I don’t think they are.

“Your powers were dormant. I knew I had to wake them, I just didn’t know how.” Now frustration thickened his words. “I sent you to killers. I put you face to face with evil, hoping it would trigger your own darkness.”

He’d gotten her access to all of those serial killers in prison. She’d thought he wanted to help people, to stop death. But he’d just wanted to use her.

“But the humans weren’t enough. They couldn’t break through your wall. I’d met a shaman who told me that fear would be the key for breaking you.”

So he’d sent her to Purgatory. Opportunity of a lifetime, my ass.

“Everyone fears the monsters there.”

Olivia swallowed.

“But it still wasn’t enough. So I had to try once more…all in,” he murmured. “I thought…maybe what kills a djinn can make a djinn.”

She glared at him.

“Blood and fire,” he said.

The cabin. The werewolves.

“That woke you up, didn’t it?” he whispered. “That woke up the beast that was sleeping in you. And now, that beast is mine.”

He thought he was going to control her?

He needed to think the hell again.

“You know the secret to controlling a djinn?” He put his hand on her chest. Right over her heart. “It’s here.”

The SUV stopped. Behind them, more headlights flashed. Another vehicle had pulled up behind them.

“You’re going to grant my wishes, Olivia. You’re going to give me everything that I want.”

The SUV’s door was opened. Donald shoved Olivia out. She hit the ground. The damn gag was still in place.

“Your power only works when you speak. So you’re helpless now.”

She heard a whimper. Olivia glanced over and saw Chloe being dragged out of the second SUV. Behind her gag, she shouted her friend’s name.

A knife pressed to Olivia’s chest. Right in the same spot that Donald had touched moments before. “I’m going to cut out your heart.”

He was insane!

“Don’t worry. You’ll stay alive. The djinn do.” He leaned toward her. Dropped his voice to a low murmur as he told her, “The hearts were kept in the bottles so long ago. That’s where the real power was. Control a djinn’s heart, control a djinn’s power. I will control you.” He smiled at her, the smile glinted in the darkness, and she realized that his teeth were too sharp. And his eyes were almost glowing.

The senator was a werewolf. Had he been born that way? And passed the DNA of a paranormal on down to his daughter? That would explain how Chloe had survived her attack as a teen. Or maybe…had the senator been bitten at some point, too?

“You’re going to give me more power than anyone else has ever possessed. The world will be mine.”

Olivia realized that how the guy had become a werewolf didn’t matter—not then. All that mattered was that he was the enemy, and she couldn’t let him win. The blade of the knife cut into her. Olivia twisted, shoving out with her feet, and she hit the senator in the stomach. He grunted and staggered back. She took that opportunity and rolled, as fast and hard as she could. She would get away. Somehow. That bastard wasn’t cutting out her heart!

The blade sliced over her arm. He grabbed her legs. “Soon, you’ll never fight me again.”

She’d fight him until she died.

“Get your f**king hands off her!”

Shane’s voice. Shane’s wonderful roar of rage.

Then he was there, yanking the senator back, tossing him away from her. Shane reached for her legs. Ripped the rope away. He caught her hands and jerked—

A white werewolf—fully shifted—tackled him. Shane tumbled to the ground, rolling with that beast. The wolf sank his teeth into Shane’s neck.

She twisted and yanked her hands as she struggled to get out of the rope. The rope wasn’t giving, so—screw it. Olivia contorted her body as best she could. Her shoulder popped, and she knew she’d dislocated it, but she managed to get her hands around her bunched up legs so that her bound hands weren’t behind her anymore. They were in front of her, and she could reach her gag.

She grabbed for the gag just as Shane locked his fingers around the werewolf’s jaws.

Shane pried the jaws off him.

Olivia yanked out her gag.

“I wish the beast would be a man!”

The werewolf shifted before her, changing instantly. The white fur melted. His bones snapped and popped. Shane lost his grip on the werewolf—a man now—and David curled into a ball on the ground.

David was completely na**d and—sobbing?

“You f**king killed him!” David yelled as he tipped back his head and glared at her. “I felt it—you killed my beast!”

The senator had gotten back to his feet. He also had his knife—now pressed over his daughter’s heart.

“Lost it,” David muttered as he rocked back and forth. “Lost my beast, lost my beast!”

Shane, bleeding but still standing, crossed to Olivia’s side. He tore the ropes away from her raw wrists even as he kept his glare on David. “Guess that means you aren’t an alpha any longer.”

Shane was looking at the wrong threat. “I wish you’d let her go,” Olivia said to Donald.

He nodded. “Right…” His voice was soft. “I will…let her go…”

And he shoved the knife into his daughter’s chest.

Olivia screamed as Chloe fell to the ground.

“I let her go,” Donald whispered.

Horror froze Olivia. Too late, she remembered that a djinn’s wishes were twisted. What had she been told? That they could turn dreams into nightmares?

She’d just killed Chloe! “I wish she was alive!” The words tumbled from her in a frantic shout. “I wish—”

“Olivia, no!” Shane grabbed her and held tight. “Stop it! He’s pushing you! Manipulating you!”

But Chloe was moving now. Gasping. Shuddering. Alive.

“You are as strong as they say,” Donald murmured, with a flash of his fangs. “How f**king wonderful.”

Another vehicle raced to the scene. A big, black van. The driver’s side opened and Pate leapt out. Connor and Duncan jumped out, too, and they rushed toward the senator.

David kept whimpering on the ground. “Lost my beast, lost…”

“It’s over, senator.” Pate’s voice rang out, strong and clear. “You’re done.”

“Oh? And here I thought I was just getting started…”

Olivia had clamped her lips together. She wanted to make another wish. Wanted it so badly.

But it was a dark wish. Evil.

