Page 63 of The Mech Who Loved Me
"What did you argueabout?"
"Nothing." Nothing he could mention here anyway. Kincaid rubbed the bridge of his nose. "No more talk of Ava. Tell me all your news. What have you been up to? What mischief have the lads beencausing?"
Xander's gaze shifted, raking over the crowd as he leaned closer. "Heard there's something brewing on thewinds."
Kincaid nursed his whiskey bottle. "Somethingspecific?"
"Something...bloody."
Damn it. "The revolution's over, Xander. Don't get yourself killed." His gaze flicked to Maggie. "Not when you just got handed the world on aplatter."
Xander eyed her too. "Some things are worth fighting for. Maggie's one of them. But so's a man's right to live his life freely, and to see his children grow without threat of a leash around theirnecks—"
"We earned our peace," he countered. "The human queen sits on the throne now, and this"—he held up his mech hand and waggled its fingers—"no longer denies me even basic humanrights."
"The same queen who signed off on the Blood Tax bill?" Xander demanded. "The same queen who saw the Packenham riot crushed in favor of her blue bloodfriends?"
The same arguments he'd used. Kincaid shook his head. Funny how now he was the voice of reason. "It was never going to be easy, damn you. Three races living side by side.... It will take time to understand how thatworks."
"Well, maybe there should be one race left standing? Thehumanone."
Kincaid grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him close. "Tell me you haven't been joining thoseriots."
Xander brushed him off with a careless gesture. "You might have forgotten what you are, K, but me and the rest of the lads haven't." Unlacing his shirt cuff, he revealed the small tattoo on the inside of his wrist, the same one Kincaid wore on his hip. A branded H. "Humanists through and through, and we signed on to crush those pasty-faced cravers, no matter whatittook."
"I'm working for them," heblurted.
"What?" Xanderfroze.
"I told you, it's complicated. But there's a threat to the alliance between our three races, and I got dragged into it to help keep thepeace."
Xander swore under his breath, looking stunned. "What happened to you, K? Working for the blue bloods? Who are you? They'repoison."
He scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck. Xander had a point. Who was he now? What was he fighting for? At first the only reason he'd joined the COR was because there was a threat to everything he'd fought for, and also because Malloryn could give him a fighting chance at avoiding the Kincaid curse,butnow...?
It was different now he knew a few blue bloods as actual people. Christ, Byrnes was smug and arrogant, but had saved his life; Charlie didn't have a mean bone in him; Gemma gave new meaning to the word seductress, but she was dangerously protective of Ava; and Ava, well, she was the hardest one tocategorize.
"Do you know what it feels like to have someone look at you as though you're amonster?"
Ava was the gentlest soul he'd everknown.
"They ain't all bad," he said gruffly, and Xander cuffed him over the back ofthehead.
"Maggie," he bellowed, "my man needs another drink! He's speaking in fuckin'riddles."
It took a moment, but suddenly there was an ale in his hand, and Maggie peering at himworriedly.
"Kincaid's gotten in with the blue bloods," Xander snarled, urging him to drink up. "The man's losthismind."
"Keep your voice down," Maggie warned Xander. An announcement like that in there might just get Kincaid's head punched in. "And don't be stupid. Kincaid was the one who dragged us out of that hell, the one who found a way for us to fight. If he's working with them, then I'll bet my right hand it's for goodreason."
"Thanks," he muttered, draining the tankard. "You've not been getting caught up in any of the riots, have you,Maggie?"
She gave him a long,slowlook.
"Don't," he warned her. "There's something brewing behind the scenes—someone pulling strings who's trying to stir up trouble. Whoever it is, they don't give a damn about us humans. They're just using you to tilt atwindmills."
"What have you heard?" she asked quietly, refilling histankard.
