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Hunter almost shivered from her deep, scratchy voice, as though her throat became raw from screaming and never healed.

“Angel, you need to breathe. Listen to my breathing… in and out. In and out.”

Hunter met her eyes and all his instincts screamed that his attraction, his need for her shouldn’t have existed. He couldn’t help think all he understood about immortals was wrong. But he couldn’t concentrate on that, he needed her to calm down first.

After several minutes, her breathing evened out and Hunter felt the tension in his chest relax. She glanced up at that moment and he became captivated by her beautiful silver gaze.

He pushed his words out of his tight throat. “Are you okay?”

She nodded but he could see she was shaking.

Unable to refuse her comfort, he ran his fingers through her long, loose strands. Hunter thought she was beautiful; flawless skin, clear silver eyes, curvy body he wanted to explore for hours, and he craved her addictive scent. While he recognized it as part shifter, there was also something sweeter, and not all vampire.

She allowed his perusal as she performed her own over his uniform, the exposed skin on his neck, up his face and into his eyes.

“You don’t have to fear me. You’re safe.” Hunter reiterated his promise and cupped her face.

Hunter’s vision blackened around the edges and a second later, he plunged into a darkness. He didn’t understand when he heard her quiet voice.

“I’m not so sure about that.”

The next minute, Hunter sensed his surroundings changed. He blinked his eyes, getting used to the darkness after the bright, blinding light of the snow. He still found himself on his knees and as he moved his fingers searching for the woman who had been right in front of him, he found she wasn’t there any longer.

Hunter closed his eyes and listened to his surroundings.

There was a low hum from a computer fan somewhere in the room and there was breathing, deep, as if the person was asleep. Before he could investigate further, a desk lamp clicked on and his eyes moved toward the arrogant looking man seated, cross-legged, on an uncomfortable metal chair. He had a smug look on his face and Hunter wanted to break his face.

Hunter pulled his gaze from the man and took a quick glance around and to him, something about it seemed familiar. The sterile coldness, the clear glass that looked out into the hall, the white formica tiles on the floor. Sterile and clean. The place gave him the creeps.

When he turned his gaze to the man in the lab coat, his gaze wasn’t on Hunter but on a woman laying on the exam table he hadn’t seen until that moment.

Hunter took a deep breath, trying to examine the scents in the room and looking for a familiar one, but there was nothing. He should have scented the sterile environment, the blue liquid on the counter along with wooden sticks and cotton balls, but there was nothing.

He growled in frustration but neither the older gray-haired doctor, nor the woman strapped down with her mouth covered to muffle sound, reacted to the sound escaping from his throat.

Without another thought, he lunged for the doctor but he passed through the figure.

Okay, I’m not here. Can’t scent, can’t touch.

Hunter turned toward the table and sucked in a deep breath as the familiar features of the woman in the mountains came into focus. Her face looked gaunt, but it was the dark brown hair and matching eyes that took him by surprise because she looked familiar. Her body looked starved and despite the bruising on her limbs and the dark circles under her eyes; she looked back at the doctor in defiance.

Hunter jolted when the man spoke.

“So, Nerissa… it appears you’re an utter failure as a shifter.” His eyes glanced down as if he were ashamed by her lack of abilities. “But you are a prime candidate for an experimental drug my colleagues and I have been working on.”

Her gaze narrowed as he continued to speak and he noted her body shook with the continuous growl that emitted from her throat.

“You had such promise. Oh, well.”

As if waiting for that statement, a nurse walked in and handed a syringe to the man. “Here you go, Dr. Stevens.”

There was something about her tone that set Hunter’s teeth on edge. He noted her long dark brown hair braided down her back, almost reaching her butt and olive skin that didn’t look healthy. But when he looked into her eyes, he shivered at the anger directed at Nerissa on the table.

His gaze moved toward the syringe and he felt his heart stop. The liquid was silvery, like liquid mercury mixed with a milky white substance he was familiar with. Again, Hunter darted forward and tried to slap the syringe out of his hand and roared when his hand passed through without resistance.

Hunter froze in fear, something he hadn’t felt in years, maybe never, as it rushed through him and he turned to see Nerissa struggle with all her effort to break the restraints.

“No. No. No, no, no, no.”