey.

Eve looked so pale in the starlight. “He was there when my parents died.”

Cain advanced slowly and touched her shoulder. “Are you sure?” She’d told him that her parents died when she’d just been a child.

A slow nod. “I couldn’t ever forget his face. It’s starred in too many of my nightmares, but . . . his eyes had changed. Gotten bigger. Darker.” She swallowed and Cain saw the small, painful movement of her throat. “And I think he remembered me.”

Well, hell.

He glanced back over at the mountain.

“They’re coming,” Ryder muttered but Cain had already heard the thud of approaching footsteps. Wyatt had sent out his human minions to make sure Cain didn’t make it out of the mountain.

Too bad, ass**le. I’m already free. The guy would have to learn to move faster.

“Time to get some clothes,” Cain said as he turned toward the approaching threat rounding the mountain.

Eve glanced at him, eyes wide.

“I could go for a bite,” Ryder added, voice mild.

Cain nodded—and they attacked.

“We’ve got a wounded man!” Cain called out as he lifted Eve over his shoulder. They’d taken the liberty of borrowing some clothing—perfect camouflage—from the guards who didn’t need the uniforms anymore. They were unconscious and would be for a long time to come. It wasn’t like they’d miss the clothes.

“Hurry up!” Ryder snapped. He kept his head down. Anyone looking at him would see only the green uniform he wore and his issued weapon.

Eve’s head was covered by one of the hats that a guard had been wearing. She’d slipped the uniform over her own clothing, helping the loose outfit fit a bit better. But since she was the one playing injured, the guards wouldn’t get much of a look at her.

Not before they were taken out.

The guards near the building’s entrance rushed toward them. “Need a medic,” one said into his mike. “We need—”

Cain knocked him out with one punch.

Ryder’s fangs flashed as he took care of the other man.

Too easy.

Cain lowered Eve to her feet. She cut her eyes toward him, not saying a word.

Wyatt would never expect them to storm right back after their failed attack last time. And Cain always loved to do the unexpected.

Ryder took the guard’s key card and swiped it across the entrance. The door slid open and he bared his teeth at Cain and Eve. “This is where we part ways.”

Cain had been itching to ditch the vamp.

“Whichever one of us finds Wyatt first,” Ryder said, “well, then that lucky bastard gets the pleasure of gutting him.”

With that, the vampire slipped down the hallway, easing perfectly into the darkness.




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