I continued pacing but crossed my arms, trying to ward off the growing chill. “I have nothing to say to any of you. You can leave me in this cell to rot if you want, but I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”
“Sadly, I knew you’d say that.”
I gave him another sharp glance. “And what does that mean?”
“It means you were right. The tea was drugged.”
Blood drained from my face and I stopped abruptly. “What?”
He shrugged and rose. “I figured you wouldn’t cooperate, so we dropped a little something into the tea to ensure that you would.”
“But you drank some of it.”
“Only a sip. It wasn’t anywhere enough to affect me.” He hesitated. “I am sorry, but it was a necessary step. We need answers, Em, and we need them now.”
I stepped away from him. But that chill in my body was growing, making my feet go numb, and I stumbled. Sam caught my right elbow and directed me backward, until my back was pressed against concrete. He placed his other hand under my left shoulder, effectively pinning me.
“Tell me what Lee Rawlings said.”
He was close. So close. His breath teased my lips and his warm, woody scent filled every breath, making my nipples pucker and sending slivers of desire curling through my belly. The desire in his gaze sharpened a caress of heat that rolled over me, making me tremble, making me yearn.
I opened my mouth, then closed it again. Took a deep breath and released it slowly. “Go fuck yourself, Sam.”
Anger flared, deep and fierce. Its intensity was frightening. But once again it was just as swiftly smothered. “Trust me, I was fucked a long time ago. Now, just answer the damn question, Red.”
I closed my eyes and battled the need to obey. It would have been far easier to give him what he wanted, but something within me just wouldn’t allow it. He was right. I could be bloody stubborn when I wanted to be. Stupid, even. Because really, what was I gaining by resisting? Nothing, absolutely nothing.
I licked my lips, saw his gaze drop to follow the movement. Heat rolled over me, thick with desire, fanning the flames within to greater heights.
“What is the drug you gave me?”
“N41A. It’s designed to restrict certain paranormal powers and also acts as a truth serum of sorts. What did Rawlings tell you?”
That he was just another delivery boy, that the real meet was with a Henry Morretti in Laverton. But somehow, I kept the words inside. “Define what you mean by restrict.”
“It means you will not be able to flame. It was created for those with talents such as telekinesis and pyrokinesis, but we figured it would probably work on rarer creatures such as yourself and the Fae.”
“I’m not human, Sam. You have no idea how that drug will affect me.”
“When you’re in this form, human drugs will affect you the same way as they will affect any other human. In this case, it means you won’t have full use of your flames for forty-eight hours.” He studied me for a moment, almost seeming to lean in closer, as if he intended to kiss me. But his gaze was on mine rather than my lips, and the fires of desire were banked in his eyes.
I wished I could say the same about mine.
“The Paranormal Investigations Team has a long history of studying nonhumans, and while phoenixes might be rare, they are not unknown to us.”
Meaning if he was right, I was without my one major form of protection. But they obviously didn’t know everything. Any drug introduced into my system in flesh form would burn away in spirit, and no drug, no matter how strong, could stop a return to my true self. Only a lack of strength from within could do that and, right now, thanks to everything that had happened, I was running low on reserves. “They were unknown to you five years ago.”
“That was before I joined PIT. I’ve learned a whole lot in the last year or so.”
“Shame you never learned it’s impolite to drug the people you want cooperation from.” And it was a shame the words came out a whole lot huskier than I’d intended.
“We don’t. It’s only those we can’t read and who won’t cooperate we drug. Tell me about Rawlings, Emberly.”
I did. I couldn’t help it. The words vomited from my mouth—Rawlings, his orders, the meeting details, even how much we’d paid for the information.
At the end of it, Sam grunted. “He said nothing else?”
I glared at him. “No.”
“Good.” He hesitated, his gaze sweeping my face and his lips suddenly closer even though he hadn’t moved. “There’s one other thing about the drug I forgot to mention.”
My stomach did a strange flip-flop, but I wasn’t entirely sure whether the cause was his words or the brush of his breath against my lips as he spoke.
“Gee, color me surprised.” I intended sarcasm, but it came out far more breathless than that, and the desire in his blue eyes sharpened abruptly. It ran around me like a storm, and all I wanted was for it to sweep me away.
But that would be a very bad thing to happen. I had enough trouble now forgetting his kisses. I didn’t need a refresher to make it all that much harder.
“That drug,” he said softly, his lips so close to mine I could practically taste them, “is also something of an enforcer. You will obey what I say now that it is in full effect.”
But thankfully, only until the moment I have the strength to take on my fire form. “Damn it, Sam, don’t do this.”
“You give me no other choice—”
“There’s always a choice, Sam. You just have to want it enough.”
Again his gaze swept me, and I knew in that moment I wasn’t mistaken, that he did want me. Badly. I was in a whole heap load of trouble if he actually acted on it.
“Emberly Pearson,” he continued softly. “You will not go anywhere near Henry Morretti or the meeting in Laverton. You will stop pursuing all leads pertaining to the murder of your boss.”
“Bastard.”
“Totally,” he agreed; then, a heartbeat later, his lips met mine.
It was a fierce thing, this kiss, both familiar and yet not. It was everything we’d once shared, and yet so very raw and different. It was hunger and desire, darkness and desperation, and it reflected all that we once were and all that had changed.
It proved how much I still wanted him—and he me—but it also confirmed just how different he now was. Because where once I’d tasted nothing more than joy and desire, heat and passion, there was now also ash and anger, fierce and barely restrained, and it spoke of the night and even darker urges. I’d never kissed a vampire, but I imagined they would taste something like this.
But Sam wasn’t a bloodsucker. He’d been out in the sunshine often enough to prove that. I had no idea what had happened to him, but the mere fact I could actually taste the changes scared the hell out of me.
He broke away with a suddenness that tore a gasp from my throat and left me dizzy and breathless. His gaze, when it locked on mine, was hot—hungry—and yet also very angry. With me, with himself, and with the world in general, I suspected.
“Stay away,” he growled, leaving me wondering if he meant from the case or from him.
Then he pushed away from the wall, away from me, and I collapsed into a heap on the floor. The last thing I remember seeing were his boots as he walked away.
They were the boots I’d given him as a birthday present six years ago.
CHAPTER 9
As consciousness resurfaced, I realized I was no longer in the cell. Hard concrete still lay underneath me, but the chilled air was now filled with noise—the hum of traffic, the rumble of a tram rattling past, distant voices rising over the heavy bass beat of music. Obviously, we were no longer at PIT headquarters.