Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

January 29 th

9:31 P.M.

They were going to die.

Burned alive had to be one of the most horrific ways to go.

Although Cassie supposed being buried alive wasn't much better.

Somehow, she'd survived that fate. Was it at all possible she could get two miracles all in the same night?

There was no time to contemplate her impending death because Luis took off at full speed right for the bright orange-red wall of fire blocking their exit.

The closer they got the more the temperature heated up.

She should tell him to stop, explain to him the dangers or running through flames just in case he wasn't altogether sure just what a crazy move this was.

But she didn't.

Because she couldn't speak.

Could barely breathe.

Fear and the heat were sucking the oxygen out of her lungs, preventing her from doing much of anything. How Luis was still on his feet and moving, carrying her along with him, was completely beyond her.

Just as the heat seemed to become unbearable it suddenly got so much worse.

She was being seared alive.

The flames surrounded them, trying desperately to consume them and burn them up until nothing was left.

Intellectually, Cassie knew these flames weren't actually hot enough to burn them until there was nothing left, but they were hot enough to kill them.

And in that moment, that's what it felt like was happening.

The T-shirt covering her face caught alight, and instinctively she threw it away from her face before it could do more than singe her eyebrows.

Then all of a sudden, the heat was just … gone.

Cool air engulfed them, but before she could take a second to enjoy it, the world was rocking beneath them and they were falling.

Somehow, Luis managed to roll so he took the brunt of the fall then roll again so she was beneath him. His massive body acted as a barrier as the rest of the building went down.

Seconds.

That is what it had come down to.

If she had been five seconds slower in calling out for help, or Luis had been five seconds slower in digging her out, or they'd argued for five seconds longer about running through the flames, then they'd both be dead right now.

The reality of that settled down deep in her bones and she began to shake again.

"Hey, it's okay, princess. We got out, we're okay, you're okay," Luis crooned above her, and for some strange reason, his words managed to soothe her, comfort her, and her shaking eased a little.

"You saved me again, thank you." Wriggling around so she was on her back looking up at him, Cassie wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed hard. How did you thank someone for saving your life? What kind of gift was appropriate? What kind of words?

As she gazed up into his dark eyes it was only then that she became aware of their positions.

She was flat on her back.

He was spread out above her.

Cassie could feel the bulge of the tent in his pants brushing against her stomach.

Red immediately stained her cheeks as she realized the embarrassing position she'd put him in. There was no way he could be attracted to her specifically, but she was a woman, and their bodies were awfully close, and of course, he couldn't help that his would have a perfectly natural reaction.

At least, she knew, in theory, it was a natural reaction, even though she had no personal knowledge of it to add to the theory.

Saved from dying of mortification—the third miracle of the night—the wail of sirens filled the air, and Luis shifted, moving to his feet with a grace and elegance that belied his large size.

Her hunky savior stood protectively between her and the approaching emergency vehicles and she felt this weird sort of warm, swirly feeling in her stomach. It was kind of nice in a really odd way, but she had no idea what it was or what it meant.

What she was good at was facts, working puzzles, and figuring things out, that's how she'd come up with the idea for the Reactivator in the first place. Now that she was out of danger, with the fresh air around her instead of the stale, dusty air of the demolished lab, her memories were starting to return. She needed to talk to Eagle, the guys who ran Prey's West Coast office, and her team. They needed to know what was going on.

Anxiety churned in her stomach, wiping away that pretty swirly feeling that had been there just moments ago.

Everything passed in a blur.

The ambulance pulled up beside them. Paramedics checked her out. Luis insisted he was riding with her to the hospital. Although that did pull her out of her head long enough for it to register and that warm feeling tried to return.

But the anxiety was too strong.

Drowning it out.

She needed to see her people. Needed them to help her solve this problem because if she couldn't figure it out, a lot of people were going to die.

All because of her.

This was all her fault. She'd been the one to start this ball rolling, so everything that had happened since was on her shoulders. Without her insisting that together they could make the drug a reality and hopefully save hundreds of lives, then neither Scarlett nor Lucy would have been hurt, and Luis wouldn't have almost died trying to save her life.

Her need to try to make everything her parents had put her through mean something was going to lead to more lives in peril, and Cassie wished she'd never even had the idea for the Reactivator.

"Hey, you're safe now," Luis said, his voice low and soothing, and she did her best to latch onto it.

