“Jamie . . .”

“Did your father . . . Did he really make the primals?” She swallowed the lump that wanted to choke her. Jamie had a right to know. “My father was a scientist. He . . . worked with the paranormals. He was supposed to be making a stronger soldier . . . to help protect the country.”

Jamie frowned. “Did he?”

She shook her head. “He got lost.” That was the way she’d always thought of him, even as a child. “He stopped noticing the danger of what he was doing. He took humans, tried to give them the strength of vampires, but none of the weaknesses.”

Jamie’s eyes widened.

“He made the primal vampire virus, then he tried to keep the vampires he’d created contained, but you just can’t—” She had to swallow again because that damn lump was choking her. “You just can’t hide some things in the dark.” Like she’d tried to hide her true identity. Her name wasn’t just Cassandra Armstrong. It was Cassandra Armstrong Wyatt.

Jamie studied her a moment, then said, “If you can’t cure them, then we have to kill them. Every single one.”

Vaughn.

“Not yet,” she whispered. “There’s still—”

“How many humans are you gonna let die before you realize those primals all have to be stopped? Not cured? Just wiped away from the earth.” Jamie’s hands had fisted at his sides. “We need the freaking marines in here! It’s a war—and we have to fight them.” He gave a hard shake of his head. “Not cry over them. Not them.” He rushed from the room.

She didn’t blame him, not for his anger and not for running away. How many times over the years had she wanted to turn and run away?

More than she could count.

But it was her mess. One she’d inherited. One she had to fix.

Her steps were slow but certain as she made her way to the lab.

Eve was there, keeping vigil over Trace, when Cassie entered the room.

Eve glanced up. “Do you think,” she began quietly, “that we’ll ever cure him?”

“Yes.” It was what Cassie had to believe.

And she knew what she had to do.

Dante had said that his tears hadn’t healed her in New Orleans. If the tears of a phoenix weren’t what she needed, then maybe . . . just maybe . . . she already had the cure.

Inside of her.

“During your research on Genesis, did you come across any information on a Lieutenant Colonel Jon Abrams?” Cassie asked her curiously.

Eve gave a slow nod. She might have attended med school, but she’d dropped out of the program to pursue her true passion—journalism. Cassie had leaked information about Genesis to her, and then Eve had gone undercover at the facility in order to see firsthand just what was happening.

It was because of Eve that Genesis had been destroyed.

“He was one of the recruits in the shifter program,” Eve said slowly. “A success, from all accounts. Enhanced hearing, vision—”

“Strength and speed,” Cassie finished. “And he got the bonus of having ready-made weapons in the form of his claws.”

“Why are we talking about him?” Eve wanted to know.

Cassie walked toward her instrument tray. “Because Genesis isn’t fully dead. Uncle Sam is still conducting experiments, and Jon Abrams was the man handpicked to carry on the work started in my father’s labs.” Her fingers curled around a scalpel. The sharp blade gleamed. “Jon tracked me when I went to Chicago. He caught me, locked me in an exam room, and then he started . . . taking samples from me.”

Eve’s chair squeaked as she rose. “What kind of samples?”

Cassie’s hold tightened on the scalpel. “The same kind that you’re going to help me take now.” She couldn’t do it on her own. And Charles was gone. She’d seen him slip away earlier. He hadn’t stopped to tell her good-bye.

She didn’t blame him.

But it still hurt.

“Why did he want samples from you?” Eve asked as she crept closer.

Cassie gave her a sad smile. “You knew my brother.”

Eve stilled.

“You had to notice the resemblance,” Cassie said. “I’ve been told that we have the same eyes.”

“You do.” Quiet. Careful. “But other than your eyes, you are nothing like Richard Wyatt.” There was anger there, rage.

Hate.

Most people hated Richard. He’d been as determined to carry through on his twisted experiments as her father had been.