Taming the Fire (23 page)

“This is for my pleasure—you understand that,” he told her when he lifted his head from her breasts. She nodded, but they both knew it wasn't entirely true. This had been about both of them from the second he'd walked into the club and found her.

“I'm going to take you—the way I've wanted to since we first met. And then we're going to talk. There are things I have to tell you.” He'd tell her everything, explain about ACRO. About how he would be able to help her.

“Okay.” She looked up at him, trusting. He wondered how long it had been since she'd trusted anyone but herself.

He reached down and prepared to sheath himself inside of her warm sex just as the house alarms began to blare.

He didn't have time to unchain Rik before pulling the semiautomatic rifle from its hiding place inside one of the basement's hollow wall panels. He pressed a few buttons to bring up the camera screens—most of them were down, except for the two backups that focused on the most vulnerable sections of the house.

Before he could do more, out of the corner of his eye he caught the shadows of two figures standing in the doorway. One was an unarmed woman who looked a little frightened. The other had a gun trained on Trance. They had breached the system, bypassed the cameras and now stood, in the flesh, in the basement.

Ryan stood there—angry, yes, but confused too, as if he wasn't sure he should be here armed. He faltered, and Trance noted what he held in his other hand—it looked like a remote and it was pointed toward Rik's collar. “Ryan, let's talk this through. You know I can fix this. I told you that already.”

“I don't need fixing—I need answers.”

Trance stared him down. “Right now, those two are one and the same.”

Ryan held his Sig in one hand, aimed at the ACRO agent, and the remote to Ulrika's collar in the other. “Stay right there, or I blow her head off.”

“Take it easy, man.” The agent held up his hands. “Just let me get a blanket to cover her up.”

Ryan glanced at the wolf woman, who was fully bound, fully naked and shaking like a leaf. Goddammit. He didn't want to feel sorry for her, but obviously, she was scared to death.

“Please, Ryan,” Coco whispered. “Don't hurt these people. At least let her have a blanket.”

“Fine,” he snapped, and nodded at the other agent. “Cover her. And tell me your name.”

“Trance.” Trance moved slowly toward the bed in the corner, took the comforter off it and placed it over Ulrika, who watched him with utter trust, and looked at Ryan with absolute terror in her gorgeous golden eyes.

“Unchain me.” Her voice was thin, barely audible.

“Since I'm here to kill you,” Ryan said, “that's probably not a good idea.”

Trance's hands closed into fists. “Ryan, listen to me. You aren't an Itor agent. You're ACRO.”

“Trance?” Ulrika was frowning at him, jerking at her chains. “How do you know him?”

Trance ignored her. “Listen to me. You went undercover to infiltrate Itor. They found out, and they scrubbed your mind. Whatever they've told you isn't true.”

Ryan shook his head, his mind having trouble processing the information, even though he'd suspected it. He looked at Trance, saw the other man's eyes narrow, the pupils contracting and dilating, and…
Fuck!
He looked away quickly, realizing what was happening. The guy was a natural hypnotist… which was how he'd been able to get to Ryan while he was looking through Ulrika's eyes.

Fucking wonderful.

“Don't look into his eyes, Coco,” he said, but when she didn't answer, he knew it was too late. Worse, not looking into Trance's eyes severely limited Ryan's ability to read the guy. This pretty much sucked. And was why both the Air Force and ACRO had drilled into him the importance of not running into a situation half-cocked…

Hey… he remembered something. Air Force training. It was vague, but there. Itor had told him he'd been a U.S. Marine, which had felt wrong for some reason. And ACRO… man, he remembered being put through the wringer in training that was more intense than anything the Air Force had done to him. Some hot blonde named Annika had been the drill instructor from hell—

“Put the gun and remote down,” Trance said, interrupting the memories that were both good and bad, but definitely welcome. “You don't want to hurt either of us.”

Ryan snorted. “Not a chance.”

“Why are you here? To kill Rik? To capture her and me? Because neither of those things are going to happen.”

“I'm here to find out who the hell I am.”

“I told you.”

“And who's to say you aren't lying? Maybe Itor is telling the truth and ACRO is the one trying to fuck me up.” Which could definitely be the case. ACRO could have put those Air Force and ACRO memories into his head.

“Trance?”

Again, Trance ignored Ulrika, who had begun to struggle against her bonds. “Do you really believe that?”

“I don't know what to believe. This could be some sort of elaborate setup by ACRO. Or an Itor test.”

“Listen to me,” Trance said, moving forward a step. Behind him, Ulrika had frozen, was staring at the ceiling while her chest moved with rapid, ragged breaths, and Ryan had a feeling she was trying to keep it together. “Look into my eyes—”

“Fuck that.”

“Do it, Ryan. If you want to get your memory back, it's your best option, and you know it.”

He was probably right, but this could also be a trick. Then again, at this point, Ryan had little to lose. He raised his gaze, and immediately, Trance's eyes locked on. Ryan's mind screamed in protest, but he couldn't look away. Couldn't fight the sensation of being violated.

“Remember,” Trance said. “Remember your childhood.” Instantly, years of his life slammed into Ryan's brain. Christ, he'd been a happy kid, full of life and with a laughing, perpetually optimistic mother. No father, but his mom, a schoolteacher, had made up for that, and he'd never felt like anything was missing.

“Good.” Trance moved closer, but Ryan couldn't do anything about it. “Now remember your time in the military. Remember enlisting. Basic training. Your first mission. Your last mission.”