"I know," she said, forcing a smile and realizing for the first time that they'd reached the hospital and were now sitting in a small room, presumably waiting for a doctor to come and look her over.

"Then what's wrong? You seem more on edge now than you did when I first found you," Luis said.

That was likely.

More than likely.

It was definitely true.

Back then, she'd been worried only about her own life. That was selfish of her. She should have forced her memories to return right away and found a way to leave a warning in case she hadn't been rescued in time.

"Something's wrong, princess. Don't have to be a genius to figure that out."

There was a little bit of snark in Luis' tone that time and she was startled enough to come out of her head a little. It was such a vast place that she often got lost in thought and forgot that there was a whole world outside it.

"I'm the one who set off the bomb," she blurted out, there was something about the way he was watching her that compelled her to speak.

Dark brows knit together. "What the hell, Cass? Why would you do that? Didn't you know you could have killed yourself?"

"Not on purpose," she rushed to explain. "I was looking through the pieces of the plane that almost killed Lucy and Zander. When I went to check something on the computer as soon as I booted it up, a video came up. There was a person dressed all in black. They weren't in the room with me, I remembered that wrong at first. They were on the computer."

Aware she was rambling but unable to stop it, Cassie just kept talking.

"The person said that if we didn't hand over the formula to the Reactivator then they were going to set off seven bombs. One a day for the next week, culminating in a massive one that would kill thousands. I almost realized too late that bomb number one was already there in the lab and that I'd triggered it. I barely made it to the table before it went off. If I was any slower, I would be dead right now."

A sickening wave of nausea rolled through her, and when Luis reached for her hand she grabbed hold of it and held on tight, allowing his grip and the warm feel of his strong fingers tangled with hers to calm her.

"If I can't find the bombs people are going to die, Luis. And it's going to be all my fault."

January 29 th

11:46 P.M.

She really believed that.

Cassie truly believed that everything that had happened with the Reactivator and everything that was going to happen if they couldn't find and disarm those bombs, rested squarely on her shoulders. Luis was still trying to make sense of that hours later.

After her revelation of what she remembered from before the explosion, her room burst into a flurry of activity. Nurses and a doctor tried their best to examine Cassie, but her one-track mind had already latched onto her memories, and she was too busy trying to shoo them from the room so she could talk to her Prey people to allow them to do any sort of thorough examination.

Her Prey people had been little help. The women on Athena Team had been a mess of worry and anxiety. He got why they were all so on edge, their team had taken beating after beating these last couple of weeks, but it wasn't helping Cassie, and that had been all he could focus on.

The former SEALs who now ran the West Coast office of Prey were no better. They peppered Cassie with questions, making her go over and over what she remembered, pushing her for details it was clear had either been completely wiped out by the head injury or might return if she could just get a little peace and quiet and the rest she clearly needed.

Nobody seemed to sense that the more worked up they all got the more Cassie's anxiety climbed higher. In the end, it had taken every ounce of self-control he had not to shout at them all to get out and give her five minutes alone to process how close she'd come to death tonight and to let the doctors make sure she was, in fact, okay.

Through it all, he kept remembering the guilt on her face as she accepted the blame that he didn't see in any way should be her own. She'd argued with him when he'd said as much, told him that the Reactivator had been her idea, and while that was true it didn't mean her team had been forced to go along with trying to create it. Nor did it mean she was responsible for someone associated with Prey deciding they had the right to sell something that wasn't theirs.

Finally, a doctor insisted that everyone leave so he could examine his patient, and reluctantly, everyone filed out of the room.

Everyone but him.

He was still there, lounging against the door, his back to the bed to give Cassie privacy as she was checked out. There was no way he was leaving her alone. Whether someone had broken into the facility tonight or the bomb had been set off like Cassie believed by her turning on the computer, he'd failed.

His job had been to protect Cassie, protect her from harm, and she was currently sitting in a hospital bed. He had no intention of failing again.

So, he wasn't letting her out of his sight until this issue was resolved.

In her own words, he'd saved her life tonight, and that meant she was now his responsibility whether he liked the idea or not. Being responsible for rescuing a victim when he and his team were working an op was different. They were a team, it meant the responsibility for the life of an innocent wasn't completely in his hands.

Unlike now.

