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but so was a hint of reproach and disappointment. He wanted her to cooperate, and that desire tugged at her.
    Damn it, she wanted to cooperate with him. Her insides quivered with the need to just open her mouth and tell him everything, but her honor-bound word left that need straining in bondage.
    “All right.” Cassie managed to squeeze out those two words against the tidal wave pulling at her. She’d never wanted to answer a question so much in her life.
    He stared at her, searching her expression. Whatever he saw there seemed to mollify him, and he released her gaze. Cassie nearly sagged in the chair. Had Book not looked away, she didn’t think she would have been able to.
    “And your second question?” She was proud of the calmness in her voice.
    “What?”
    “You said you had a couple more questions—”
    Special Agent Book surged to his feet, cutting off her words with a sweep of his hands. “We have company.”

Chapter Four

    Helcyon produced a sword from thin air, slid forward, and jerked Cassie from the chair. Book let out an oath, but his hand slid into his jacket for the gun tucked in the holster. Cassie barely had time to register either man’s actions when a blow struck along her spine, welts of fire stinging her flesh and robbing her of breath.
    She collapsed forward, slamming into Book’s legs, but she barely rocked him as he brought his gun to bear, legs apart, feet braced. She gaped at the fierce expression darkening the agent’s features. The soft, autumn-brown eyes blazed hot. His jaw was clenched, a muscle leaping in his cheek, and the shadows of the room seemed to lengthen, elongating around them and casting first Book and then Helcyon in stark relief.
    Cassie shot a look over her shoulder, heart in her throat. What could paint such an ugly expression on two beautiful men? “What the hell?”
    “Stay down,” Helcyon and Book barked simultaneously.
    The situation might almost have been funny, but malevolence oozed off the man—no, that wasn’t a man. It was a creature, a mass of twisting, sinuous shadows—whatever it was. Eyes the color of pitch bored into her, rooting through her soul, freezing her blood. Her heart thumped in her chest, the rushing sound of water flooded her ears, and the floor fell away from beneath her hands.
    “Grab her!” Helcyon snarled something else in another language. The silver of his sword flashed and screaming rent the air.
    Cassie tried to blot the sound out with her hands. Book seized her shoulders in strong hands, dragging her upward just as an inky, black tentacle wrapped around her left leg and yanked.
    Helcyon’s sword flashed again, and this time Cassie joined the screaming as it severed the tentacle wrapping around her leg. The world exploded in burning cordite as a gun popped close to her face. Book’s arm secured itself around her middle, and he backed up, Cassie pressed hard to him.
    Cassie stared, openmouthed, at the scene unfolding in front of her. The quiet, nondescript hospital room was alive with shadows and silver. In front of them, Helcyon danced with the black tentacles that struck out suddenly, looking for a weakness. When one tentacle snaked through an opening, Book shot it. Wetness soaked Cassie’s leg, and she looked down to see a crimson stain pooling at her feet.
    The world tipped on its axis. Cassie couldn’t stop staring at the bloody pool. She leaned forward, a hand outstretched, only to have Book slap it sharply. She jerked her wounded hand back with a muttered oath.
    “Hands to yourself, girly,” Book snapped, hauling her across the room toward the door. Another black tentacle reached for her, drawing her attention. It arched toward her and she ducked away as Helcyon slid between her and the tentacle, sword cutting.
    “We need to get out of here.” Book spoke to the Elven warrior, who continued to move with inhuman grace, pivoting, spinning, and sword blocking, dancing, slicing, and deflecting.
    “The doorway,”