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The vampire’s hand began to shake, and the gun swiveled.

“No. Please.”

His begging fell on deaf ears. She remembered how it felt to have that gun pressed against her head.

The barrel bumped against his temple. A gunshot thundered in the enclosed space, blood sprayed, and the male fell to the ground.

Footsteps raced down the corridor.

More of them. They came for her.

Their thoughts invaded her conscience, disgusting and violent. A swirling vortex of evil scraped the inside of her skull. Stronger now, drawing closer.Too much.

Pain ripped down her spine. She grabbed her head.Can’t control it. Have to stop.Please make it stop!

She threw out her hands, and the footsteps faltered.

Pressure built at her center, swelling against her ribs. It exploded through her nerve endings.

Screams of agony splintered her mind. She covered her ears and fell to her knees.

Silence.

Her chest rattled with a sob, and her hands dropped into her lap. Hot tears tracked down her cheeks. The voices, those horrible voices were gone.

She turned to the motionless rogue. Her arms trembled, and she crawled to his side. It was safe to do so now. He was sedated. His blood-red eyes followed her movements, wary and burning with rage.

Her jaw clenched. Thisthing… He’d taken the man she loved. And yet they remained connected.

She laid her hand on his chest. His pulse hammered against her palm, matching the rhythm beneath her own ribs. Two hearts beating together.

He curled his lip in warning, baring enormous fangs. His emotions washed over her, dark, bitter—tainted. Still, something familiar in the connection soothed her, calmed the turmoil within. This male, he’d changed her. Ended her life only to wrench her back from the edge of oblivion.

Because of the rogue, her sire, Alex understood why the underworld feared the faeries. Why they’d slaughtered them, controlled them. Understood why the Council made it a crime for vampires to change one such as her. Because those who survived woke stronger. The transition had heightened her senses.

All of them.

She could feel her gift consuming her just as the madness consumed him. They were the same, she and the rogue, both crazed and spinning out of control. Both dangerous.

Perhaps one of them could still be saved.

She leaned in close and placed her hands on either side of his head. He thrashed at her touch, recoiling.

“He is mine,” she snarled. “I won’t let you take him from me. I can sense him buried deep inside of you.” She tightened her grip. This monster had taken Jericho from her.

Alex was getting him back.

* * *

Liam racedthrough the corridor of the decaying warehouse. Colin and Slade followed in his tracks. Musty air and mold filled his lungs with each labored breath. The wounds in his chest pulled beneath the strain. No time to waste. He’d have to check the damage later. The bastards had already tried to leave him behind once.

Thanks to Doc Randall, they’d almost succeeded, except Liam had other plans.

He smiled at the image of the good doctor lying on the floor with a syringe sticking out of his ass.Come at me with a sedative, will yah?Doc should have known better than to stand in his way. When Liam heard Jericho and Alex had been taken, nothing was going to keep him in that bed.

Liam paused before the next hallway.

“You sure this is the place?” Colin’s loud whisper boomed in the narrow space.