The siren and his brother had burned.
He’d risen.
“And you’re sure . . . absolutely sure . . . that I’m—”
“I know what you are. If the werewolf could manage more than one word at a time, he’d tell you, too.”
She looked shattered. “My mother . . . ?”
“Sirens don’t usually bear children with nonparanormals. They find humans too”—How to put this?—“weak for breeding.”
Cassie flinched. “Uh, did you just say breeding?”
“Your father experimented on you. I suspect he experimented on himself, as well. He could have changed his body enough to fool her, but once she found out the truth . . .” The siren would have left him.
A siren’s prey wouldn’t have allowed that. Without her, Cassie’s father would have gone insane.
Maybe he had.
“He killed her.” Cassie’s voice was whisper-soft.
Dante wanted to kiss Cassie again. She looked so lost, so hurt. But she needed the truth.
He would give her that from now on. “I think he did.”
Her lips trembled. “If I were truly a siren, wouldn’t I have used my power on you before?” Pain pushed through her words. “When you came back to me, when you rose, wouldn’t I have made you remember me?”
Not if she hadn’t realized her power. “The next time I rise, just kiss me.”
She shook her head. “Through the fire? Yeah, right. I’ll just go through the flames and put my mouth on yours.”
“You might be surprised at what happens when you put that sexy mouth of yours against mine.”
She opened her mouth to speak—
And he kissed her. Dante had to kiss her. She was so close, and though she didn’t realize it, everything about her was pulling him in. Making him want, making him need, and driving him to the very edge of control.
His hand rose, sank into her thick hair, and he brought his lips down on hers. Her mouth was open, so he pushed his tongue inside, tasting all of the sweetness that waited for him.
Luring me in.
Her taste was addictive. She was addictive. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to let her go. He wanted her naked. Wanted in her.
And what a phoenix wanted . . .
A moan built in her throat. The sound was sexy, driving up the heat of his arousal.
She can handle my fire.
The phoenix didn’t want to consume her. He just . . . wanted her.
He rose from the table. Still kissing her. Then he was stripping her. Shoving down her jeans. Tossing away her shirt.
“Dante?”
She stared up at him, need bright in her green eyes. Her cheeks were flushed. Her lips red from his mouth.
He kissed her again.
He couldn’t stop.
Couldn’t.
He put her on the table. Licked her breast and loved the way she gasped his name. He should go slow with her.
Slow wasn’t an option for him.
He pushed between her legs. Found her wet, hot. His fingers thrust into her. Withdrew. Thrust. Even as he kept licking her tight little ni**les. So sweet.
She arched up against him, damn near jumping off that table. “Want . . . you!”
And there it was. That hard push of power in her voice. The siren’s call that she didn’t even realize she’d given.
Lust exploded through him, burning hot and wild, and nothing—no f**king thing—could have made him leave her then.
His siren called.
He answered.
Dante thrust deep into her. He withdrew, then angled his body so that each drive into her took him over the sensitive core of her flesh.
Her nails sank into his shoulders, and he loved that bite of pain.
“You feel so good,” she whispered.
She felt like the best dream he’d ever had.
And her voice . . . sex and pleasure . . . temptation. Lust.
Her voice drove him on as she whispered his name.
She was coming. He felt the ripples of her release around him and couldn’t hold back any longer. He exploded within her, the fire burning inside him but never—never—touching her.
The phoenix couldn’t hurt the one he wanted as a mate.
Nothing could hurt Cassie.
He held her tight, his mouth against her neck, his arms locked around her, as the release pumped through him.
He wanted to keep her there, right in his arms.
He would be keeping Cassie. Could almost understand his brother’s obsession.
Almost.
Would he kill for her?
Yes.
In an instant.
He’d kill to protect her. He’d destroy anyone who sought to hurt her.
Her fingers were on his back, sliding over his skin in the softest of caresses. Her heartbeat drummed at a frantic rate—he could feel the wild thunder—and her breath panted out softly.
“I used to wonder . . . what it would be like with you,” Cassie whispered.
Dante forced his head to lift. His gaze held hers.
“It’s better than I thought.” Her smile was so wide and beautiful.
He stared at her a moment, feeling lost.
Was it her siren’s song? Was she still pushing power through her words?
No, he realized. It was just . . . Cassie.
Her hands kept caressing his back. “You always feel so warm.”
The fire always burned within him.
Her gaze held his. “Should I ever worry about your flames?”
No, not her.
But before he could speak, a loud alarm pierced the air, echoing around them.
“Not again!” Cassie cried.
Yes, f**king again. But at least he’d had her before more chaos came calling.
Adrenaline flooded through Dante as he carefully pulled away from Cassie. Who had found them—or who was being attacked this time?
Cassie yanked on her clothes and rushed toward a series of monitors. She tapped on a keyboard and the images on those screens sharpened.
Dante stared at the image of a tall, muscled man. A man who had his arms wrapped round the shoulders of a dark-haired woman. Dante had never seen the man before, but, as he stared at that screen, tension gripped him. An instinctive, battle-ready edge that could only mean one thing.
Another of my kind.
“They’re here early,” Cassie said as she frowned at the screen. “I didn’t expect Cain and Eve to arrive until—” Her words ended in a startled gasp as Dante picked her up and carried her toward the small supply closet.
“Dante? Dante, what the hell are you doing? Put me down!”
Red began to coat his vision.
Another phoenix, a male, near his siren.
No.
He put her down—inside the closet. She stared at him with disbelief in her green eyes, looking for all the world like she thought he’d just gone insane.