McKell ran his tongue over his fangs, his narrowed eyes on Devyn. "We have a potion for such matters. Once she drinks it, she will be unable to go near you, or the effects will mutate and she will die."
"Okay, next option," Bride said.
"There is also the possibility of bonding with someone else," McKell replied. "It's actually the preferred method, as it holds no danger."
"Next," Devyn said this time.
McKell shrugged. "That's it."
Then Devyn would live forever. He'd planned to anyway, but this conversation had just solidified his determination.
"I have a question," Bride said. She was still at his side, leaning into him, tensing every time she heard something unpleasant. "Can I turn other people into vampires with my blood? I mean, I haven't yet, but it's still a fear I have."
McKell regarded her strangely before comprehension dawned and he shook his head. "You've been reading surface books, I see. We have some of those ourselves because we like to be up-to-date on beliefs, in case we need to intervene or make them believe something else."
"Yes, I've been reading. It was the only way I knew to learn about myself. I had no vampire tutor, no one I could ask."
Now hold everything. "Not to call you a liar, love, but you are a liar. You're forgetting someone who did, in fact, answer many of your questions."
"Yes, and I had to pay dearly for the information," she said with a half-grin.
"Are you referring to the little striptease I forced you to perform? Well, you're welcome. I haven't forgotten how much you enjoyed yourself."
She rolled her eyes. "Like I was the only one."
With a growl, McKell tossed a stone into the wall, and plumes of dust wafted around them. "Do you not care to hear what I have to say?"
Did it make Devyn a bad person that he was enjoying the man's anger?
"Please continue," Bride said with a wave of her hand.
"It would take significant amounts of your blood for a significant amount of time to change a human or otherworlder into a vampire." McKell's ears perked, and his back straightened. "The city is awakening, and we must prepare. I have clothes for you, Bride. They are yours, no one else's. The moment I decided to look for you, I purchased them for you. They're in my personal quarters."
No way was she going into the man's bedroom alone. "First, you should know that the humans you hired to find her, the slavers, hoped to rape and torture her before handing her over to you."
The patient stillness of a predator came over McKell. He breathed in and out, slowly, measured, as if to steady himself from a deep rage. "My apologies, Bride." That rage crackled in his tone. "They will be dealt with, I assure you."
"They already have been," Devyn said, smug again. "I take care of my own." McKell flicked his tongue over a fang. "Appropriately?"
He nodded, offended that his ability to protect his woman was in question. "While on the surface, you might have heard of a head being found. Without its body."
Now the corner of McKell's lip twitched, his anger fading. "Appropriately, then. Now go dress, child." He waved a hand toward the entrance on the far right. "I shall be waiting."
That commanding tone had to chafe at Bride's independent nature, as did the "child," and Devyn almost grinned. "There's something else. You mentioned that the king's ability is mind reading."
McKell nodded, his expression suddenly wary.
"I suspected as much, last time I was here. But if he reads minds, how are we to prevent him from learning what we know of Bride?" As he spoke, he rubbed her back to assure her that no matter what, they would do what was needed to keep her safe.
"The king can only read direct thoughts. While in his presence, in the palace really, you must be careful not to think of what you've learned here. I told you the truth only to warn and prepare you. If he even suspects, we are all doomed." A heavy sigh. "He is not the same man you knew, Targon. Remember Fiona, the nefreti I mentioned? She abducted his brother, tortured him in the most vile of ways, and when she tired of him and returned the prince, he committed suicide. The king has not been the same since."
Devyn wouldn't offer sympathy he didn't feel. He had not liked the prince, had considered him loathsome, always grabbing at the female servants, even hitting them. The bastard had probably deserved everything the one called Fiona had done to him.
"If the king is a mind reader, keeping me isn't an option for you, McKell," Bride piped up. "No way the two of us can keep our secrets from the king forever."
He shrugged, unconcerned. "As I explained, memories can be erased. Once we have been bonded, we will remain in my home until it's done."
Bride gasped. "As if."
Devyn stiffened. No one would be screwing with his female's mind. "You risked a lot, bringing her here.”
“I have craved her return for over eighty years. Imprisonment and death would be small prices to pay for having her here." There at the end, his voice had turned husky. "Go on now. Change."
Devyn's lips pulled back in a scowl. He didn't mind the vampire paying those prices, but he did mind Bride paying them.
"But I have so many more questions," Bride said with a pout. "And I will answer them as I show you the rest of the underground."
With those words, Devyn realized the warrior's purpose, the reason he'd allowed Devyn into the underground without a fight and with utter confidence of success. McKell hoped to lure Bride into staying with the one thing Devyn could not give her: a city of vampires. The warrior hoped she would spurn Devyn's affections, beg the king to allow her to stay, and then discard Devyn and his blood.
A sense of urgency filled him, a need to show Bride what he could give her. He pushed to a stand, dragging her with him. "She will change, but I will go with her."
McKell scowled at him. "You will stay here with me, and I will answer any questions you have about the care one must take with vampire mates."
Bastard. Offering something so tempting. "My bad. Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. Where she goes, I go."
Whatever the vampire saw in his expression caused him to nod stiffly.
Devyn turned, automatically locking his enemy in place. A growl sounded behind him. He didn't release his hold until he and Bride were inside the bedroom.
Then he waited, doing nothing, expecting McKell to storm inside, fangs bared. It never happened. Another shocker.
Bride spun in a circle, her gaze eating up their new surroundings, and he could only pray she liked his home better. It came with him, after all.