Again, memories flooded his head, with such force that it snapped back on his neck. He'd feel that one like whiplash later.

He became distantly aware that his gun and the remote to Ulrika's collar had been taken away, and although he really wanted to fight, he couldn't. He just kept staring into Trance's eyes. He heard Coco pleading with Trance to release Ryan, and when her pleas failed, she threatened him. The little firecracker was actually swearing and telling Trance she was going to whack him over the head with her laptop. Even after Trance pointed the weapon at her and told her to cuff herself to the wall, she kept cursing, but Ryan heard the rattle of chains and knew she'd obeyed.

“Okay, Ryan, now think about ACRO. How you got there. Do you remember that?”

Ryan nodded, because yep, he remembered. He'd gotten involved in something bad while in the military, something he had been blackmailed into. Arms dealing. When the Air Force initiated an internal investigation, he'd gone AWOL and started working for the bad guys, mainly for survival. It had come down to live free as a criminal or live out the rest of his life in a military prison.

But when Coco interrupted the transfer of money he'd been sending to his bosses from the sale of weapons, he'd ended up running from everyone. ACRO had nabbed him just as the bad guys were closing in, had saved his life and given him a new one.

Ryan didn't know how long he stood there, letting his past weave itself back into the fabric of his life, but eventually he felt almost whole. Almost, because there were still holes.

“Ryan, I need you to get on your knees.”

Ryan did it. Like a well-trained dog. “Good. Now, I'm going to release you, and when I do, you'll stay there. Just like that. You'll let me restrain you. Got it?”

“Yes.” Son of a bitch. Had he just said that?

Trance turned away, and a sense of relief washed over Ryan. A sense of relief and a sudden urge to do exactly the opposite of what the other agent had told him. Yes, his memory had come back, and he knew Trance was a friend. But he also wasn't going to sit around and let himself be tied up and transferred back to ACRO like a trussed-up turkey.

Or like Ulrika.

He launched himself at Trance, too late remembering the guy's excedo gift. He hit Trance squarely in the back, knocking them both into the wall.

“Son of a—” Trance cut off as Ryan's fist plowed into his gut.

For a second, Ryan thought he might actually stand a chance, especially when Trance rolled and groaned. But Ryan's victory was short-lived. As he moved in to put Trance into the wall again, the other man swept his legs out, catching Ryan in the chest so hard his breath blew out of his lungs. He lay stunned while Trance cuffed him.

“Sorry, man,” Trance said, as if that was going to help his damned cracked ribs heal. “But until we get you back to ACRO, I'm not taking any chances.”

Ryan wanted to cuss at him, but he still didn't have any breath. So instead he looked over at Coco, who was snarling like a wildcat and leaping against the chain around her ankle as though trying to get to Trance. Man, if glares were lasers, Trance would have holes through his head.

How cute.

“Don't… hurt… her,” he gasped between painful breaths, and Trance scowled at him.

“Do you ever remember me hurting a helpless woman?”

“I'm not helpless, you ass,” she snapped, and Ryan would have laughed if it didn't hurt so much.

“Well?” Trance said, ignoring her.

“No,” Ryan admitted. But then, not everything had come back to him. Sure, most of his life had, but some things were still gaping voids. Like his sex life. Why the hell could he not remember what was up with those damned videos. Although he couldn't remember Trance ever hurting a woman, there was evidence that said Ryan had.

“Jesus, Trance,” came a new female voice, a familiar one. Annika. “I knew you were into some kinky shit, but damn. Two women and a guy? And hey, Ryan, I really didn't know you were into the dudes.” Ryan craned his neck to watch the icy blonde strut into the room, somehow looking sexy in black BDUs and combat boots. She gestured to the table where Ulrika lay, but Ryan could no longer see her. “So this is the leashed assassin, huh?”

“Shut up, Annika,” Trance snapped, but it was too late. Something about what Annika said set Ulrika off, and as the god awful snarl echoed around the basement, Ryan realized what had just happened.

Trance had tricked her, and she'd finally just realized that, without a doubt, she'd been betrayed.

U
LRIKA COULDN'T STOP
screaming any more than she could stop the past couple of minutes from replaying in her mind.

When Ryan had burst into the basement with the woman, Ulrika had been terrified, especially when she saw the remote in his hand. But Trance had remained calm, confident, in control. She'd believed his law enforcement training had been responsible.

It wasn't until it became obvious that he knew Ryan—an Itor agent—that a cold shroud of dread had settled over her, and the wolf, which had been relaxed and content for the first time ever, stirred uncomfortably. Still, she chose to believe Trance and Ryan knew each other from somewhere else.
Hoped
they knew each other from somewhere else and that there was a good reason he hadn't mentioned it sooner.

Even when Trance mentioned ACRO, which she'd never brought up to him, she still couldn't quite make her mind go there.

But then the scary blond woman he'd called
Annika
had walked in, and her words had broken the wall of denial like a hammer on glass.
“So this is the leashed assassin, huh?”

Trance had betrayed her. Panic and terror surged in her chest, building until all she could do to release the pressure was scream.

“Rik,” he said, putting one hand on her belly. “Calm down. I can explain.”

“You bastard!”
She'd spent months evading capture by Itor—or any of the supernatural agencies—and in the end she walked right into one of their traps. Inside, the beast was clawing to get out.

“Listen to me.” Trance's voice was low and soothing, but she wasn't buying it. Her Itor handlers had been good at fooling her with kindness… right before they did something painful to her. “We're going to help you. No one is going to hurt you, okay?”