Furious Fire: Grimm's Circle, Book 8 by Shiloh Walker Page A

lunged for her desk. She grabbed a bag from the floor, jerked it up. In the time it took him to reach the door, she’d opened it and pulled out a gun.
    Her head whipped toward him and she froze, her weapon hand falling slack to her side.
    Her mouth parted, as though she’d say something, but then they both turned as a sound slithered through the air. It was faint, so faint she shouldn’t have heard it. How did she?
    In his limited German, he managed to tell her to leave.
    Ada arched a brow. “I speak English. No. I’m not leaving.” Then she moved off into the darkened infirmary. “They just keep coming. This will never end…”
    Shock rippled down his spine as she placed her back along a wall, and then peered down the hall.
    They…
    There were several of them, their evil a toxic breath along his skin. And they were coming closer.
    He didn’t waste but a moment.
    There was really only one thing he could do.
    He was here to protect mortals and she was mortal.
    Grabbing her, he rushed the back door, a hand clamped over her mouth to silence her screams.
    They were outside in seconds and he had her in the shadows, on the ground.
    She was up swinging and he caught her wrist, that frail wrist, her skin dry, rough…and he didn’t care. He wanted her naked and under him and the guilt was eating him alive, both for that desire and for what he had to do. “You can’t do this,” he said, his voice grim. “You don’t know what is in there.”
    “I do,” Ada spat at him. “They are demons and my job is to kill them and protect my patients.”
    He gaped, but only for a second.
    “No. My job is to protect them. You heal them. And you’ll continue to do it.” After she woke up.
    He swung out a fist, clipping her on the jaw. He caught her before she hit the ground.
    She’d wake in a bit, but by then, he and Greta would be done.
    His partner was already in there, fighting in a fury, from what he could hear. This wasn’t a fight for mortals, even if she did somehow understand what she was fighting.
    I was dreaming.
    I knew it and struggled to break free. It was useless, but I tried anyway.
    Right up until he was there.
    Even as I lay dying in his arms, I felt whole.
    All because he was there.
    He stared at me, eyes stark and I wanted so badly to reach up, touch his face.
    You… I wanted to tell him something, but I couldn’t.
    And then the dream began to fade. My throat ached. I wanted to reach for him, pull him to me, hold tight. Then he couldn’t disappear. But some part of me knew this wasn’t real. It was a dream. Just a dream. Eyes like copper. Hair that tumbled far too long down to his shoulders, curled into his eyes.
    My hands itched to push his hair back, itched to pull him closer.
    You…
    Some part of my heart sighed. How many lifetimes?
    Tommy…
    Tears pricked my eyelids now. I feared opening them. I’d seen him—
    No.
    I swallowed the knot in my throat.
    I hadn’t.
    I was remembering the other times. I swallowed and could almost taste the blood in my throat. I thought maybe that had been my last life, but I wasn’t sure.
    They all ran together, especially now, with my head a hazed, clouded mess. The fog began to clear as the dream grew more insubstantial. Waking was a bitch, especially now, when the memory of him was so close, it was like I could reach out, pull him to me.
    But he wasn’t here.
    And my head was killing me.
    Also, I had no idea where I was.
    That right there had me tensing up.
    “If you’re awake, you might as well open your eyes. This won’t end until we solve the puzzle of you.”
    That voice—
    I bolted upright, sweeping my hand out for the knife I slept with, only to realize how stupid—
    Except it was there.
    Under my pillow.
    The pillow, I realized, that wasn’t mine.
    Blinking, I studied the pillowcase—a shade of blood red—before lifting my head to stare at the man in front of me.
    He was just as inhuman now as he had been the last time. Silver-white hair, silver