Where you are, sweetness? Her scent led him to a music room. There was a piano, a harp, drums and several guitars, but no Ava. He sniffed. The crone had been here recently, as well.

His frown deepened. He didn’t like the thought of Ava wandering around without his protection. No matter how skilled she was. The hag could have paid a group of men to attack her. If so, heads would roll.

McKell had never been a discriminating killer. Whoever the king had ordered him to kill, he had killed. Male, female, young, old, it hadn’t mattered. Rebels and deserters were rebels and deserters, no matter their sex or age. But this time the kills would be personal. He’d enjoy them.

“Ava,” he called.

No reply.

A quick stride through the chamber, and he caught Ava’s butterscotch scent again. Good. But, no. Impossible. She couldn’t have gone through the far wall. Unless … He knocked on said wall until he heard the hollow echo of a hidden doorway. Ah. Of course. Such a clever girl. And as he’d known, she hadn’t run from him.

His fingers brushed gently, searching and finding a telling seam. Naughty vixen, trying to do something in secret. Not that he’d let her get away with it. He straightened and considered his options. With hidden passages, there was always a latch, but discovering that latch would take time. Time required patience. Patience he didn’t have.

He clawed an opening in the wall, plaster falling away in chunks, dust plumping around him. When the void was a little wider than his body, he slipped through. Female voices echoed. Finally.

Grinning, McKell descended a well-lit staircase, turned a corner, and found another open doorway that led into … another room. With an arsenal. Guns and knives hung from the walls, and there were actual shelves piled high with grenades, throwing stars, and all kinds of other things he couldn’t name.

Ava and Noelle were talking and laughing as they suited up, probably adding one hundred pounds of death to their bodies. A … what was that? His lips curled in distaste. Was that what humans referred to as a dog? Yes, that sounded correct. Dogs had nearly been wiped out during the human-alien war, and most people had robotic imitations now.

This one appeared real as it perched between the women, eyes darting back and forth between them. It had ratty dark brown fur, a large pink tongue that stuck out with drool dripping from it, and a long tail that wagged. And wagged and wagged and wagged.

“What’s going on?” he demanded.

The dog jumped excitedly, then trotted to him and wound around his legs. He grimaced. Neither of the women acted surprised to see him. They just kept checking pyre-crystals.

“Got a text from Mia,” Ava said. She’d changed into jeans and a T-shirt. “The Schön queen cornered Dallas again, and now he’s in the hospital.”

McKell tried to shoo the animal away. “Is he infected?” It remained at his side, fur softer than he’d realized, but still. Annoying.

“Nah,” Noelle replied. “Friendly fire.”

“And you plan to…?” He glanced between them. The dog used his inattention to its advantage, licking his palm. He couldn’t help his yelp of disgust. “Don’t do that again, or I’ll gut you.”

Rather than racing away in terror, the dog gazed up at him with big, brown eyes.

“That’s Hellina. Hell for short,” Noelle said, motioning to the dog with a tilt of her chin.

The ugly thing was female?

“And we’re going out to kill vampires,” Ava said, as if it were obvious.

His brow furrowed. He was having trouble connecting the dots. “What does one—Dallas’s injury—have to do with the other—vampire hunting?”

“Well,” she said, shoving a thick, curved blade in the sheath now hanging at her side. “Both piss me off.”

“I see.” Was he to be one of her victims? Would she now try to wash her hands of him? Try to kick him out of her apartment? “Are the actions of my people a deal breaker, then?” Translation: Would he have to seduce her into liking him again?

Such a dirty, dirty job.

Noelle laughed, and Ava’s cheeks reddened. “No,” Ava said. “AIR needs you.”

What of you? he almost asked, but didn’t. He didn’t want an audience for that particular conversation.

Hellina rubbed against him, demanding his attention. Not knowing what else to do, he reached down and scratched behind her ears. She closed her eyes, as if she’d never experienced so expert a touch. Which, of course, she hadn’t.

“You’re gonna stay here, because, as you’ve proven, all the vampires run away from you,” she continued. “Plus, dawn will arrive soon, and unless you want to drain me completely, you can’t survive out there. There are a thousand other reasons but we’ll leave them at blah, blah, blah.”

“First, you can’t handle vampires on your own, Ava.” What would have happened to her at the club if he hadn’t saved her? The thought of her facing defeat again, without him, perhaps with stronger vampires than the ones they’d captured, caused his blood to churn into acid, blistering his veins. “Second, like you said, dawn will come all too soon. How will you know where to look for vampires?” He’d given her no pointers, no starting point. “Human clubs will be closed, yes?”

“Yes, but here’s the thing.” She lifted a bone dagger and pricked her finger on the tip. His mouth watered at the sight of that crimson bead. “The vampires walking around in daylight are the ones I want. As a bonus, I’m sure AIR would love to use them as pincushions to test against the Schön virus. They’ll deserve it, too.” She rubbed the bead on her jeans.

No argument from him. “But how will you find them?” he asked again. This time, the words were slurred. Don’t let the hunger overtake you. Not yet. He had to make her understand the trouble she was courting.

“When I’m done, I’m taking you in to see Mia,” she said, ignoring his question completely. “I kept my end of our bargain, so now you have to keep yours and talk to her.”

So. She didn’t mean to try to exterminate him for the actions of his people. Despite his relief, he offered no reply. Not even about her desire to leave him behind. And that’s all it was. A desire he wouldn’t grant. But he would deal with that in a moment. After they’d addressed his consuming disappointment that they wouldn’t be having sex tonight as he’d planned.

“Did I ever tell you about your blood?” Ava asked before he could command Noelle to cover her ears. She anchored the bone dagger to her wrist, and sucked on the tip of her finger to force the pinprick to close.

Mine, he thought, jealous that she tasted what he so craved. But all right. This conversation he would allow. Blood was almost as important as sex. He leaned a shoulder against the doorframe, stopped petting the silly dog, and crossed his arms over his chest. “What do you mean?” His blood?

Hellina whined. He ignored her.

“Anyone who ingests it will be turned into a vampire.”

“Impossible.” Despite what her books and movies claimed—which his kind studied, because information was power—vampires couldn’t turn humans. They had tried. Still. This explained her absolute refusal to drink from him, and her threat to kill him dead if he snuck her a single drop. She’d feared being turned.

Hellina nudged him, but he again ignored her. Never should have touched her in the first place. Now he smelled like her, like wild animal. Disgusting. “We’re born, not created, I promise you.”

“Apparently, you can create them.”

He laughed at how little she apparently knew about his kind. Hellina nudged him yet again, and with a sigh, he renewed his petting. Anything to stop the pawing of his pants. “Such a thing has never been done before.”

“How do you know?” she insisted. “Have you ever shared your blood with another person? Someone human?”

“No.” That didn’t mean …

Noelle snorted. “Shocker. McKell, being selfish.”

He ignored her, too. “There’s one way to prove your claim, Ava. Drink my blood right now.” And sweet heaven, did he adore the thought. More than he’d ever thought possible. He still didn’t think she’d turn into a vampire—silly girl—but they would finally be mated completely, with her willing cooperation.

She would still age, but he suddenly didn’t care. He would have her for the rest of her life. Enjoy her. Share with her. Those few years would be better than an eternity without her.

Ava bent down and shoved a pair of barbed-wire cuffs in her boots. “This may come as a surprise to you, McKell, but I don’t want to be a vampire. Ever. I happen to like being human.”

“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 fucking 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.