Oh, f**k, but he hoped she was enjoying his bite. Because nothing could have made him pull away from her right then.

Her sex contracted around him, so tight that his c*ck felt like it was gripped in a silken fist, and he thrust deep into her even as he drank her blood.

He should have been repulsed by what he was doing.

He f**king wasn’t.

She came around him. He swore that he could taste the pleasure in her blood as her body tensed and she choked out his name.

Then, only then, was he able to take one last sip from her. He swiped his tongue over the wound on her neck, and he came so long and hard that his body shuddered.

The fury of need slowly faded. Pleasure still pulsed through him, small aftershocks as his c*ck emptied into her. Her arms were around him. Her legs locked around his hips.

He was almost afraid to look at her. He’d been worried that she’d think of him as a beast before, but he’d just damn well gorged on her. She’d come after him, apologizing, and he’d done that to her.

Careful now, when he should have been careful before, Duncan eased out of her. Her breath caught, and his gaze flew to her face.

There was no anger in her eyes. No pain. Just the afterglow of pleasure.

He stared at her. Lost.

How the hell could she still look at him like that?

Then she smiled at him. Smiled. She said, “You aren’t going to…ah…believe this…” Her voice was breathless, husky, and it just made him hard again, “but I promise, I came here to save you, not just to f**k you.”

Right there, in the middle of Purgatory, with death all around, with fangs in his mouth and claws growing from his fingertips, he…smiled.

Her breath caught. “Duncan, you’ve got dimples.”

He kissed her. Not wild. Not desperate. Just…kissed her.

Her lips whispered back against his.

“I’m sorry,” he told her softly. She deserved so much better than what had happened.

“For what?” She shook her head. “Duncan, I’m the one who changed you.”

And he was the one who’d just attacked her.

His forehead pressed against hers. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“I wasn’t going to let you just be tossed into some cell and locked away.” Her nails sank into his shoulders. “I can get us out of here. I just have to bite the guards, then I can control them. They don’t realize I’m a vamp, so they aren’t taking precautions and—”

He realized why Pate had kept Holly’s secret for so long. Because Pate had known that if the dark segment within the FBI found out about her, Holly would be watched, monitored, and maybe even tossed to the wolves for the battle that was coming.

Good thing this wolf found her.

“I’m not leaving.”

His quiet words froze her. Then she gave a hard shake of her head. “You have to leave. Look, I know your brother is here, but you can’t stay. You haven’t done anything wrong!”

He hadn’t done anything right, either. “Connor’s here?”

She gave a slow nod. “He was transferred in, the same day you were. I…convinced one of the agents to tell me that. Brent had quite a bit of information to share.” Her gaze searched his. Her legs had slipped away from his and fallen back to the floor. The scent of blood and sex surrounded them.

Want more.

He forced himself to step away from her. She wouldn’t be able to handle him taking much more from her.

But when he stepped back, she blinked and almost looked hurt as she fumbled to fix her clothes. Then her hand rose to her neck.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered again.

Her hand dropped. “I just…I couldn’t let you die.”

“And I’m not going to let my brother die.” Because Connor would die. With the battle coming to this prison, all of the inmates were at risk. Some would escape, some would die.

“He’s a killer, Duncan. He deserves to be here, but you don’t.”

He could still taste her. Duncan turned away from Holly. Straightened his clothes. His fangs hadn’t gone away yet. Why not? “He was taken away by whoever the hell it was that killed my family. I remember him screaming for me, but I was locked in that closet, and I couldn’t get to him.”

There was silence behind him.

“I’ll get to him this time.” A vow. “He’ll tell me what happened to them. To me.”

“And then what? You take him out, and you two walk into the sunset together?” Her laugh was bitter. “You’re a vampire now, and he’s a werewolf. He’s also out for your blood.”

He glanced back at her. “I’m not leaving him.” That was all he knew for the moment. He’d find Connor, and then…well, he didn’t know what would happen after that. “According to your brother, this prison is set to erupt in a matter of hours.”

Her eyes widened.

“Elias was a plant. Someone wants the Para Units to fail, and that same someone wants Purgatory to fail.”

“But if the prisoners get out of Purgatory—”

“Then Pate thinks a war will come. He says the vamps have been starved. That the werewolves are too close to losing their control. They’ll get out and go wild.” Because they had the baddest, most dangerous prisoners there. “He didn’t bring me here as punishment. He brought me here to stop that hell from coming true.”

Her lips parted in surprise even as she took a step forward. “I’ll help you.”

“No.” Absolutely f**king not. “You’ll use your power over the guard, and you’ll get him to take you out of here. Now.”

“So you can fight them all on your own? You can’t do that. You’re just—”

“According to Pate, I’m the only vampire and werewolf hybrid in existence. All of the strengths of both creatures, none of the weaknesses.”

A furrow appeared between her brows. “Alpha…”

So he’d been told. He just hadn’t realized what that meant at the time. He was betting that Pate had known though, all along. Tricky bastard.

“That jerk,” Holly whispered. “He set this all up.”

Duncan suspected he had.

“So what? You’re supposed to take on all the prisoners here by yourself? That’s insane!”

“Not all of ‘em…just the a**hole who thinks he’s in charge.” Because there would be one leading the pack. There always was. Once he took him down, the others would follow.

Or at least, he hoped so.

“I can help you.”

He shook his head. “No, you’ll make me weak.”

Her indrawn breath was painful, and dammit, he hadn’t meant the words that way, but they were the truth. Physically, he was strong. Amped up paranormal, yeah, he had that whole bit going on. But Pate was wrong when he’d said that Duncan didn’t have a weakness.

