THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

out is just as good, isn’t it? You’ve got the pilot on our side.”
    “Providing the pilot isn’t the one who went down.”
    She cast around for another excuse to keep him here, to keep him safe. “What about the blood-bond? By risking your life to go up there, you’d be risking mine, too.”
    By way of answer he grasped her left wrist, pushed her sleeve up and turned her arm up for inspection.
    Gone.
    Her battered heart plummeted. The marks were gone as if … as if…
    Oh, God, as if the blood-bond had dissolved.
    “What…” She put a hand to chest as though she could somehow ease the crushing weight of loss. “It can’t be. I mean, how?”
    “It’s only possible between vampires, remember? Or in our case, between vampire and anti-vampire. You’re still anti-vampire, but I’m no longer vampire,” he said gently. “My marks started to wane as soon as my powers started to leave me.”
    “So…”
    “Your destiny is no longer immediately linked to mine. You have nothing to fear.”
    She swallowed. She wasn’t afraid for herself, damn him. “Okay, what about the vaccine? If anything happens to you—”
    “The vaccine is all but complete. If you go to my lab, you’ll find I’ve written down the names and contact information for two researchers, one American and one Australian. They’re good men — non-vampires, of course — but more open-minded than most. They might be skeptical to begin with, but they’ll be too intrigued to refuse. If anything happens to me, you must contact them.”
    “But I don’t want anything to happen to you!”
    “And nothing will.” He pulled her close for a quick, hard kiss. “But I have to go. Besides Lucy and the pilot, there’s our man in the Comanche. If he’s not dead, he’ll be in desperate need of medical attention.”
    “But—”
    “Take care of Eli,” he said. “And use the radio. Tell them I’m coming out.”
    Ainsley suppressed the anguished wail that rose in her throat as he disappeared out the door in the direction of the roof exit. She would not call out. She would not. She and Delano were no longer blood-bonded. What would have seemed perfectly acceptable five minutes ago now seemed like the epitome of histrionics.
    “Well, that was quite a show.”
    Heart hammering, Ainsley spun toward her forgotten audience. “I can’t believe he’s going out there!”
    “He has to. By the way, you might want to announce his arrival, just so he doesn’t spook his own team.”
    Oh, God! That’d be all she needed. She depressed the button on the radio. “This is Ainsley Crawford here. Delano … I mean, Dr. Bowen is on his way to the roof. Repeat, Dr. Bowen is going out on the roof. Did you get that?”
    “This is B Team. Copy that. He’s already made the roof.”
    “A Team here. We copy. I have Dr. Bowen on screen.”
    She put her lips to the radio again. “A Team, can we have a running commentary?”
    “Whoa! I think it’s all over.”
    All over? What the hell did that mean? “A Team, report! What happened?”
    “The helo door just opened and the hostage climbed out, followed by the pilot. B Team’s all over them. Yes! They’re inside.”
    “Janecek?”
    “Nowhere to be seen.”
    “And Dr. Bowen?”
    “I lost him.”
    “You lost him.”
    “No, there he is! Just had to tweak my camera angle. He’s just entered the other helicopter, the one our guy Bartlett was hiding in.”
    Ainsley lifted the radio again, squeezing the transmitter button so hard her fingers hurt. “We need to send B Team back out there to help him!”
    “They’re already back.”
    “Ainsley?”
    Delano’s voice on the radio. Thank God! “Are you all right, Del?”
    “I’m fine, but I’ve got another incoming. Bartlett has several gunshot wounds, and he’s lost a lot of blood, but he’s alive. We have to stabilize him for transfer.”
    “Thank God,” said Eli. “Tough bastard.”
    She blinked. “Transfer where? Won’t it raise some hard-to-answer questions if we waltz in with a multiple gunshot victim?”
    “I have my contacts. Just be ready to push IV fluids. I’ll be right down to help you.”
    Ainsley glanced at Eli.
    “Go,” he ordered. “I’m fine.”
    She raced through the penthouse, skidding to a stop as the door to the stairwell opened. One of the guards, Hayes, was the first through, followed by a haggard-looking Lucy.
    “Oh, Luce!”
    Lucy went into her arms for a fierce hug. “Omigod, what a nightmare, Ainsley.”
    Ainsley