"Take it easy, Brass."

"I can't." Too agitated to sit any longer, Brass got to his feet. It smelled stale in here, muggy and close. Raking a hand through his already tangled, sweaty black hair, he cursed. "We need to get them out of there!" He stabbed a finger at the facility he and Flame were monitoring on various screens scattered around the van.

They were almost ten miles from the site they had determined Amber to be at, or at least that her phone had been at when she texted Brass a week ago. Holed up for almost 12 hours in a small van outfitted with all kinds of gadgets courtesy of Task Force knowledge and New Species money. Late last night, Bestial had snuck in and laid out a bunch of surveillance goodies. A half dozen motion sensors, and two wireless cameras; one regular, one thermal imaging. However, the most useful, and scariest, information the taciturn Species had discovered had been via his nose.

"Explosives," he'd advised Justice over the phone. "I can smell them, along with lots of ammonia. They have the whole place wired to blow."

It was the last piece to fall in a domino effect of bad luck for Amber and Vengeance. First, despite Justice's best intentions, not only had the Task Force not been assembled in an hour, they had been clear across the country…and still were. Minutes before Brass and Flame had alerted the NSO leader to the coordinates they'd found, Tim Oberto had gotten the green light on a volatile Gift extraction in DC. The Task Force had been watching the situation for weeks, ready to go at the drop of a hat. The hat had dropped and Tim was already in the air when he went to call Justice—only to have the NSO leader ring him first.

It was a difficult decision all around, but Justice had made the final call. If they abandoned the Gift now, likely they would not get another shot at her. She'd be dead. No one knew the extent of the situation with Amber and Vengeance, so they could only hope a few more hours would not be so pivotal for them.

Justice had considered letting the NSO team itself handle this themselves, but after sending Bestial in for recon, he'd nixed that. It was decided they'd wait for the Task Force.

Best case ETA on that: approximately four fucking hours.

"Goddamn it! They could be dying right now, Flame."

"Soon, Brass. Hold it together, buddy." Flame's own face was strained and pale in the glowing lights as the monitors flickered. The sun was rising, people were moving. What will this day bring? Brass thought, as cold fear tightened his gut.

"Wakey, wakey."

The guard's familiar chortle had Amber groaning. She opened her eyes, feeling tired, but deliciously sated. She didn't know what had gotten into Vengeance last night, but…

For the first time, she realized his heat wasn't at her back. It was always freezing down here, and the lack of his warmth made her shiver as she lifted her head.

A low growl had her lips curving, until something inexplicable in the familiar sound made her insides quiver. She turned to see Ven on the far side of the cage, crouching low to the floor. His nostrils were flared, streaks of blood smeared on his face and arms. Amber shot up.

Those massive shoulders bunched at her sudden movement, his teeth bared in a snarl.

"Ven?"

Her voice made his heart stutter in his chest, but Vengeance couldn't stop now. The guard's eyes were on him, curious and wary, their breakfast tray balanced on his hands. It had to be now, or Amber wouldn't have a shot at all.

Hurting her was the only way he could save her. Ven steeled himself.

Forgive me.

Then he lunged.

Amber watched him move, her jaw slack. He wasn't going for the guard, he was leaping for…her. The realization hit her far too late, and even then she wasn't afraid, not really.

His arms encircled her, like living iron, those hot, slick muscles a solid wall, rippling and bunching around her. So much raw power. Even in their first encounter, she had never felt this small, this insignificant in his arms. Instinctively, her heart started to race.

He could kill her in an instant. So quickly, so easily, she'd be dead before she'd feel a thing.

That's crazy talk. Ven is not a danger to me.

Even as his muscles tensed uncomfortably tight around her, it didn't sink in. She refused to let it. Vengeance would not hurt her, he would never…

With a powerful snap, he shoved her away, throwing her face first into the bars. Her head slammed painfully into metal and snapped back. Something hot and wet immediately flowed into her eyes, blinding her. There was an indrawn hiss at her back, but Amber was too dazed to notice. Her fingers reached up as she blinked her vision clear, stunned as she saw them come away, shaking and red with blood.

Her blood. Ven had hurt her. On purpose. He—

The guard's eyes outside the cage widened as he looked from her, to something over her shoulder. There was a crash as he dropped their tray, fingering his shoulder mike with one hand as he reached for his Taser with the other, running at the cage.

"Situation in the bunker!" He screamed. "Situation—"

The cameras must have done their work better than him, because already she could hear feet pounding down the hallway. The sound was soon drowned by the snarls growing louder behind her. Amber turned just as Vengeance leapt again. Going to her knees, Amber rolled under him, barely avoiding a swipe from one huge hand. There was a terrific boom as his body hit the bars, the cage shook, but Ven didn't even seem winded as he whirled yet again. He stalked closer, slow and predatory as Amber crawled backwards, crab like. Behind him, she saw Trainor and Dr. Maeng skid into the room, followed closely by two other guards.

Above her, Ven crouched low, forcing her to cower back as his fingers curled into fists.

He growled, viciously enough that she gasped. But she could see the pain in his eyes, for a second it flashed so clearly through the blackness, it nearly tore her in two. Without thought, Amber held her hands out to him.

"What's wrong, Ven?"

He growled again and her hands started to shake, but she wouldn't lower them. "Talk to me. Please, sweetheart!"

"Take him down, now. Before he kills her. Now, you idiots!" The doctor screeched, her voice full of panic and rage.

Two of the guards held Tasers, one a dart gun; while Trainor seemed content to watch, his arms folded loosely over his chest.

"Can't get a shot, doc." Amber heard one of the men mumble, "not without hitting the woman. You okay with that?"

"No! You mustn't hit her, she's far more important than him now—"

Ven straightened as they spoke, almost—Amber thought through the haze of confusion and fear the doctor's odd words had increased—as if he wanted to give them a better target. All that vicious male power loomed over her for a moment, his skin beaded with sweat, his eyes dark. Then he mouthed something, a handful of words, just before the Tasers struck simultaneously.

Her lips parted to scream as he fell, face down on the concrete next to her, his body twitching.

She rolled, putting her hand on the back of his neck. "What did you do, Ven? What the fuck did you do?"

Amber pushed frantically, but he was far too heavy for her to roll over. Finally, she managed to get his head turned enough she could see his face, slack and lifeless, his cheek against cold floor.

"Get her out of there, away from him! And if you idiots have killed him, so help me…"

Amber barely heard the doctor, she seemed to have gone numb, all over, but when the hard hands came down, trying to drag her away from Ven, she fought them off violently. Before long, they'd pinned her and were lifting her bodily from the floor.

As the men pulled her away, her eyes stayed glued to Ven, whose skin seemed to pale right in front of her, his lips turning blue.

Those lips that had just soundlessly uttered, "Don't give up. Ever. I love you.'

"No!" The screams finally came. Over and over. Reverberating off the concrete and steel as the cage door clanged shut behind her.