Ryder’s eyes narrowed. Uh-oh. Could he hear them? It sure looked like he had. Wyatt hadn’t even been speaking into the microphone, but Sabine was certain Ryder had heard the scientist’s words. Enhanced vamp hearing. Very enhanced.
“Open the cell door!” Ryder roared. “Or you can watch as I rip his throat open.”
The guards holding her shifted nervously.
Wyatt stepped away from her and bent over the small microphone. “You can’t be set free,” Wyatt said, voice snapping. “You’re far too dangerous. By keeping you here, we keep the humans in the world safe.”
Ryder sank his teeth into the redhead’s throat. The guy screamed and tried to fight, but he was no match for Ryder.
“We-we can’t just let him die,” the guard to her right muttered. He was sweating. She could almost smell his fear.
“That’s Jim Thomas—he’s got a wife,” another guard muttered. “A baby coming.”
Wyatt stared straight through the glass. With a supreme effort, Sabine managed to keep her gaze open and on Ryder.
Ryder’s head lifted. Blood dripped from his mouth. “Next time, it won’t be just a bite. I’ll rip his whole throat open.”
She knew his threat was real. So did the guards.
“That vampire’s too dangerous,” one said, the sweaty one on her right. “He needs to be put down.”
Wyatt’s head jerked toward them. “That would be a waste, Donaldson.”
“He’s killed our men!” Donaldson fired back as his fingers dug into Sabine’s arm. “He’s about to kill Jim! He can’t be controlled.”
“Of course he can.” Wyatt sounded annoyed, as if he were talking to a small child. His mouth was still close to the microphone as he said, “Just take out your gun and put it to her head.”
Nausea rolled through Sabine. The guard hesitated.
“Do you want to watch Jim Thomas die?” Wyatt pushed.
The guard lifted his gun. The barrel pressed into Sabine’s temple.
“Good,” Wyatt murmured. His gaze darted back to the observation window.
Ryder had frozen. He knew exactly what was happening in that observation room.
“If you don’t let the doctor go, then Donaldson will put a bullet into Sabine’s brain.”
Ryder’s claws—he had claws bursting from his fingertips—dug into the doctor’s throat. “So what? You shoot her, she burns, then she comes back.”
Wyatt actually smiled at that response. “Yes, but we both know the death hurts, don’t we? Do you want her to suffer, vampire?”
Ryder didn’t speak.
If Sabine had been able to do so, she would have shouted, I don’t want to suffer!
“Perhaps you do.” From Wyatt. Considering. “Perhaps you enjoy her pain.” Wyatt waved his hand toward Donaldson. “Go ahead, shoot her.”
Donaldson hesitated. Sabine tried to fight the nausea and the lethargy and the heart-numbing fear. “D-don’t,” she managed to gasp. “I have . . . family . . . too.”
Donaldson’s blue gaze cut to the glass. To Ryder.
“Do it!” Wyatt barked.
Donaldson looked back at her. “You aren’t human.” He said the words as if he were trying to convince himself. His finger began to squeeze the trigger.
Jim Thomas flew into the two-way glass. Ryder had tossed the doctor straight at them.
“Take the gun f**king away from her head,” Ryder snarled.
Donaldson lifted the gun.
“Get the ass**le out of here,” Ryder said, shoulders heaving, as he jerked his thumb toward the door.
The vampire just saved me. Tears stung her eyes.
Wyatt inclined his head toward Donaldson. The guy nodded and rushed to claim his friend. But as soon as Donaldson stepped one foot inside Ryder’s cell, the vampire attacked.
He grabbed Donaldson, tossed him around like a rag doll a few times, and then shoved the guard’s own weapon right against his temple.
“That was a mistake,” Ryder growled at him. “You never, ever put a gun to a woman’s head.” He drove his teeth into Donaldson’s throat. The guard screamed and tried to fight.
Wyatt just watched. Then, after a moment, he sighed. “Briggs, shoot the woman.”
Briggs—the guard still holding her—stared at Sabine with wide eyes.
And he didn’t reach for his gun. Sabine knew why.
Don’t want to wind up like Donaldson, do you?
Wyatt must have realized the guard wasn’t obeying because he whirled around, grabbed the man’s gun, and pressed it against Sabine’s chest.