Reborn to Burn: Reborn, #2

By Anna Durand

"My life ended three thousand years ago, and I can't go home again."

After three thousand years as a mummy, Dawn awakened to a dangerous new reality where science and the supernatural collide. Reborn without a name and saddled with amnesia, genetically altered by scientists who never expected her wake up, she struggles to understand why she lives. Desperate to escape her captors, she has entrusted her life to Jake Maxwell, a sexy, mysterious grad student with an unusual talent for evading bad guys.

Jake sacrificed the safety of his old life to free Dawn from the clutches of Redeo Biotech, but now he fears he won't be able to protect her from a new enemy, the enigmatic Anton Vahl. Dawn's resurrection spells trouble and power for Vahl, and he will stop at nothing to recapture her. But Vahl covets her brain, not her life…

As Dawn and Jake flee into the unknown, fragments of memories from her past life tantalize Dawn with the promise of regaining herself — and chill her with the fear of what she might discover. Soon, a shocking revelation about her newfound life rocks them both. As their enemies close in, they surrender to a fiery passion and unearth a bond deeper and stronger than time itself. But can the starcrossed lovers outrun the past before their future is shattered?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jacobsville Books
• Release date: Dec 8, 2014
• ISBN: 9781934631720

Anna Durand

Anna Durand is an award-winning author of sizzling romances, including the bestseller Scandalous in a Kilt, a bronze medal winner in the 2018 Readers' Favorite Book Awards, as well as the three-time #1 bestseller Wicked in a Kilt and the #1 bestseller Fired Up. Anna loves writing about spunky heroines and hunky heroes, in settings as diverse as modern Chicago and the fairy realm. Making use of her master's in library science, she owns a cataloging services company that caters to indie authors and publishers. In her free time, you'll find her binge-listening to audiobooks, playing with puppies, or crafting jewelry.

Book preview

Contents

Title Page

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

About the Author

Connect with Anna Durand

Copyright Page

Chapter One

Hands clamped on the steering wheel, Dawn stared out the windshield at the interstate unrolling beneath the SUV and marveled at how a three-thousand-year-old woman such as herself could understand so little about life. Maybe because she'd been dead for most of those years. Mere hours ago, she'd languished inside a glass tank in a scientific laboratory, a specimen devoid of life. Now she hunched in the driver's seat of a stolen SUV. A fugitive. Confused, adrift.

But not alone.

She glanced at her companion, and her heart sank into her stomach.

Jake's muscular body was slumped in the passenger seat, while the pallor of his skin had taken on a jaundiced hue.

How's the shoulder? she asked.

Fine. He shifted position, twisting his shoulder, and grimaced. Raking a hand through his chestnut hair, he grimaced again. I told you it's a flesh wound.

Images unreeled in her mind—a motel room, Jake's lips on hers, the door bursting inward. Commandos flooding into the room, driven by orders from Redeo Biotech. A gunshot exploding. Jake tumbling to the floor. Blood on his shirt, near his heart. Then Saxon, a vicious man, shoved a needle into her neck, plunging her into darkness.

She checked the rearview mirror. Nothing there. Yet the hairs on her neck stiffened as goosebumps prickled her arms. Maybe she was paranoid. Then again, a team of brutal pseudo-soldiers pursued them at this very moment, and despite her success in shaking them off her tail, they would be back.

Jake's cinnamon-colored eyes focused on her, though with a bleariness that shot ice through her veins. He nodded toward her right hand. How's your cut?

Screw my itty-bitty cut. You've got a bullet wound, for crying out loud. But her finger did burn like someone held a lit match to it. Paper cuts were evil. In the future, she'd exercise more caution when handling road maps. She wiggled the finger, spotting a bead of blood on the cut, and shoved it in her mouth to lick it clean. When she withdrew the finger, she froze.

The blood was gone, yes. But so was the cut. More than healed, the wound had vanished with no trace, not even a faint scar. Impossible.

Oh for heaven's sake. The cut had been teeny, more of a scrape than a slice. She couldn't see a mark because it had been nothing to begin with.

Everything okay? Jake asked.

The tension in his voice reeled her back to reality. Relax, I'm fine. Where is this flash drive of yours anyway?

I told you, I buried it under a freeway overpass, along with some cash and a few other supplies. When we get to the right place, I'll tell you.

And you're sure the flash drive has enough damning evidence to shut down Redeo.

Yes, I'm positive.

She steered the car up the on-ramp, onto the interstate. A handful of other vehicles fanned out ahead of and behind their SUV. The night unfurled all around them, into the sky glittering with stars, and out toward the cardinal directions in a desert landscape concealed by the darkness. The streetlamps posted in the vicinity of the on-ramp retreated behind them, and the night swallowed everything beyond the reach of the headlights. The other traffic dwindled, abandoning them on the interstate.

Exhaustion settled over her, heavy and inescapable. She hauled in a deep breath. She couldn't rest. One of them must remain in control, and with Jake's injury, that left her in charge.

Crap. What qualified her to take command, of anything? A reconstituted mummy girl with vague recollections of a past life in ancient Egypt. Her knowledge of the modern world, gleaned from her wanderings as a disembodied soul, proved much sharper. But she might not recall as much she'd need to if she intended to keep them both safe.

Headlights popped on close behind. She threw a hand up to shield her eyes. What was this idiot doing? He must've driven with his lights off until he got within yards of their SUV.

Her pulse shifted into high gear. No one would do that unless—

Shit.

Jake lurched forward, wincing as he twisted his body to squint at the back window. It's them.

Why don't they kill us and get it over with?

They need your brain undamaged. An auto accident would be…messy.

Charming. But a few hours ago, you said they'd kill me simply for being alive.

That's when Saxon was in control. He's gone.

A chill shimmied through her. Saxon was gone because she'd killed him, to save Jake. Her finger had pulled the trigger, and a part of her wondered