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Evidently, Bones was the belle of the murder ball. But from Tate’s words, Cat must have told him what was really happening. Bones wouldn’t have trusted him with that, but Cat must see something more in Tate than the surly, scorned suitor Bones saw.
“We’re letting him out,” Tate said, confirming that. A second later, all the lights went out. “Or, Cat’s letting him out, and we’re not supposed to murder him because she swears he’s here to find out who tried to kill her,” Tate muttered.
“I am,” Bones said, vaulting up when a side panel in his cell slid open. He was through it before Juan had time to gasp, and then Bones clapped the stunned man on the back.
“Now, if you’d direct me to the elevator?”
Tate backed up and his heartbeat spiked, but he didn’t run. Instead, he said, “We’re going with you.”
Very well. Abrave, surly scorned suitor, Bones conceded. Then he smiled, letting Tate see a hint of fang in his teeth.
“After you.”
* * *
Tate and Juanbacked into either corner of the elevator. Bones pretended not to notice how they palmed their guns as he pressed the button for sub level one. He could smell silver knives on them, too, and then their popping sweat glands as the elevator doors closed, sealing them all inside the small space.
“Cat killed the electricity and opened his cell?” Juan whispered.
“Yep,” Tate said sourly. “Apparently, she planted a virus that overrode the compound’s entire security system. Now, the only things that work are the ones she wants to work.”
“Dios,” Juan muttered.
Moments later, the elevator stopped at sublevel 1. Before the doors could fully open, Cat flung herself into Bones’s arms.
“Guard this door,” she barked to Tate and Juan, who seemed eager to leave the confined space. “No one gets close.”
“Why?” Tate asked. “What are you doing?”
“Giving him blood,” Cat replied while hitting the “close” button on the elevator. “That box drained him.”
“Jesus, Cat-”
The closing doors cut off whatever Tate had been about to say, not that Bones cared. He was too busy inhaling Cat’s scent and sinking his hands into her hair.
“I’ve been worriedsick,” she said as she touched each bloody tear that the capsule’s spikes had made in his clothes.
“You shouldn’t have been,” Bones murmured. “I wasn’t. I knew you’d come through, luv.”
Then, he kissed her until a richer scent replaced the fear saturating her, stopping only when she pushed him back.
“No need for foreplay. Just bite me already.”
A laugh rumbled out of him as his mouth slid to her neck. “You are ever impatient.”
She was also right. Blood would chase away the last of the silver-induced lethargy clinging to him, and he needed to be sharp. Somewhere inside this underground box, a traitor awaited.
She shivered as her skin split beneath his fangs. Then, a shudder swept through her as his venom shot into her bloodstream. He held her tighter as he swallowed, wishing he had time to savor each mouthful, but circumstances denied him that. All too soon, the elevator doors opened, revealing Tate and Juan. When Tate saw Bones’s fangs in Cat’s neck, he aimed his gun at Bones.
Cat drew hers, too, cocking it with one hand. “Back off, Tate! You shoot, and I fire back.”
Bones gave her neck a last lick before saying, “Don’t fret over her safety, mate. I’d never hurt her, but with how you keep looking at her, you don’t get that same promise.”
Tate couldn’t stop staring at the seeping holes in Cat’s neck. “I hope you know what you’re goddamn doing, Cat.”
“I do,” she said. “Now, drop it.”
Tate lowered his gun. Blood loss, stress crash, or both made Cat suddenly sway on her feet. Bones supported her with one arm while taking away her gun with a muttered, “Give me that, Kitten.” Holding a loaded weapon while battling unconsciousness was hardly safe.
