There was no match.

The alarms kept shrieking.

“A brew that one of your predecessors created,” Jon told her. Unfortunately, that predecessor was dead. Killed when the last main Genesis lab was torn to the ground.

Jon headed back toward Cassie.

Dr. Shaw blocked his path. The woman had been running and some of her blond hair fell from the sleek twist she usually kept at her nape. “I don’t want to die.”

“Then you need to get the hell out of here.”

She sucked in a sharp breath. “You’re going for the helicopter, aren’t you?”

Yes, he was.

“Take me with you. You know I can help you—I understand the genetics of the werewolves and their mating characteristics so I can—”

He wasn’t interested in the werewolves any longer, but the woman still might be helpful. He nodded. “But run fast, doctor. Run very damn fast.”

She nodded, eyes wide. A woman with a strong instinct for self-preservation. He liked that.

He grabbed Cassie and lifted her over his shoulder. He—

Cassie drove a scalpel into his shoulder.

He yelled at the unexpected pain and his hold slipped on her. She fell, slamming into the floor.

Cassie shoved back her hair, and he saw that she was very much awake and aware and far, far from dying.

“Dante’s here, isn’t he?” She smiled up at him. “And you’re terrified.”

Jon would have been terrified if he hadn’t been staring at his perfect weapon. He pulled that scalpel out of his shoulder and gripped it in his hand. “He’s never tried to kill you, not in all those long years when you were with him at Genesis . . . so I’m betting he won’t kill you now.”

Actually, he didn’t think the bastard could kill her.

“But I will,” Jon told her quietly. “I will slice your throat open right here, right now, and I’ll let you bleed out before your phoenix can get here.”

Cassie stared up at him, and Jon knew she saw the truth in his eyes.

“Shaw already has your samples. I don’t need you alive.”

Cassie swallowed. Her gaze cut toward the blond doctor.

There was a soft click of sound. Jon looked over and saw that Dr. Shaw had a gun pointed at Cassie’s head. Well, well, the doctor kept surprising him.

“I’m not dying for someone I don’t even know,” Dr. Shaw said, but the gun trembled in her hand. “So let’s all just get out of here and get on that helicopter.”

Cassie rose, but her knees buckled, and she hit the floor once more.

Ah, so she wasn’t as strong as she wanted him to think. Jon caught her arms and lifted her toward him.

Her scent rose, filling his nose, and for an instant, he stilled. That scent . . . he’d always enjoyed her scent.

His eyes narrowed on her. “Do you want me to kill you right now?”

Cassie shook her head.

“Then do the f**k what you’re told. Don’t fight me, don’t cry out, and I’ll let you live.” He scooped her into his arms because he didn’t want her slowing him down. “Come on, Shaw,” he barked to the other woman. Power and strength had flooded through him with that injection. He barely felt Cassie’s weight. His steps were surer, faster, and he lifted his foot and kicked open the door that blocked him from the helipad.

The blackness of the night waited for him. The chopper . . . was less than fifty yards away.

Dante heard the helicopter’s blades spinning. His head snapped up as that steady beat slipped past the blare of the alarm.

Cassie had been taken from him on that helicopter before.

He wouldn’t let her go again.

He ran through the hallways, following the sound. No one tried to stop him. They turned and cowered when they saw him.

He didn’t care about them.

Only her.

Outside once more, he raced toward the helicopter. Its lights cut across the clearing, flashing on him, then sweeping away.

The helicopter began to rise.

No. No, it can’t leave.

He’d have to track her again, and Cassie was already hurt. The scent of her blood . . .

“No!” Dante yelled, and his flames flew out, hitting the whirling blades of the helicopter. Burning, the blades were spinning slower and slower. The chopper slammed back down to earth with a jarring crash.

He jumped toward it and ripped open the door. Saw Cassie slumped and strapped down in the backseat. Another woman was there—a woman with a gun that she lifted toward him. Her face was cloaked in the shadows.

He snatched the gun from her. Tossed it behind him and yanked Cassie out of the seat. Her eyes were closed. Her body was limp.