Dante glanced over at him, and found Jamie’s eyes on his.

“My brother. She killed him, didn’t she?”

“He killed himself.” The minute he’d taken her blood, he’d been dead.

Jamie shook his head. “I saw . . . he was convulsing after he drank her blood.” His gaze darted to Cassie even as he kept his voice whisper quiet. “What did she do?”

“She lived.” Dante wanted to brush aside the hair that had fallen over her face, but the kid was watching him far too closely.

“What are you?” An even softer whisper.

Dante held his stare. “I’m the man you don’t ever want to cross, because if you do . . . if you do anything to hurt me or to hurt her, you won’t have to beg me for death.” The boy needed to get this message. Clearly. “I’ll kill you before you can even scream.”

Jamie’s eyes widened, nearly filling his face, and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “You don’t scare me.”

“Yes, I do.” Dante scared everyone. Even Cassie, though he knew she tried to act like she didn’t fear him. He’d caught glimpses of the fear in her eyes. “She wanted you to come with us, so you did. If it had been up to me . . .”

“You would have left me alone out there.”

Damn straight. Dante gazed steadily back at him. “Don’t ever give me reason to regret hauling you out of that swamp.”

“Dante?” Cassie’s husky voice asked. “We aren’t moving. We’re—” She sat up, snapping to attention. “We’re here!”

Yes, wherever here was.

She shoved against him, trying to get out. Dante slid over and when she hurried toward the ramshackle buildings, he followed her.

Jamie was on his heels.

“This is your lab?” Dante asked, voice doubtful. It looked like they were in the middle of an old corn field, and the buildings that surrounded them looked like abandoned barns.

“Don’t let appearances fool you.” Her voice was actually perky. “This place was set up by the government back in the fifties. They forgot about it.” She pushed aside some wood that was near the door of the barn and quickly punched in a code on a security screen. “My father didn’t. I didn’t.”

“Identify yourself,” a computer voice demanded.

“Doctor Cassandra Armstrong,” she said at once.

The barn door opened—but they didn’t head into a real barn.

The door slid open to reveal an elevator.

“Told you,” Cassie said, sounding pretty satisfied with herself. “Appearances can deceive you.”

“That is freakin’ cool,” Jamie said.

Dante frowned at him.

“Now, we’re heading down to the lab.” She bit her lip.

“I’ll send Charles back up to hide the truck.”

They were descending, a fast descent that Dante thought took them down two floors. When the door opened again, a thin man with curly hair was standing in front of them.

“Cassie!” He rushed toward her. “I was afraid you weren’t coming back!”

The man was hugging her far too tightly.

Dante decided that he didn’t like him.

“I’m sorry, Charles. It took a bit . . . longer than I’d thought for the retrieval mission.”

Charles glanced over at Dante. His gray eyes doubled in size. “It’s him.”

The him could hear.

“Is he going to kill us?” Charles whispered as he edged behind Cassie. “It looks like he wants to. It looks like he wants to fry us both!”

Cassie laughed, and the light sound caught Dante off guard. Her laugh was so sweet he wanted to hear it again.

“No, he’s not going to kill us,” she said. “He’s here to help us.”

Not really, but they’d get around to the true reason for his visit later.

“And the boy?” Charles asked with a questioning glance toward Jamie.

“We need to keep him safe . . . and use our ties to find some of his family who can take care of him.”

Jamie’s chin jutted up in the air. “I told you, my family is—”

“There was a primal attack,” Cassie said quietly. “His brother didn’t survive.”

Charles’s gaze dropped to the bloody shirt that was still wrapped around her arm.

Jamie’s shoulders hunched.

“Can you . . . can you put him in one of the unoccupied rooms?” Cassie asked softly. “Give him something to eat?”