Of all the clumsy things to do, she fell, and Tomas prepared to let gravity do its thing.

Totally should have. After all, why save a woman he thought already dead? Given his certainty, it was rather surprising to suddenly find her roaming around.

His bad really, as he’d never even thought to look for her. After he’d taken care of the guards—with glee he could not contain—he’d been busy sorting through the computers, trying to glean any information he could before he left this place.

He took too long playing with the guards. By the time he’d made it out of the pit area, a little scratched, plenty happy, and streaked in blood, Parker had already launched his wiping bomb. As in all the hard drives in this place appeared fried. Useless.

Such a waste. He spent a moment smashing things when he realized it.

Once he’d calmed, he was ready to go. Time to leave this place. And he would have, except she wandered into view. Alive.

Mine.

If she managed to live. Sigh. All that thinking took but a mere moment, and in that time, he lunged to grab her. He kept her from falling. He couldn’t have said why.

Why did he not kill her like the others? She was a doctor, no better than the rest. Her status here mocked him with her pristine white coat.

Still, though, even if she was the enemy, she smelled yummy. Too delicious to splatter the bottom of the pit with.

As she teetered, he grabbed her by the shirt and yanked her to safety.

Breath emerging in short, hot pants, she leaned against the wall and regarded him with big eyes.

He crossed his arms over his bare chest and fixed her with a stare. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

“Funny, I was going to say the same thing of you.”

The corner of his mouth lifted. “I’m not that easy to kill.”

“So I see. You also don’t look like you need rescuing.” She sounded disgruntled by the fact.

“I never did.” He’d just chosen to take his time.

“Then why didn’t you leave before? Or did you like being tied down, drugged, and used as a guinea pig?”

“An unavoidable side effect of my decision to remain in captivity.”

She blinked the longest, darkest lashes at him. “No one decides to be a prisoner.”

“Why not? I wasn’t doing anything truly that interesting. Once I realized Parker had an interest in my genes, I found myself interested, too.”

“Did you find out what you wanted?”

His lips pulled down. “No. Which means these past few months were a waste of time.” He’d accomplished nothing and would have to return empty-handed to his home. Not a single new treasure for his trove. He spun on his heel, his bare foot easily sliding on the simple tiled floor.

“Where are you going?”

“Out of here. Like I said, I’m done.” Poor girl was hard of hearing, or stupid, which would be a shame. She was quite pretty.

And yummy smelling.

“I’m coming with you.”

The light touch shouldn’t have shocked him. The doctor had touched him before. Yet, after the intensely strange rage he’d gone through when he thought her dead, only to find out it was a sham, left him a tad volatile. He spun and roared.

Loudly.

Definitely not humanly.

“Don’t. Touch. Me.”

The brave façade she wore crumbled, and she reeled from him, hitting the wall, not using it for support; instead, choosing to slump until she sat on the ground.

He’d scared her.

It didn’t make him feel as good as usual. As a matter of fact, he felt downright wretched about it. Especially since she stared with such fear.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he snapped. The warning didn’t stop her.

From her spot on the floor, knees pulled to her chin, and her dark eyes wide, she stared at him, radiating terror. She wet her lips, the tip of a pink tongue that tempted.

I should kiss her.

Don’t you mean kill her? He assumed a slip of his mental tongue.

“Who—who are you?” she asked, her voice quavering.

As if she didn’t know. “You can stop pretending.”

“I’m not pretending. I was only ever given a file, and while it went into detail about your vital statistics, nothing mentioned your name. Who are you?”

“Don’t you mean what am I?” He laughed. “Did Parker seriously not tell you?”

“Parker doesn’t tell anyone anything. And I only realized after my capture that I was working for him. Before here, I was a scientist for Lytropia. Or, as it turns out, a subsidiary arm of Bittech.”

“Never heard of either.” He shrugged.

“How could you never hear of them? Bittech is the medical institute where Parker made his announcement.”

“What announcement?”

“The one telling the world about his kind.”

“Ah, yes, I vaguely recall him droning on and on about his enlightenment of the world in regards to shifters. Can’t say as I paid much attention, what with him being beneath me and all.” The day-to-day lives of the animals on the planet didn’t usually concern him much.

“Who are you?” she asked him again.

“Humans.” Said with a long-suffering sigh. “You have such an irritating way of constantly nagging until you get answers. You may call me Tomas, since you insist.”

“Introducing yourself is called common courtesy.”

“And yet you’ve yet to introduce yourself. I know you only as Doctor Kashmir.”

“That is my name.”

“Not your first name.”

“Chandra.”

“Chandra,” he repeated. Rolling it on his tongue. Finding it to his liking. Exotic, like her.

She would make a nice addition to his collection.

No, not for the collection. Tomas didn’t deal in people. Ever. Not even attractive female ones.

A slight tremor suddenly rocked the installation. Rock cracked, and dust sifted. The unrelenting groan of metal twisting didn’t reassure.

I think I broke the place. He might have gotten a little violent during his liberation—in other words, knocked a few important support beams out of place. “I think it’s time we made our departure.”

“We? Does this mean I can come with you?” Her voice lifted in an optimistic lilt.

“For now. I’d hate to have to listen to your complaining or screams if I left you behind.”

“Your generosity overwhelms.”

“It should. I’m not a man who gives often.” Tomas usually preferred to share nothing. So this helping-hand thing seemed out of character.

Why was he acting like this?

Because I know I can use her to find out more about Parker and his plans.

Make her talk even if she claimed she knew nothing. Apply a little torture, the oral kind with lots of tongue.

“Thank you for helping me.”

“Don’t thank me.” He definitely had an ulterior motive. “I am not your patient anymore, doctor. As a matter of fact, I’d say the drastic reversal in roles means you should pretty much do or say anything I want.”

“What do you want?” How breathless she sounded.

“You.”

Gasp.

And then, as if he’d orchestrated the moment, the lights went out. Cool. Let the fun begin.