Taming the Fire (28 page)

I don't know either, honey
.

He closed the door behind him with a definitive click and he threw the keys to the middle of the room, outside the cage. If Rik killed him and remained in wolf form, she wouldn't be able to escape. If she changed back, someone would be in to check on her soon anyway.

“I'm here, Rik. I know you're pissed, that you want to hurt me. I'm strong as hell and I don't know for sure who'll win this one, but I owe you this.”

He swore the wolf smiled as it began to move—within seconds they were circling each other until, without warning, the wolf leaped gracefully into the air and pounced on him, knocking him to the ground.

He fought as best he could, attempted to throw her off him, to grab her jaws and lock them, and for a minute he gained the upper hand—until her strong claws raked down his chest and he let loose his own howl of pain.

T
HE BEAST REVELED
in the sound of Trance's pain. The tang of blood was in the air. Victory—and revenge—was so close. She slammed her paws into his shoulders and held him down with her weight. Their gazes locked. In his eyes, she saw death. He knew she would kill him.

There was no fear. Just acceptance. Snarling, she dove for his throat.

No!
Awareness broke into Rik's mind, into the dark place inside the beast's body where the human hid while the animal was in control. This couldn't happen. Ulrika hated Trance, but she couldn't allow him to die.

With every ounce of mental strength she had, she screamed at the wolf. She yanked its head aside so its jaws snapped closed on empty air next to Trance's neck. An inch to the left and he'd have been missing his jugular.

She threw herself to the side, knocking the beast off balance. It howled its anger even as Rik clawed her way back. The beast fought for a long time, and she became aware that their body—half beast half human—was writhing in the corner, neither willing to give in to the other.

Distantly, she heard voices, the cage door opening, Trance's angry voice, Kira's soothing one.

Rik didn't know how long she battled for control, but when it was over, she was lying naked on the cold floor, quivering with exhaustion, and Trance was sitting inside the cage, propped against the door, naked from the waist up. His chest had been bandaged.

Rik nearly choked out an apology, but then the reason she was here in the first place came roaring back, and she just closed her eyes and tried to pretend none of this was happening.

“Go away.” Her voice was shredded, as if she'd been screaming for hours. Inside, she supposed she had. “You did your job. I'm human again.”

Silence stretched. “I was going to tell you,” he said finally. “Before Ryan busted into the basement. I was going to explain everything.”

“Is your conscience eased now? Is everything all better because
you planned to
do the right thing?” She sat up and reached for a blanket that had been placed near her. “Go to hell.”

“I know this is hard to believe, but we're here to help you.”

“What part of
go to hell
didn't you understand? No doubt you're used to hearing it.”

One corner of his mouth turned up—just barely, and just for a second. “We're here to help you,” he repeated, wincing when he shifted. “You were a danger to yourself and others while you were loose. And Itor had a price on your head.”

“I'm aware of that,” she snapped.

He shook his head. “I don't think you know the half of it. They put the word out—five million euros for anyone who brought them your body.”

Her stomach rolled. She hadn't known. “Why doesn't ACRO want me dead? Why help me? I've killed ACRO operatives.” Not a wise thing to say, no doubt, but the elephant was in the room, so she might as well acknowledge it.

“You did what you had to do.”

“So that makes it okay? Is that how you justify lying to me? Shocking me? Drugging me? Shoving me in a crate?”

“Yeah.”

She'd have laughed if her throat didn't hurt so much. “I actually liked you. I trusted you.” She ran her fingers over the satin edge of the blanket she'd pulled up to cover her breasts, and wished she hadn't admitted that fun tidbit of information.

“You need to trust me now.”

“Are you kidding me?” she asked, incredulous.

His eyes gleamed with intensity, because he was dead serious, and as he moved toward her on his hands and knees, shoulders rolling like a giant, stalking cat, she felt his sincerity in a wave of heat.

“We want to help,” he said, crouching in front of her. “We're going to help you control the beast, and we're going to get that collar off you.”

It sounded good. Too good. “And after that will come the poking and prodding and cutting me open to see how I work.”

He took her hand, and when she tried to jerk it away, he held tighter. “I'm not going to lie to you—”

“Well, that would be a change of pace,” she snapped, but he ignored her.

“ACRO will want to study you. But they aren't going to cut you open or subject you to torture. You'll be informed of every step, and if you're uncomfortable with anything, they'll stop.”

“Why?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “If you expect me to believe ACRO is full of humanitarian intentions and is doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, you're delusional.”

“We're in this for the big picture,” he admitted. “We want you on our side, and we won't earn your loyalty by hurting you. That's how ACRO works. They'll use the hell out of you to get the job done, but they'll take care of you too.”

She became aware of his thumb stroking her fingers, of her blanket having slipped down to her waist when she wasn't paying attention. She knew Trance had noticed too, because his eyes flickered down, and when they met hers again, they'd darkened.

She didn't bother covering up. He'd seen—and touched—every inch of her. Besides, let him look. He wouldn't be doing anything more than looking, ever again.

