“I didn’t say that.”
Needle, thread. Her lips curled as she fought to hide her amusement. She considered the wound. Raw, angry skin. Torn, jagged muscle, like puzzle pieces in need of connecting. Ouch. She cleaned him as gently as she could before withdrawing a half-filled syringe.
“No medication,” he snapped, gripping her wrist and holding her hand in place.
She looked up, and her gaze connected with his, crackling. “But this will numb you.”
“Or kill me.”
And the problem? “Either way, you won’t feel the stitches.”
“No medication,” he insisted.
She shrugged. “Your pain, your choice.”
He released her, and she jumped back into her work. She expected him to scream with the first pierce of the needle, but no. Not her McKell. He gritted his teeth and silently endured.
“How did you get those scars on your hands?” He’d probably meant to ease back into conversation, but his pain gave him a dangerous vibe.
“Fights, mostly.”
“With who?” If he’d sounded dangerous before, he was positively lethal now.
“Lots of people. In school, I kind of had a temper. I would attack at the slightest provocation. Even when I knew I was going to get my ass kicked.”
He chuckled, surprising her. “In school. You kind of had a temper. And now you’re, what? Calm?”
“Definitely. Calling me an angel wouldn’t even be a stretch.” She finished the last stitch—he’d needed thirty-nine—and said, “All done,” then gently bandaged him.
“I don’t think so.” Now there was a pout in his voice. “You owe me blood.”
Ava could feel his gaze on her neck, burning where her pulse hammered wildly. She … liked it. Liked the thought of him leaning down, biting, sucking … tasting.
“I thought you’d already eaten.” Good. Rather than reveal just how ravenous she suddenly was for what he offered, there’d been an air of impassivity to her.
“What does that have to do with anything? You’re to be my dessert.” A put-down, from his point of view, obviously, since his tone was sneering.
Maybe she could have allowed it, even then. But was he attracted to her? Or did he just like the smell of her blood? Either could explain why he’d picked her over Noelle, despite the fact that Noelle had wanted him. “Had” being the key word. After he’d called dibs on Ava, Noelle had washed her hands of him, no matter what the girl claimed.
Ava wanted his attraction to equal—or be greater than—hers. Nothing else would satisfy her. If she was going to allow him to have her, that is. Which she wasn’t. “The fact that I stabbed you wasn’t a deal breaker?” she asked, hoping to anger him, distract him.
He growled again.
“What? Too soon to joke about it?” She leaned back on her haunches. She should have stood, walked away, but couldn’t find the will to do so.
He didn’t move, either. “Why did you stab me? I still don’t understand what I did to enrage you. And you were enraged. The emotion poured off you.”
How to explain? “Do you have a brother or a sister?”
“No.”
“A best friend you love but who irritates the hell out of you?”
“No.”
“Mother? Father?”
“No. They died decades ago.”
Decades. Wow. So he’d been on his own his entire, clearly too-long life? How … sad. Everyone needed a friend. Even emotionally distanced vampires. “Well, imagine what it’d be like if you did have someone in your life. Just one person you cared about. Noelle is that one person to me. She’s my only friend and family, and I love her more than anything or anyone else in the world.”
“And yet you call her names. Hell, she calls you names.”
“One, we’re comfortable with each other. Two, we’re confident enough in our affections to be honest with each other. And three, sometimes people need to be razed to find their inner strength.” Ava flattened her hands on his thighs, knocking the kit out of the way. To balance herself while crouching. That was all. Really. God, he was strong. And hot. All those muscles … Concentrate. “But anyone else who says an unkind word is punished for doing so.”
“I still don’t understand. Where I’m from, you treat your loved ones with deference.”
“Even when they’re bugging you?”
Silent now, he popped his jaw.
She’d take that for a yes. That had to be hell, to never be allowed to express your anger at the person you loved. Pent-up resentment, thy name is McKell. No wonder he hadn’t attacked Ava after she’d stabbed him. Not that he loved her, but he did want something from her. Clearly.
She was not disappointed. “Why are you here, McKell?”
His fingers wrapped around her wrists, once again holding her hands in place. “We will discuss that. After.”
“After.” How sensually he’d said the word … She licked her lips, hating the way her heart sped into an unending hyper-beat. “After the biting?”
He arched a brow. “You would let me bite you?”
Yes. “No.”
“Then, no.” Grated, halting. “After the bargaining.”
“Oh, really?” Would that bargain involve nakedness? Moaning? She wouldn’t say yes, of course, but it was flattering that he—
“AIR wishes to speak with me, yes?”
Wasn’t after her body. Disappointment rocked her, undeniable this time. “Yeah. So?”
“So. I will finally talk with them.”
She ignored the wave of concern suddenly crashing through her. AIR wouldn’t go easy on him just because he turned himself in. “And all I have to do in return is…?”
“Help me track other vampires living on the surface.”
“Help you track other vampires? Why?”
“Because.” His mouth was a stubborn, mulish line.
There was only one way to get what you wanted from a man like McKell. Taunt him. “I seriously misjudged your talents. I thought you’d be an excellent hunter and—”
“I can track them no problem,” he snapped. “But that used to be one of my jobs. I would come here and track them, and then execute them for leaving our underground world.”
Score one for Ava. An answer, freely given. But … wait. Would another vampire be coming for McKell to execute him? She opened her mouth to ask, but he said, “Now they run from me or fight me, even though I only wish to question them.”