Taken by Fire by Sydney Croft Read Free Book Online Page B

hadn’t gotten the call from TAG that things were in place, and leaving now to get the Itor meds would be too risky. So the only thing to do was take advantage of this new development. “Good. Bring her on, Mel.”
    “Trust me, you don’t want this.”
    “Don’t you dare tell me what I want—what I want is for that bitch to die.” Dev might want this woman back at ACRO, but if Phoebe came out now, Stryker could have some fun with her and
maybe
bring her back alive.
    But the way he felt at the moment, with the anger bubbling to the surface, he didn’t think the alive thing was an option at all. “Come on out, Phoebe.” Melanie backed up, managed to get a few steps out of his reach before he was on her, slamming her against the wall. “Phoebe, you little bitch—I know you can hear me. Come on out and we’ll have some fun. Correction—I’ll have some fun ripping your fucking throat out.”
    An image of Akbar flashed in his mind—he heard Akbar’s screams from that final day ringing in his ears as he cupped Melanie’s throat in his hand and squeezed. “Bring the bitch out. Because I can kill you both right now, but it won’t be nearly as satisfying.”
    With that, the floor beneath them shook—and slammed him out of his tirade. He realized that he desperately needed to get himself back in control and wondered if it was too late this time.
    But the earthquake his anger had created was only one of his problems. The other was the rock-hard erection and the feeling of uncontrollable arousal that passed over him and made everything hazy.
    His hand had slipped from Melanie’s throat to her breast and she drew in a sharp gasp as through her shirt he worked a nipple between his thumb and forefinger.
    The fury and the arousal would combine to create a hell of a show, both outside and here … against the wall … on the table … on the floor …
    Whether or not he’d allow himself to go there was suddenly, sickeningly, out of his control as the haze enveloped him in its grasp.
    H and still on the phone, Devlin O’Malley almost called Gabriel or Marlena. Normally, either one of them could bring him instant comfort with their mere presence.
    This morning, nothing would help the feeling of impending doom spreading through his body.
    Fire-and-ice woman is Alek’s daughter
.
    The words echoed in his head, a terrible cacophony, until his eyes watered and he was sure he’d throw up. Unable to sit still, he paced the office floor until he could control his breathing.
    Stryker was still angry—wanted nothing more than to kill the woman he now held hostage. He’d delivered the news of who she was to Dev carefully, but his operative had no idea of the impact of the information.
    Stryker would have no way of knowing that Melanie/Phoebe was also Dev’s sister, likely half sister.
    He had a sibling. One who had murdered one of his agents. She’d probably murdered more—ACRO had an entire file ofoperatives who had been either killed at the hands of an unknown assailant or gone MIA and were presumed dead.
    He sat down heavily in his chair and stared out the window into the gray dawn.
    Very few things threw him these days. The death of Oz, his former lover, best friend, and ACRO agent, had done so, but with Gabriel’s help, he’d slowly come out of mourning. And he’d spent the last year meticulously planning Itor’s demise and falling in love all over again.
    Things had been good. The best they had been for him since taking over ACRO after the deaths of his parents ten years earlier. He’d spent those years besting Itor Corp more often than not, as well as helping the U.S. government nail terrorists who threatened the country. Although the government officially denied ACRO’s existence, something Dev insisted on, they would pass on information to ACRO when they suspected that a member of the military or another organization had special or rare powers. It was a win-win all around, and Dev’s time at ACRO’s