Free Marked by the Vampire by Cynthia Eden

saved her life.  She didn’t know what would happen next, but for that moment, they were alive. And relatively safe
in the ocean.
    The island that housed Purgatory was close, and Shane was already stroking them back toward it even as the waves heaved against them.
    “Stop,” she said, as she tried to pull him back. “They’ll be waiting for us.”
    “No, they think we’re still inside Purgatory right now and that buys us time.”
    She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Her legs brushed against his beneath the water.  “Time for what? Unless you’ve got a plane hidden in your pocket…” Wouldn’t that be awesome?
    “Time to get to a safe place.”
    A safe place? On that little island?
    “I told you before, you have to trust me.”
    He’d also told her that he was a killer, but it didn’t seem like she had much choice, not unless she wanted to swim back to the mainland. And drown along the way.
    So she did her best to stay with him—okay, he pulled her along, a lot, as they made their way not directly to the main shore, but to the left-hand side of the island.
    “We’re going under again,” he warned her.
    “Why?” The little beach was right there.
    “Because that’s the only way to access the cave.”
    Wait, what?
    “Breathe, Olivia.”
    She did.
    They went under.  She kicked and stroked as best as she could and blindly followed Shane’s lead. There was no choice for her anymore.
    Then, too many moments later, they were breaking through the surface of the water once more.  She couldn’t see anything when she came up for air, and the darkness felt suffocating.
    “We’ll be safe here,” Shane said as he began to pull her toward—what, a shore? Inside the cave?
    Her left hand flew out and landed on a rocky outcropping.
    “Be careful,” he warned her, then he was lifting her up, sitting her on a hard, flat circle. Water poured down her body as she crouched there, and shivers rocked through her.
    He came up beside her, she heard the rush of water falling off him, but even though she strained, Olivia couldn’t see him. The darkness there was too complete.
    “We’ll be safe here,” he said, and the words sounded like a promise.
    She pushed back her sodden hair. Her teeth were starting to chatter. “Where is…here?”
    “An old cave. There was an entrance to this cave on the island once, but it collapsed years ago.” His body brushed against hers, and she jumped because she hadn’t realized that he’d sat right next to her. “Now the only way in is through the water.”
    Her breath heaved in and out in too fast pants.
    “There are some cracks along the cave’s ceiling, and they let air in.  Maybe even some light that will hit us later.  We’ll be fine here.”
    “Until?”  There had to be an
until
.
    “Until we can make a run for either the seaplane or the ferry.”
    The shivers hit her even harder. “The ferry won’t be back for a few more days.”
    “The seaplane will be here in sixteen hours.”
    Her panting stopped.
Sixteen hours?
    “It’s scheduled for a medical supply run then. We just have to get on that seaplane and fly off this island.”
    Oh, was that all? “They’ll be watching.” They…the guards. The werewolves?
    “Then we have to make sure they don’t stop us.” Said with grim certainty.  “But first…” Then his hands were on her, pulling her toward him, pulling her shirt
off.
    “Wait! Stop!” Olivia shouted at the handsy-vamp. He’d saved her ass, yes, but that didn’t mean—
    “You’re about to shake apart. The cold doesn’t do a thing to me, but it can hurt you. It can
kill
you.” His fingers brushed against her bare abdomen. “Now get naked and let me help you.”
    Okay, right, so this wasn’t about sex. The kiss under that stairwell had thrown her, and when he’d started to strip her, she’d assumed…Olivia cleared her throat. “You, um, can you turn around or something?”
    “No.”  He yanked her shirt up. Tossed it.