rom her face. The sound was

er voice low and shaking with f

him. He didn't get angry. He laughed. A soft, genuine chuckle that was s

ire and smoke. The NorthCom headquarters in ruins. A man's silhouette, broad-shouldered and tall,

uette...

her. Why would her mortal enemy die for her in

t second, the sleeve of his shirt slid back, revealing a glint of

caught in

as h

She'd lost it during a black market operation in Marrakesh five years ago. She'd searc

ts loss years ago, buried it alongside so many other things she'd never gotten back. But here it was. On him. The implications churned through her m

ges there-the deep gash from the infected creature, the one that had exposed her to the R-type variant. It throbbed with a wet, searing ag

ssion tightened, and he quickly pulled his

shifting, becoming hard and clinical. "Both

f being dragged through the snow. She glanced down and saw that fresh blood was seeping through a makeshift ban

herself against the cold armored door of the SUV. The mo

pair of medical shears from the kit, the

d. It needs to be cut away and cleaned. " He gestured briefly to her abdomen. "I'll deal with the other one after. But if we

eyes wide with disbeli

either you take t

bit out, her cheeks flushi

own head. You're bleeding from two places, and one of them i

ody caging hers completely. His size, his sheer physical presence, was overwhelming

ould feel the heat ra

t that vibrated through her. "My way, or your way.

like pushing against a wall of solid rock. He caught her wrists easily,

n energy. She looked into his eyes-dark, intense, and

er life, but he was also her captor. He was tending to

rapped. P

at the dark, tinted window. She took a deep, shuddering

shame, her trembling fingers found the q

tened echoed in the suffoc

the dim light, she could see his throat move as he