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Damn it.

He saw her rush by. His boots thundered closer.

“Stop!” he shouted, coming around the corner of the corridor. “This is a restricted area—”

Renata pivoted and took him down with a hard mental blast. As he writhed on the floor, she gunned it into the stairwell and raced up the flight to the floor above.

For what wasn’t the first time, she berated herself for having left the lodge without any weapons. She couldn’t keep burning off her power before she even knew if Nikolai was here. She was only operating near half strength as it was; to fully recover from unloading on Lex that morning, she probably needed to shore up for the rest of the day. Unfortunately not an option.

She peered through the reinforced glass of the stairwell door, taking in the clinical layout of the place. A handful of Breed males in white lab coats strolled past on their way to one of the many rooms that branched off the main corridor. Too many for her to take on by herself, even if she was running on all cylinders.

And then there was the small matter of the armed Enforcement Agent posted at the far end of the hallway.

Renata leaned against the interior wall of the stairwell, tipping her head back and quietly exhaling a curse. She’d made it in this far, but what the hell made her think she could penetrate a secured facility like this and actually survive?

Desperation was the answer to that question. A determination that refused to accept that this might be as far as she could go. She had no choice but forward. Into the fire, if that’s what it took.

Fire, she thought, her gaze turning back to the corridor outside the stairwell. Mounted on the wall across from her was a red emergency alarm.

Maybe there was a chance, after all…

Renata crept out of the stairwell and pulled the lever down. A pulsing bell split the air, sending the place into instant chaos. She slipped into the nearest patient’s room and watched as attendants and clinicians raced around in confusion. When it seemed they were all occupied with the false emergency, Renata stepped out into the empty corridor to begin her room-to-room search for Nikolai.

It wasn’t difficult to decide where he might be. Only one room had an armed Enforcement Agent assigned to it. That guard was still there, manning his post despite the alarm that had sent the rest of the floor’s attendants scattering.

Renata glanced at the gun riding the guard’s hip and hoped like hell she wasn’t making a huge mistake.

“Hey,” she said, approaching him at an easy gait. She smiled brightly despite the fact that in that same instant he was scowling and reaching for his weapon. “Can’t you hear that alarm? Time for you to take a break.”

She hit him with a sudden, sizable blast. As the big male crumbled to the floor, she ran to peer inside the room behind him.

A blond vampire lay strapped to a bed, naked, convulsing and straining against the metal bonds that held him down. The Breed skin markings that swirled and arced over his chest and down his thick biceps and thighs were livid with pulsating color, seeming almost alive the way the saturations mutated from shades of crimson and deep purple to darkest black. His face was hardly human, completely transformed by the presence of his fangs and the glowing coals of his eyes.

Could it be Nikolai? At first, Renata wasn’t sure. But then he lifted his head and those feral amber eyes locked on to her. She saw a flash of recognition in them, and a misery that was palpable even from a distance.

Her heart twisted, burning with regret.

Good Lord, what had they done to him?

Renata grabbed the bulk of the unconscious guard and dragged him with her into the room. Nikolai bucked on the bed, snarling incomprehensibly, words that sounded close to madness.

“Nikolai,” she said, going to his bedside. “Can you hear me? It’s me, Renata. I’m going to take you out of here.”

If he understood, she couldn’t be certain. He growled and fought his bonds, fingers flexing and fisting, every muscle taut.

Renata bent down