He was staring at his weakness. “If one of them gets to you, I’ll lose it.” The painful truth.

“Duncan…”

“You matter to me.” Mattered so much that he was glad she’d transformed him. Because the transformation meant that he had a chance to be with her. Not just for a few years, but maybe forever. “If I thought you were in danger, I don’t think I’d ever be able to hold onto my control.” He huffed out a hard breath. “So don’t stay, understand? Use the guard and get the hell off this rock before the battle comes.” Then he went back to her. Because he had to. One more time. “I’ll find you. We’ll both be more than just monsters.” A man. A woman. Maybe with a future?

The wound on her neck had already healed. He could feel her, though, inside of him now. “Get out and stay alive.” For me.

She nodded.

His shoulders wanted to sag in relief. Instead, he kissed her once more. Had to do it. Then he headed for the door.

“Don’t you want to know why?”

He’d unbolted the door. Duncan didn’t glance back at her.

“Aren’t you a little curious…” Holly pressed. “About why I couldn’t let you die?”

“No.” Because he already knew. Duncan shoved open the door. “You love me.”

And he…well, he was insane for her. Obsessed. Consumed.

To him, she was everything.

That was why he had to leave her. If anyone at that prison realized how important she was, he’d be lost.

Not an alpha. Not the warped hero who was supposed to swoop in and save the unsuspecting humans out there.

If anything happened to her, he’d just be…lost.

Because the vampire who’d bit him held his heart in her hands.

***

When the doors closed behind Duncan, Holly didn’t move for an instant. Her clothes were back on. Her body was still flushed, and pleasure still pulsed within her.

She couldn’t move.

Duncan was walking away. He knew how she felt, and he was just leaving her.

Because I’m his weakness? She wasn’t sure how to take that. She’d come there, so desperate and breaking every rule she’d ever known, in order to save him.

Now he’d told her to leave.

The door swung open. Brent stood there. “The guard took Duncan to general population.”

She was supposed to just leave him?

No, she couldn’t do that. She’d stay out of the fight. He could go play alpha, but when the bloodbath was over, he’d still need someone to get him out of that hellhole.

She’d sworn not to leave him behind, and she wouldn’t. No matter what.

Holly cleared her throat. “Go find my brother. Bring Pate to me.” The control was so easy to her now that it was frightening.

Brent nodded and hurriedly left.

She stared at the infirmary around her. She’d need some sort of weapon, just in case. Everyone in this place seemed to have fangs and claws, and her compulsions wouldn’t work on other vampires.

She jerked on a lab coat. If any other guards came by, she wanted to make sure that she blended well. She searched around a moment, and then Holly picked up a scalpel. Silver. She wondered why the doctors had silver scalpels in stock. Actually, now that she looked at the instruments, they were all made out of silver. Odd. Silver surgical instruments would just increase the pain for the werewolf patients.

Did someone want them all to hurt? The thought chilled her.

But hadn’t Duncan told her that the vampires were being starved? Pate had billed this place as being a humane place to hold the dangerous non-humans. She clutched the scalpel tightly. Just what was happening in Purgatory?

“I thought I smelled something sweet.”

The dark, low words had her stiffening. She shoved the scalpel into the pocket on the right side of her borrowed lab coat, then spun around.

She’d expected to see a guard. Because prisoners shouldn’t be wandering loose, right? Some a**hole, horny guard who thought he’d make time with the new female doctor.

But…a man in a dark gold prison uniform stared back at her. He wasn’t alone. Two others, wearing the same matching prison uniforms, were behind him. The man in the middle was big, about six foot three, maybe four, with dark black hair that had grayed slightly near his sideburns. His face was hard, so rough, and his eyes—

They looked just like Duncan’s.

The same glowing, bright blue that his gaze became when the beast ruled him. She could even see the shining flecks of gold in the center of this man’s eyes.

His eyes were like Duncan’s, but his face was an older version of Connor’s.

She’d been right. Duncan’s father hadn’t died all of those years ago.

Hadn’t died, but he sure might have killed.

“You shouldn’t be here,” she said, lifting her chin and trying to brave her way through whatever the hell was happening.

He inhaled. “Vampire.” He said the word the way some men might say…chocolate. Like he was about to savor a treat.

Her knees locked. Her fangs burned. “Get out.”

He smiled at her. “Vamp females always have a certain scent but you…you don’t just smell like a vamp.” He stalked toward her. His gaze raked over her. “There’s wolf all over you.”

There was about to be silver in him if that jerk didn’t back off. “Guards!” Holly yelled.

He laughed at her. “You don’t know how things work around here, do you?”

Duncan couldn’t be that far away. Had he heard her yell? She hadn’t really yelled for the guards. She’d yelled so her lover with his enhanced hearing could pick up her cry.

“Smells like you’ve been f**king in here.”

Her face seemed to ice.

“Nothin’ like f**king a female vamp…except of course…killing one.” Then he lunged toward her, with his claws up.

She brought up her scalpel and didn’t waste her breath on another yell.

Chapter Twelve

The werewolves were housed in the south section. The vampires were to the north. At least, that was the spiel that the guard had given him.

Where are you, Pate?

The heavy, silver doors slid shut behind Duncan, and he found himself in a big, cavernous room. Dozens of men walked around, but they all froze when they saw him.

Not men. Werewolves.

Every single one of those guys wore a glowing silver collar. Collars all just like his. Pate’s little invention had sure been shopped around.

So this was the general werewolf population. Only he wasn’t seeing Connor in that mix.

His gaze drifted up. The cells were on the second level. Silver cells to imprison them when it was time to lock up the monsters again. Guards walked along that second level, guns gripped tightly in their hands. No doubt, those guns were filled with silver bullets.