This wasn't an official mission. While his team had all been helping watch over Athena Team, it had been as a favor for Tate as well as for Eagle Oswald.

Now it felt different.

It was personal.

Cassie had gotten hurt on his watch, and he was determined to ensure it didn't happen again. He just wasn't sure how the pretty little brunette was going to react when he told her he was her new shadow.

A knock on the other side of the door had him opening it cautiously. Just because they were in a hospital didn't mean the mole couldn't try to make a move. The man—or woman—had so far proven they were both reckless and determined. A dangerous combination as far as he was concerned, and he wasn't taking chances when it came to his charge's life.

"Hey, man," Tate greeted him from the other side of the door. "You got a second?"

"Sure. Cass, I'm just stepping out for a moment, but I'll be outside your door, okay?" he asked over his shoulder, not prepared to leave unless he got her okay.

"Okay," she returned, giving him a funny look like she wasn't even sure why he was still there.

Get used to it, princess.

For however long it takes to find this mole and deal with them, I'm going to be there every time you turn around .

"What's up?" he asked as he closed the door behind him. Had something happened in the fifteen or so minutes since the doctor had kicked everybody else out of Cassie's room?

"We don't know anything new," Tate said as though reading his mind. "But this just keeps getting worse and worse. First Scarlett, then Lucy, now Cassie. I don't like it. These women are like a little family, and since Scarlett loves them, they're important to me, too. I don't like the idea of Cassie going home alone. I know Eagle will make sure someone is watching her house, but it's not enough."

Luis couldn't agree more.

"The mole knew there was something incriminating on that plane. Something that could point to their identity. They knew they couldn't just remove the plane, it was too suspicious, but they also couldn't let us examine it and find that evidence. Scarlett and Lucy both got emails at the time the bomb went off. They didn't see them at first because we were having dinner, but when we got the call about the explosion they checked and saw them. It's a monologue from the mole, ranting and raving, and taking responsibility for the bomb at the lab. Cassie wasn't supposed to survive it."

He'd known that, but hearing it said aloud had his heart stuttering in his chest. He didn't know what it was about the woman who evoked this unusual protectiveness in him, but he couldn't deny it was there.

Or that he was all in until this mess was resolved.

"I know it's a lot to ask, dude, but you came here in the ambulance with her, and you insisted on staying in her room when everyone else got kicked out. I trust you with her safety, and so does Scarlett. So can you stay with Cassie and watch over her?"

This was perfect. Not only could he satisfy his own need to be the one to personally ensure Cassie's safety, but he could make it seem like he was just doing it as a favor for a friend, a man he considered a brother.

"Yeah, man, sure thing," he agreed easily.

Maybe too easily if the look Tate gave him was anything to go by. "Is there something going on between you two?"

"Between me and the princess genius? I don't think so." He laughed like it was preposterous even as he remembered how his body had responded to hers when she'd wiggled herself around and laid beneath him looking up at him with those big, innocent eyes of hers.

Tate frowned. "Cassie's more than just her brain. She's a sweet person, but she's going to fight you on being in her space. She's very protective of it. Scarlett said that they hardly ever get together at Cassie's apartment because she doesn't like having people in it."

"I won't let her push me out, I'll insist. Safety first. This guy isn't letting up. Scarlett, then Lucy, and now Cassie, I don't think any of them realized just what they were creating and the impact it was going to have."

"They're all too sweet for their own good. They were only thinking of saving lives, not of the repercussions on themselves once word got out about the drug and what it could do."

"We've got them covered. I won't let anything happen to Cassie," he assured his friend, even though the promise wasn't really for Tate's benefit.

"Thanks, dude. I appreciate it, and I know Scarlett will feel so much better knowing someone is sticking close to Cassie at all times."

Sticking close but not as close as he'd like to.

There was no point denying he was attracted to Cassie, that he'd love nothing more than to strip her bare and sink into her tight, wet heat. Feel those internal muscles of hers clamp around him, see her face all blissed out, cheeks rosy with arousal and need, hear her breath hitch, moans tumble from her plump lips, and her voice screaming his name as she came so hard she forgot how to breathe.

Only he couldn't touch her. She was off-limits since she was practically family to a man he considered another brother, and besides, he didn't do princesses no matter how badly his body urged him to.

What had he just gotten himself into?

How was he going to survive being so close to Cassie but not being able to touch her?