I shouldn’t wish for a man’s death.

“They’ve been using you, Olivia,” Donald called out as Pate and Connor closed in on him. Duncan stalked toward David. “I told you…the way to control a djinn is through the heart. I would’ve kept your heart safe, but what do you think the vampire will do to it?”

Shane’s arms tightened around her.

“His family is corrupt. They’ve bathed in blood for centuries. Do you know how many innocents your lover slaughtered? He and his family—they’re the reason vampires exist today. The reason so many humans hunt and kill.”

Pate yanked the bloody knife from Donald’s hand. “Guess where you’re going, senator? I’m glad you liked Purgatory so much because it’s going to be your new home.”

Donald didn’t look at him. His eyes were on Olivia. “He didn’t even have to cut out your heart in order to control you. All the vampire had to do was make you love him. You gave him your heart, and he’ll use it. He’ll use your power. You’ll do anything, everything, he wants now, and you’ll be helpless.”

Pate locked his hands around the senator’s shoulder, but Donald jerked away from him.

“They’ve all been using you!” He screamed at Olivia.

She kept her mouth closed. Don’t wish his death…don’t!

“The vampire marked you because he wanted that power for himself! He doesn’t love you, he’s just screwing you for—”

Shane rushed at the senator. He grabbed the man’s shirt. Lifted him high into the air. “You were going to cut out her heart!”

The senator smiled. “One day, I will,” he promised. “I’ll come back. I won’t stop, I’ll have everything—”

“You’ll have nothing.” Then Shane sank his teeth into the senator’s throat. Donald howled and slashed out at Shane with his claws. He punched and twisted, but Shane didn’t let him go.

He kept drinking. Kept taking.

Kept…killing?

“Stop,” Olivia whispered.

Shane instantly stilled.

“Send him to Purgatory,” she said, her voice weak, but determined. Because death would be too easy for that bastard. “Let the prisoners there torture him.” You can see what it’s like to be locked up with them.

Shane dropped the senator to the ground. Donald didn’t move as the blood gushed from his throat. He didn’t move…at first.

Then he started to laugh. The laugh was rough and broken, and evil. “I…made Purgatory. My monsters…planning to attack. They won’t hurt me.” He pushed to his feet. “We’ll be stronger. We’ll never stop! No one will ever stop me—”

“I will,” Chloe said. She was on her feet, too, swaying. She lifted her hands and Olivia saw that her friend had grabbed a gun. A gun that she must have taken from one of the downed guards. “Goodbye, daddy.” She fired the weapon.

The bullet slammed into the senator.

“Silver,” Shane muttered. “Straight to the heart.”

The senator fell then, his face slack with surprise.

Chloe dropped the gun. “He was a monster,” she said, pain heavy in her voice, “long before he became a werewolf.”

Chapter Twelve

“She can’t just run loose out in the world, Shane.” Pate was seated behind his desk, and currently sweating one hell of a lot. “She’s too dangerous.”

Shane leaned forward. He was done with the Para Unit…for now. He had other plans. Other priorities. Priority one was Olivia. But Pate had taken her back into custody, and that shit just wasn’t flying for Shane. “You found the senator’s Intel on her.”

Pate nodded. “Her wishes…she can wreck the world. There is no limit to her power. If she speaks it, it happens. Only her wishes twist up and can hurt thousands. With a djinn, no wish is a simple matter—they are all dark.”

Shane’s eyes narrowed. “Olivia isn’t evil.”

“No, dammit, I know she’s not.” Pate yanked a hand through his hair. “It’s all about her and her emotions. Don’t you see that? If she’s happy, then freaking fantastic—her wishes will come out good and smooth and millions won’t die.” His chair squeaked as he leaned forward. “But if she’s scared…if she’s angry…if someone pisses her off, then her wishes are designed to wreck and punish. It’s the way of the djinn—”

“That’s not Olivia. She’s not evil,” he said again. Olivia was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

“She’s not,” Pate agreed once more, but he paused. Pate swallowed as his eyelids flickered. Then he slowly asked, “But are you?”

Really, the SOB had just gone there?

“Because the senator was right,” Pate said. “You don’t have to cut out her heart to control that woman. I saw the way she looks at you. She’s half in love with you already. And according to the senator’s research, a djinn has to grant the wishes of the person he or she loves. Hell, that’s why Olivia’s father didn’t kill her when she was a kid and he went on that rampage. Her mother wished for Olivia’s safety, for her protection.”

Shane didn’t like where this was going.

“I know what you’ve done,” Pate spoke quietly, the words low and intense. “And I know what you could do. Are you seriously telling me that you trust yourself with her? Can you promise me that you’d never use her?”

His back teeth ground together. “I only want her safe. Happy.”

Pate shoved to his feet. “Right. That’s the damn problem. You want her happy so you wish there would never be a threat to her.” Pate snapped his fingers together. “Boom…your girl just took out all the werewolves in existence.”

Shane rose, slowly.

“Some bitch in a store says something catty to Olivia one day, and you wish the chick would shut her mouth…” Pate snapped his fingers again. “Boom…that woman doesn’t have a mouth. She can never talk.”

“I wouldn’t wish—”

“Donald found some damn shaman who told him that when a djinn mates—truly mates—she doesn’t even have to hear her lover’s wishes. She can feel his emotions. She grants all that he desires.” Pate lifted his hand, his fingers poised to snap once more. “So if—”

Shane grabbed his hand. “Don’t.”

A muscle jerked in Pate’s jaw. “It’s not even her voice that gives power to the wish. She just has to think it.” He stared into Shane’s eyes. “Go ask her if she wished for Donald’s death, because I think she did. Chloe can’t even remember attacking her father. She doesn’t remember anything that happened to her after Donald shoved that silver knife in her chest.”