“They can really get the collar off?” Her voice was husky and low, everything she didn't want it to be. “Without killing me? There's a bomb in it…”

“We have the world's best explosives experts here,” he said, and she was happy to note that his voice had gone just as deep and morning-rough. “We've also got top-notch electronic technicians, and people with other skills who might be able to help.” He pulled his hand away and tugged up the blanket to cover her. “There's an ordnance guy and an el-tech outside the door right now. They want to inspect the collar. Will you let them?”

The beast, which had been sitting on a slow simmer while Trance touched her, went berserk, and Ulrika hissed a breath between her teeth, trying to keep it from coming out.

“Rik? Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she ground out. “Just… give me a minute.” She took long, deep breaths, kept telling herself—and the wolf—that the men coming in would be here to help, not hurt.

They'll find a way to take off the collar
.

Slowly, gradually, the sensation of claws digging at the inside of her skin faded, and she nodded. “Let them in.”

He stood. “Do you want me to stay?”

“Yes,” she whispered. How could she hate him as much as she did and yet want him to stand by her side? And why did she want to trust him again?

Maybe it was because even though he'd lied to her from the very beginning, he hadn't truly hurt her. If what he was telling her about ACRO was true, then he'd saved her life by getting her away from Itor. Maybe they would give her a shot at a new life.

The door opened, and inside, the beast growled.

Then again, maybe they'd only prolonged the inevitable, because she didn't think she'd ever gain control of her animal half, and someone would eventually be forced to put her down.

T
RANCE WATCHED
as the men from the bomb squad cautiously approached the cage. Rik bristled beside him, but she remained in place, actually let him put a hand over hers.

He shifted and winced, and immediately her attention diverted to him. “You're hurt, Trance. Do you need a doctor?”

He shook his head. “I'll heal fast. These are just… deep.”

She nodded and looked up at the men. “You can come in and look at the collar.”

“Trance, we'd like you to step out,” the man Trance knew as Lucas said as he unlocked the cage.

“I'm not going anywhere. Dev promised this part wouldn't be dangerous.” Trance sat up, daring them to say another fucking word.

“It's not, it's not.” Lucas held up his hands in surrender and he and the other man, name tag reading
BRETT
, headed toward Rik.

“It's okay,” Trance told Rik for the thousandth time. She didn't believe him—or any of them—and right now he couldn't damn well blame her.

Neither Lucas nor Brett actually touched Rik—instead, they peered at the collar and shined their penlights onto it. After a moment, they dug various machines out of their bags and used them for measurements, X-rays and a bunch of other crap Trance could care less about.

“How many fingers can you fit between the collar and your skin?” Lucas asked finally. Rik obliged by pushing two thin fingers under the collar and yanking it as far as she could away from her neck.

A look passed between Lucas and Brett, and Trance knew there was no way to get the collar off—not by them anyway. They'd have to resort to plan B, which was something Devlin was working on right now. But the operative who would be involved in that plan would not agree easily, if at all, and with good reason.

“They can't do it,” Rik whispered.

“We're sorry,” Lucas told her. “Anything we try puts you—and us—at too much risk.”

“Could you jam the signal at least?” Trance asked.

“The way this thing is built, it would have to be unlocked.” Lucas shook his head. “It's a damned fine piece of machinery too.”

Trance swore he heard a wolf's snarl, and he couldn't blame Rik for reacting. He wanted to shove his fist down the man's throat and collar him—and not in the good Dom way either.

“Get the fuck out now,” he told the men. “And keep your observations to yourself.”

“You know as well as I do that we need to study that collar if we're going to keep up with Itor's technology. If it comes off, we want it,” Lucas said.

Trance surged to his feet, ignoring the ripping pain in his chest. He stood toe-to-toe with the man. “You're either really brave or really fucking stupid, or both. This isn't something you talk about when a woman's life is on the line—she's my first concern.”

Rik stared up at him. “It's never going to happen. I resigned myself to that a long time ago. But maybe if I stay here, I can be safe.”

“You mean here, in this cage?” Trance looked around. “That's no life for you, Rik.”

Her voice shook when she asked, “Why do you care so much?”

He could spill his guts, tell her how she'd touched him—helped him. Instead, he said, “It's my job.”

She didn't say anything after that, just stared at her hands blankly.

“There's someone else who could help you get the collar off,” he said finally, when the silence had become deafening.

“If your best people couldn't do it—”

“Those were our best tech people. But we have other resources.” He knelt on the floor next to her. “I'm going to find a way to get that collar off of you. That's been ACRO's goal from the start. But I'm going to have to leave you here for a while—and then I'll bring back someone who can help.”

She looked up at him, her amber eyes liquid. “Hurry, Trance. I don't know how much longer I can stand this.”

“Don't do anything stupid, Rik—please.”

She gave him a wry smile. “I couldn't detonate this myself, even if I wanted to.”

Ryan had every intention of staying away from Coco, but as he walked past guest quarters on the way to Medical… well, all his good intentions flew the coop.

The guest quarters were set up like military billeting—basically, a casual hotel. Except the front desk personnel at this hotel carried weapons—either on their person, or their person
was
a weapon.

He got Coco's room number from the front desk guy, and then had to take a couple of deep, calming breaths before he knocked on her door. He had no idea why he was so nervous, except that he knew somehow she was still a key player in his past. Yes, he remembered most of it, but there were some holes. And she was a big one.