He shook his head. “You can’t kill me.” Malcolm was truly dead now. Rest in peace, brother. Finally. Maybe there would finally be some peace for him on the other side.
Or maybe there would only be more fire.
“I can kill anyone.” She had flames at her fingertips. “I can burn you, from the inside out.”
“Pull it back,” he told her, keeping his voice calm with every ounce of his strength.
For an instant, her expression flickered.
Did she remember? Another time, another place, but he’d spoken those exact words to her before.
The fire died above her hand. She touched her temple. Rubbed it. “Destroy. Burn. It’s what the fire whispers to me.”
He had to get Sabine to ignore that insidious whisper. He had to make her remember. So he told her the same thing he’d told her the first time she’d risen for him. Ryder lifted his hand to her and said, “I thought you were dead.”
Her lips moved. She looked scared, lost. “I was.” Then she shook her head. “Who are you?”
“Ryder.” And he closed the last of the space between them.
She raised her hands again, as if to ward him off, but the fire didn’t burn from her palms. Not now. “Stay away from me!” Sabine shouted.
“Never,” he whispered.
Sabine slammed her palms against her head. “Hurts . . . burn . . .” Her eyes locked on his. “What is happening to me?”
She’d asked him that before. When she’d burned in his cell and returned to him. Now he just told her, “You’re coming back to me.”
Flames were on the ceiling. All around them.
He didn’t risk a glance at the humans. But from the corner of his eye, he saw Dante running from the room. With . . . Cassie cradled in his arms?
But Vaughn and Keith would still be trapped. Sabine’s fire was raging out of control. If he didn’t stop it, how many would die? How many humans were in the building? Would the fire spread to the rest of the block?
To the whole city?
Her power was limitless, he saw that now. Everyone else needed to fear her.
But he . . . he just loved her. Ryder reached for her hands. “Sabine.”
She blinked at him. “I’ve heard your voice . . . calling to me . . . through the fire.”
Yes.
He swallowed. Kept his hands light and gentle on her feverish skin. “Stop the fire,” he told her softly.
“I-I don’t know how!” Tears leaked down her cheeks.
His heart ached. They’d been through all of this before. But this time, he knew what to do.
She knew fury and fear and pain.
He would remind her of something else. Love.
“Help me,” she whispered to him. “Please.”
“I will,” he promised. Then Ryder put his lips to hers. He kissed her, pushing all of the love and need he felt into that kiss.
But she jerked her head away from him. Her eyes were even more afraid. “Why don’t you burn?”
“Because you’d never hurt me.” She was shaking. Hurting so much. He had to stop her pain. “And I won’t let you hurt.”
“Why?”
“Because I love you, Sabine.” He kissed her again. Soft, gentle, even as the fire crackled and raged. She stood tense and scared at first, but then her lips parted just a little. Her breath eased out. He took that breath, as he’d take anything that she’d offer to him.
His lips were careful on hers. He held back his frantic need. Held tight to his control. He just wanted her to return, his Sabine, with her memory. Her fire. Her wit. Her beautiful spirit.
Her hands pushed lightly at his chest. He lifted his head.
She stared at him, and the flames seemed to have dimmed in her eyes. “Y-you . . . you have fangs.”
His heart squeezed at the familiar words. That was what she’d said to him before, too, when they’d been trapped in his cell, and that time, he’d told her, “And you’re burning the room around us.” His voice was husky.
From the corner of his eye, Ryder saw a dark form dart through the doorway. Another man. He ran toward the cage. It looked like the man was trying to help Keith. Trying to save Vaughn.
Ryder focused on Sabine once more. If he didn’t stop Sabine, there would be no saving anyone. “Pull it back, love,” he told her, deliberately using the words he’d said in his cell in order to jar her memory. “Pull it back.” Then he kissed her again. “Focus on me.” Just like they’d done before. “Breathe,” he told her. “Slow. Deep.” His hand moved to rest over her heart. “Too fast,” Ryder told her. “Breathe. You’re safe with me.”
Her breath whispered out. Her hands weren’t pushing against him now. They were digging into his chest.