The sound of gunfire and the last rumble had stopped hours ago, and still, Chandra hesitated to come out of hiding. When the silent alarms had started, she did the only thing she could think of, what they’d taught in the lockdown practices at school—hide.

She’d not survived being gassed—and revived with an antidote—to die now because someone was trying to liberate the medical research lab. At least, she hoped it was liberation. She dreaded to think what it would mean if something worse than her patient had gotten loose.

But he’d claimed he was here alone.

He claimed. And what made her think she could trust his word? No matter what currently happened, the best thing to do was stay out of the way and survive.

The metal cabinet in her room proved easy to squeeze into, and she was glad of it because, when the gunfire stopped, something made the whole place rumble. Chunks of debris fell, hitting the floor hard. Things creaked and groaned, making her cringe. Please don’t let the ceiling fall on me.

The shaking tapered, and yet she didn’t move. In the cabinet, there was a measure of safety. A sense of nothing can get me here.

Fear kept her hiding as she waited and waited to see if someone would come looking for her. Time passed. She thought she heard a step in the hall. Possibly imagined it.

More seconds on the clock ticked tirelessly along. Hiding was all well and good, except reality intruded. Eventually, her bladder reminded her that she couldn’t stay here forever.

What felt like an eternity after the last discernible tremble, she unfolded herself from the cramped space and basically spilled onto the floor as her numb legs refused to cooperate. Lucky for her, the lab appeared empty and quiet. Too quiet.

Was anyone still alive? The fact that no one came looking didn’t bode well.

Only heavy silence blanketed everything, reinforcing the sad truth that she was alone. Then again, she’d been almost entirely alone since her capture a few days ago. The guards certainly didn’t socialize much, and she’d only briefly met a few other doctors before being sequestered again.

Are they alive and huddling in their rooms, too? Perhaps, she wasn’t alone.

I’m not. She shouldn’t forget who else shared this place.

The patient with the dark eyes that sparked with green fire—they didn’t glow, not yet, but Chandra began to think he could be the man in the video.

How had the patient fared from the quake? Did he even live? He claimed to live in the pit.

How dangerous is he that they force him in there?

So dangerous, he hadn’t killed her when he had the chance.

Why didn’t he kill me?

She’d had time to wonder about it during her time inside the cabinet. Time to wonder since her heart stopped racing from the neutralizing agent for the sleeping drug.

If Chandra didn’t know better, she would have sworn at times the patient flirted with her. More disturbing, a part of her had responded to him.

Attracted to an alpha-hole. Her therapist had warned it might happen, despite Chandra’s intense dislike of growing up with one as a father.

Yet, how had Marisol explained it? “You’ll date smart men. Men like you who use their brains, not their fists. You will think you are attracted.”

“I am,” she’d agreed. Her latest boyfriend was proof.

“Yet you always crave something more. You’ll want a man who can take charge.”

In that, Marisol was wrong. Chandra preferred the lack of strife an omega male brought. She had no interest in men who thought highly of themselves or ordered women around. So why her intense attraction to the patient?

I can’t keep calling him the patient. He had a name. She just didn’t know it yet, and she might never know it if he didn’t survive whatever had happened.

As she walked the hall, she noted the heaving floor tiles and the dipping ceiling. In some sections, parts of it hung down, and she skirted these, especially the innocuous dangling wires. If she hurt herself, who knew if or when anyone would find her. Maybe never.

She’d rarely seen anyone since her arrival. Most of her instructions—and threats—came via hidden speakers.

She’d heard nothing since the quake.

What did that mean?

Have we been abandoned?

It wouldn’t surprise her. That seemed to be standard operation with illegal medical labs these days. Abandon ship before discovery. And if this medical research facility owned by Parker held true to pattern, he’d wipe all traces. Which meant this lab would disappear, along with anything and everyone in it.

I need to find a way out. But before that, she had to do the right thing, even if freeing him would probably result in him eating her in a single gulp.

She’d heard the rumors, read the reports. He was a killer.

A stone-cold killer of humans.

Yet, it didn’t seem fair to let him slowly starve in his prison. Never mind she’d starve with him, too, if no one came to save her or she didn’t find a way out.

She really wasn’t counting on rescue. Who would come? No one but Parker and a few of the soldiers who worked on the outside even knew this lab existed, so she could only wonder who’d come to raid. Was it Dex? Had he done some geeky computer thing and managed to trace her location?

Hesitating at every step, Chandra exited her hallway, which held three labs and some sleeping quarters. According to Parker—who loved the sound of his own voice—this was where they sent the scientists who got too nosey in their other places of business.

At the moment, only Chandra and a few other doctors lived here. The guards stayed in a separate wing.

At the end of the long hall, loomed a door leading into the true belly of the hidden facility. She peered around the doorjamb to see another empty hall and more evidence of damage. The only sound was her feet in their thin slippers, slapping on the tile floor—a lovely gift from those who’d kidnapped her and brought her to this place. She didn’t even get to wear her own clothes. Just nondescript smocks and pants, along with the long white coat that she insisted on wearing so she could remind herself of the oath she’d taken. An oath Parker wanted to twist.

The gentle hum of the air recirculation system uttered an occasional stutter, a gentle reminder that, once the power failed, she’d die from a lack of oxygen. This place didn’t have any windows that she’d seen. Eventually, fresh air would become an issue, but it would be a gentle way to die. She’d just fall asleep and never wake.

At the end of the hall was a door that required a swipe of her keycard. It still had power for the moment, but she hesitated before entering.

She’d never gone in there before while he was awake, mostly out of fear. She’d watched the videos. Seen what he could do.

But who could blame him… She reminded herself that he hadn’t killed her before when he had the chance.

Before she could change her mind, Chandra entered the musty space. A cave within a building, within a mountain. A prison for someone very dangerous, or so Parker claimed.

A balcony made of riveted metal plates ringed a deep pit, the stone walls of it sheer and glasslike, impossible to climb, not that the man chained at the bottom could move that far. As the guards had explained, the tethers binding the man were short. The drugs they injected him with strong. So very strong. And yet, those drugs would have worn off a few hours ago without someone to administer them.

Chandra peered down into the depths, noting the shadows. She knew from the video she’d seen just how well he could blend with the darkness.

Was that him? It had to be, because how many men could Parker have hiding in a hole?

Actually, given Parker’s mental instability, it could be quite a few.

But, right now, she was only worried about one man. The man she’d seen only once before. The one who’d chosen not to kill her.

Did he hide below and watch? Did he plan her death?

Would he understand she was here to free him? I’ll get you out of there. Even if it’s the last stupid thing I do.

The security chamber, usually manned by guards, was empty—and not gently. There were bullet holes in the glass. Blood spatters on the floor and across the blank monitors. The screens with their views of the pit were dead, completely dead, along with many of the lights.

Sabotage or something more frightening? Had systems already failed? Surely, there were backup generators. Or had those been destroyed in the attack? What if the engine running this place died? Then she’d be in the dark and unable to help him or herself.

Help me my goddess, Devi.

Help yourself. Funny how the reply sounded like her grandmother.

Back out in the parapet area, she eyed the pit. She saw no way down. No way to help the patient. She leaned over and peered more intently. She saw a strange heap at the bottom.

Was that a boot? Odd since the patient was usually kept barefoot.

If that wasn’t him at the bottom, then… “Where are you?” she muttered.

“Looking for me?” The words were whispered in a gruff voice from behind, enough to startle Chandra into falling forward, into the pit!