Page 117 of The Mech Who Loved Me
Sending her right back intothepast.
"Draining factory five," she whispered, staring up at the factory Hague's laboratory had once hidden beneath, as they finished armingthemselves.
Kincaid looked at her sharply. "Are you all right? You've gonequitepale."
There was a tremor in her hands. "This is where Hague kept me for several months. There was a secret laboratory beneath the main floors, and he locked me in a tank of some sort of liquid, with a breathing mask over my face, and I could see everything—everything he did to those girls. To me...." Ava swallowed. Fear buzzed along her nerves, a warning tingle. "I don't think I-I can go inthere."
"Look at me." Kincaid squeezed her arm. "Look atme,Ava."
She did, drawn by the heat in hisvoice.
"Nothing is going to happen to you. I promise. Hague is dead. And I would move hell and high water to keep you safe."He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You're safe. You're always safewithme."
"But what if you're not always there?" she whispered, and if she could have shed a tear, shewouldhave.
Kincaid froze, a storm cloud of expression darkening hisface. "Ava."
But he was the one who'd said they had nofuture.
"I—"
"Don't make me any promises you cannot keep," she whispered. "I love you, and I won't hide that. I can't. And I could bear it if you'd let me love you for a little while, something to cherish, a time I could look back on fondly. But if you give me hope, and then dash my heart—that I couldnotbear."
"We need to talk about this," he said, "but now's not the time." Hesitation filled him. "I could love you too, kitten. It would be the easiest thing in the world, and I want to. I do. But... now is not the time to speakofthis."
I could loveyoutoo.
He was right. Ava turned away, watching as the rest of the Rogues armed themselves. "Do you need any help with yourmech-suit?"
"I can manage,butAva?"
Shelookedback.
"Always," he told her sternly. "I will always be there for you, no matter what happens between us. If you ever need me...ever, do you understand? And that's a promise I can keep. For as long as I'm stillbreathing."
Ava released a shuddering breath. She felt a little better now, a little more herself. "Iunderstand."
"Then let's go hunt down Ulbricht—so we can have a moment to ourselves to talk about where this is going." Then he turned to strap himself into his Achillesarmor.
* * *
"Sureyou know how to shoot apistol?"
"Perry's been teaching me." Ava opened her pistol and loaded it, before reholstering it at herwaist.
Tension slid through Kincaid's chest, but there wasn't much to say. "I know you're capable," he said roughly. "I'm justworried."
"I'm a blue blood," she said. "You're human. One could saythesame."
Kincaid rapped his knuckles on his mech-suit. "They've got to get through this first." And he'd been killing before Ava even knew what the craving was. He glanced to where Byrnes was checking Ingrid's armored corset. The pair of them looked at each other and he saw the same concern on both their faces; a moment where sentimentreflected.
Clearly this did not get any easier, regardless of whether the woman you loved could rip a vampire to pieces with her bare hands,ornot.
Gemma silently handed Ava a flask. "Drinkit."
"Whatisit?"
"Blood." Gemma checked the weapons strapped to Ava's hips. "And don't argue. It will prime the predator within you so you're faster and stronger, and can see and hear a littlebetter."
