“You might like being vampire more,” he said, offended. Which was foolish. She simply couldn’t be turned. “And what does this have to do with anything, huh?” Trying to distract him from his purpose? He wouldn’t put it past her.
“I was thinking.” She straightened, amber gaze locked on him. Holding him captive. “If we incarcerate the Schön queen, maybe you could give her some of your blood.”
“No.” No hesitation on his part. If he shared with anyone, it would be Ava. And only Ava. “And if I discover what I give to Mia for testing is used for something else, on someone else, I will kill everyone involved.”
“And what if it doesn’t kill the queen’s disease, but just makes her stronger?” Noelle asked, inserting herself back into the conversation. On his side, no less.
Ava somehow broke the chains that bound their gazes and faced her friend. “Mia and I wondered the same thing, but we can try it out with Johnny tonight, when we escort McKell to AIR headquarters. If Mia says okay, that is. She’s deliberating the pros and cons. I think she’ll decide to go for it, though. It’s not like we have many more options.”
He loved that the agents had discussed him and his blood at such great length. And made decisions for him. Yeah. Loved. “Just so you know, I’d share my blood with the queen before I shared with Johnny.” Which meant, never ever f**king never. And did no one take his threats seriously anymore?
Ava snatched up a gun and slammed the clip in place. “Maybe we can bargain.”
He straightened, once again pulling away from the dog. This time, the beast growled at him. “You won’t order me around,” he snarled down at her. He had some bargaining to do, followed by some sealing of that bargain.
Hellina ducked her head and whimpered. McKell’s shoulder’s slumped as he reached out to pet her again. Stupid dog. “I’m listening,” he said to Ava. “You mentioned a bargain.”
“That’s right.”
What he knew: he’d only allow her to “convince” him to part with one drop of blood. For that drop, she had to kiss him. But he got to pick where that kiss would be located. “Begin.”
“I’ll start with my terms.” She aimed the pyre-gun at him and fired before he could yell, move, or even stop time. “Oops. My bad. We’ll have to finish this conversation later.”
Blue, he realized with dread. Which meant she’d just stunned him. Again. Fury vapor-locked his lungs, and for several seconds, he couldn’t breathe. When she closed the distance between them and pressed a swift kiss to his lips—not the kiss he’d wanted—his airway opened back up, allowing him to inhale deeply, sucking in that butterscotch scent. Savoring, hating.
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t let you stop me, and I couldn’t take you with me. Be a good boy,” she said with an edge of repentance. “Stun will wear off in twenty-four hours, but I’ll be done in …” She glanced at Noelle. “How long?”
“Six and a half hours until the meeting with Mia,” the girl said, hurriedly shoving a few more blades in the holster around her waist.
“I’ll be done in six hours and return for you. Noelle will help me—”
“The servants,” Noelle interjected.
Ava rolled her eyes. “Noelle’s servants will help me get you into the car and to AIR without a single burn. See, Ava has it all worked out.” She patted his cheek.
He snarled.
“Don’t you two go getting all sappy on me. My gag reflex is high today.” Noelle pressed a series of buttons on the pad on the wall, and all the shelves of weapons began sliding back, disappearing behind another wall.
“Please don’t be mad, and don’t worry. We’ll stun them before we ever have to fight them,” Ava said before strolling off, Noelle on her heels.
Noelle called over her shoulder, “Guard him, Hell. No one enters the room. Not even Grandma.”
Hellina growled, and McKell assumed it was the word Grandma that pissed her off, because she remained at his feet, rubbing against him.
He could have stopped Ava from leaving. Could have frozen her in place, and she had to know that. He’d done it before. But he didn’t do it this time. He let her go, his jaw clenched tight, already aching. Not worry? When she was a walking arsenal?
There was another way to handle this.
He stopped time for everyone, excluding himself. So for him, the minutes stretched into hours, endless, wrenching. And every time he lost his mental hold on the clock, he rested for several minutes, then grabbed the reins again.
Before, he’d only done this during battle, stopping and starting repeatedly, but back then, he’d only needed a few minutes to pass for himself, enough time to destroy his enemy, not twenty-four hours of inactivity. Of waiting. But this was a battle, he supposed. And by the end, only a few hours had passed for everyone else, but the entire day had passed for him, stun gradually wearing off.
Only once did someone try to enter the room. His back was to the door, so he couldn’t see who it was, but the scent was unfamiliar, so he assumed it was a servant. Hellina growled as if she meant to kill, and the person squeaked and ran, footsteps pattering.
Finally McKell could move. He worked his jaw, squeezed his fingers, arched his back, allowing his muscles to stretch. Every burn, every strain, tossed his fury to a higher level. He was fatigued, but that wasn’t going to detour him.
“Come,” he said to the dog, and she happily followed. As he’d suspected, the servants had returned, but no one tried to delay him. Not even when he stole a blanket from one of the bedrooms and draped himself with the material to protect his skin from the sun.
He compelled one of those servants into escorting him and Hellina to Ava’s apartment. On the way inside the building, he saw a glittery expanse of air opening up, and he skidded to a halt. Again? Really? When would it learn?
Come. Please.
Why so persistent? “I don’t have time for this,” he muttered, trudging back into motion and side-stepping the stupid thing. Once ensconced in the apartment, unburned yet harried, he cut his wrist and let the blood drip into an empty bowl. Only a little, a few drops at most. Then he dug inside Ava’s refrigerator and pulled out a tub of … yogurt. Did dogs like yogurt? He mixed the creamy concoction with his blood and set the bowl on the ground.
“Eat. It’s experiment time,” he said, and Hellina gobbled up every bite. Dogs liked.