Hector gulped, struggled in his chair, but all he managed to do was shake Noelle around, and he stilled. Sweat beaded on his forehead. He could guess where this was headed.
“Here’s what is going to happen,” Phillips said. “I’ll ask a question. One of you will answer. When you don’t, I will inject Agent Dean straight in the heart. And just so you know how serious I am, he’ll get his first injection now.”
“Don’t you dare,” Noelle growled in her first true surge of emotion. A potent mix of rage and fear Hector knew intimately.
“Oh, I’ll dare.”
Hector tried to scoot out of the way, and Noelle tried to shove him out of the way, but even with their joint efforts, Phillips reached between them and slammed the needle deep in his chest without any problems.
Instantly, Hector’s blood heated and his heartbeat quickened. Tingles erupted in his shoulders and flowed down his arms, catching in his fingertips. A slight glow seeped through his pores, causing his fresh tattoos to crackle. All over, sweat began to pour from him.
“Fascinating,” Phillips said, watching him closely.
Noelle didn’t seem to notice. But then, her pain receptors were fried, so she wouldn’t know if she were nearing decapitation.
Fear and more of the horror blended inside him, the adrenaline or whatever it was cranking them up, magnifying both until he could barely breathe. Shit, shit, shit! Concentrate. Protect Noelle. Must protect Noelle.
Dallas had said it was all about restraint. Mind over mind. Mind over f**king matter.
“You were about to tell me how you knew where my otherworlders were being kept,” Phillips stated calmly.
Both guards flanked his side, glaring down at Hector. His skin itched, heated another degree. He closed his eyes. Calm. “Lucky guess, that’s all.” Keep the focus on himself, away from Noelle.
“Another injection already?” Phillips grinned, held out his hand. “Very well.”
“Anonymous source,” Noelle rushed out. “And no, we don’t know who it is.”
Truth mixed with a lie. Smart. How would Dare react? Hector looked the white-haired Arcadian over first, not wanting to be obvious, then Dare. Still glaring, no hint of fear. All the while, sweat continued to pour off Hector, his heart a maddened fist in his chest.
“Sorry, but you’ll have to do better than that.” Phillips curled his fingers around a new syringe but didn’t use it. Yet. “AIR is a well-oiled machine. Inquiries would have been made. Calls and emails would have been traced. Anonymous would not have remained a mystery for long.”
Silence. He and Noelle stared at each other, worried, unsure. So far, Hector had things under control. But—
“All right. You only have yourself to blame for this,” Phillips said. A second needle jabbed into Hector’s heart.
The flood of heat was instant, the organ hammering against his ribs so hard the beat soon became warped. His horror intensified. His fear intensified. The itching and burning in his arms intensified. The glow in his shoulders and forearms intensified.
Smoke curled from his skin, thickening with every second that passed.
No. No! Air hissed through his teeth. Couldn’t burn Noelle. Must remain calm.
“Hector,” Noelle said, her tone gentle. “Look at me. I’m fine. I’m fine.”
He couldn’t hurt her. He couldn’t. He would rather die. Mind over matter. MIND OVER MATTER.
The glow continued to brighten … brighten.
“I’m fine,” she insisted.
“And I want a name,” Phillips said smoothly.
Both voices were a blur of noise inside Hector’s head. Mind over matter. He chanted the phrase over and over. He would not hurt Noelle. She was his love, his life. HE WOULD NOT HURT HER.
Every muscle he possessed bunched and strained. He would not hurt her. He would not f**king hurt her. More sweat poured from him, little rivers all over his body. Okay, okay. So he couldn’t control his emotions or his body’s reactions. But maybe he could move them. He attempted to channel all the heat into his chest, away from Noelle, imagining sucking it there like a vacuum.
To his amazement, the itching in his arms just … stopped. The heat even muted. His chest was a different story. The itching and the heating erupted there.
Noelle blinked in astonishment. She felt it, then; it wasn’t just his imagination. She felt the ease from fire pit to over-warm bath.
Hector kept sucking on the heat, letting it pool around his heart, burning and crackling there. I can do this, he realized. And if he could redirect the burn …
Phillips said something else. When there was no reply, he held out his hand for another syringe. Frowning, saying something else, he slammed that third syringe home.
Hector released an animalistic roar—and channeled the heat into the needle, into the hand holding it. Shoving, shoving desperately, pushing every ember out of him, holding nothing inside.
Whether the act would work, he didn’t—
Phillips released his own roar as the plastic syringe instantly melded to his hand. Eyes wide with pain, rasping shallowly, trembling, he stumbled away, fell to his ass. He issued commands, or tried to, his words jumbled. His guards scrambled to him, trying to help him rather than ensuring the captives remained in place.
A new tidal wave of adrenaline filled Hector. His sweating increased yet again, and so did the burn. But so did his strength. A side effect Phillips probably hadn’t considered. As he drew the heat into his chest, he gritted his teeth and ripped at the thick adhesive holding him to Noelle. Weakened from the extreme temperatures, the tape split apart, and suddenly Hector was free.
He allowed himself a brief look at Noelle’s neck—red, blistered, but otherwise fine—before he shoved the guards out of the way and leapt on top of Phillips, grabbing him by the neck. Hector released the mental bonds on the fury and the heat, and his arms lit up, two inextinguishable bonfires.
Phillips struggled against him, mouth flailing open and closed, eyes tearing—until his head detached from his body. Both his head and his body erupted into flames a second later. Burning … burning …
Dare punted Hector in the side, trying to force him off the bastard, but it was too late. Satisfaction washed through Hector. Phillips would never abduct or sell another female, and Noelle would be safe now. Even from him. Hector hadn’t hurt her, even while jacked up on emotion. Even with his hands shackled around her neck.
Suddenly the side door burst open and armed AIR agents flooded inside. People were shouting commands, but Hector still couldn’t make out individual words.