Page 80 of The Mech Who Loved Me
Whatever thedhampirhad injected her with, it hadn't finished wreaking havocwithinher.
Nineteen
THERE WEREFEW things in Kincaid's life that had ever frightened him. Seeing Ava like this gutted him. Absolutelyguttedhim.
Especially when he considered their stupid fucking argument. He hadn't cared then if innocent people were hurt. All he'd thought about was bringing the blue bloods of the Echelon down, but Ava was right. Innocents would suffer, and untilshewas the one who'd nearly died, a part of him hadn'tunderstoodthat.
Guilt ravaged him. She should have died. There was no reason for her to have survived. But somehow she had, and though he'd not prayed to any gods in years, he was praying now.Please. Please let hersurvivethis.
She shuddered against his chest, her face streaked with blood and her skirts torn and ragged. Kincaid squeezed her gently. It was one thing to know the Company of Rogues agents walked into danger every time they faced these bastards—quite another to think of Ava in that samedanger.
"I've got you," hemuttered.
A shaky hand curled in his shirt, and Ava tilted her face up to his, her breath cool across histhroat.
"What is it,sweetheart?"
She suddenly pushed him away, hiding her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking. Kincaid reached for her face, feeling sick to his gut. What had the bastard done to her? Had he touched her? Tortured her? Kincaid brushed some of her loose curls behind her ear. There was bluish blood all over her face, her lips. He wanted to kill the prick, but the truth was, she needed him at her side more than Kincaid needed to vent his feelings. "Are you hurt? Did I squeeze youtoohard?"
A hand on his cheststayedhim.
"She needs blood," Malloryn said, three simple words cutting like a scythe through the tremble in hisheart.
Blood.
All of them knew his thoughts on the process of bloodletting. As much as he'd begun to accept the blue bloods he worked with, they took their blood in private, or out of a flask. He could handle that. It was the thought of one of them using a little razor on him—or someone else, right in front of him—that made the muscle in hisjawtic.
"No blood," Ava ground out, scrambling out of Kincaid's lap and tucking her knees up against her chest. She looked up, her eyes as black as pitch, and the breath went out of him. "Not right now. I can'tcontrolit."
Shit. Malloryn was right. The predator in her was right beneath the surface. Every vein in her face stood out as though black ink filled it, particularly under her eyes. She lookedterrible.
She looked like thedhampirhad, beforehedied.
Or like DavidThomas.
Everything in Kincaid went cold. Everything. Hadn't she said it herself?"If you put this weapon in the wrong hands, Kincaid, then you cannot tell me innocent peoplewon'tdie...."
But he'd never thought Ava would be the one stricken down by Black Vein. He'd never... put a face to the nameless, faceless enemy in his mind when he thought of finally destroying the blue bloods with thisweapon.
Why wasn't she dying? It felt like there was a hand around his chest, squeezing,squeezing....
"Where's my... my solution?" Ava patted at her skirts, hunting for any sign of the reticule she normally carried, even though it was nowhere to befound.
"I assume you lost it in the scuffle. The closest flask we know of is back at the house," Malloryn explained in the kind of tone one used on a child. "You're not yourself right now, Ava. We can't risk taking you out into the streets like this. All you'll see is prey when you look around you, and you've been resisting for so long you have no control when the bloodlustrises—"
"Ihavecontrol," she snarled, and then froze, as if hearing the anger in her words. A twist of horror crossed her face. "He injected me with something. Said it would stop my heart, but of course it didn't,andnow—"
Her clockworkheart.
"It's not your fault." Again Malloryn sounded exceedingly patient. "We can run tests on what he gave you back at the laboratory, but right now your bloodlust's been triggered. We need to deal with it first, and your injuries. You're bleedinginternally."
"I'm fine." She coughed even as she said it, spraying blood across hercuppedpalm.
Malloryn looked at him, and that was when Kincaid knew what the duke was silentlyasking.
No. No way.He was nobody's bloodwhore.
Not evenforAva?
