“Why hasn’t he been quarantined, then?”
“He’s not stunnable, and everyone who approaches him, he tries to bite. And as you know, biohazard suits don’t stop the disease from spreading, so our clothing certainly won’t.”
Ava was in danger, McKell realized, and that he wouldn’t tolerate. “Allow me to take care of him.”
“McKell, wait—”
For the third time that evening, he manipulated time. He approached the diseased man and slammed his head into the tabletop in front of him. When McKell restarted the clock, the man remained unconscious, slumped over the metal surface. “Now you can cart him wherever you want.”
Ava spun, clearly confused by his seemingly instant change in location. “You have to stop doing that! And don’t you dare touch him,” she said, rushing to his side to tug him away. “He might be bleeding.”
McKell performed a quick scan of the tabletop. “No droplets.”
“Thank God.” She shuddered with the force of her relief. “Contact with infected bodily secretions is what spreads the disease.”
“Between humans, perhaps.” Human illnesses never affected him. Still. He allowed her to usher him the rest of the way without protest. “You aren’t to go near him again. No matter what. Understand?”
Ignoring him, she instructed the guards to carry the man out of the building and into a cell at AIR headquarters. She proceeded to ignore McKell for the next hour, in fact, helping Mia, talking to the other humans. When one of the females—one who reeked of guilt—refused to answer her questions, Ava glanced around to ensure no one watched her, before pressing a blade to the woman’s thigh.
The woman began babbling, spilling details about stealing money from the register. Not helpful, but that explained the guilt. Guilt Ava had sensed, even with her inferior human senses.
She was a competent soldier, he thought. If she couldn’t get what she wanted the conventional way, she found another way. He liked that. He liked her.
Do not soften. Any more than he already had. If he did, she would constantly lead him around by his ever-randy swim team, as he’d heard Devyn Targon say once.
A few times, lucky-to-be-alive Johnny Deschanel tried to edge to Ava’s side. McKell always stopped time, punched him, then pushed him to the other side of the bar. Finally, the guy caught on and gave up. Soon after that, Mia Snow called it a night and told the agents to go home. They’d sort through the acquired evidence tomorrow.
Ava approached McKell rather than Noelle, and he found that he liked that, too.
She looked him up and down. “You good?” Still concerned for his health?
“Yes. You?”
“Yeah. Tired, though.”
Tired meant bedtime. Once again he wrapped his arm around her waist, ready to usher her from the building. “Learn anything?” he asked, scanning the area, ensuring no one would be following them.
“Only that—”
“Tell me later,” he interrupted. “I have to go.” Johnny had just exited with that other agent. Tragically, bedtime would have to wait. First, he had a reckoning to ensure.
“You have to go?” Ava called. “Where?”
“Later.” McKell raced after his prey.
Eleven
Thanks to Ava’s delicious, life-altering blood—mmm, Ava’s blood. McKell almost turned around, almost returned to her. Vengeance first. Determined, he continued following Johnny. And thanks to Ava’s blood—mmm—he had no trouble tracking the agent through the darkness.
He would drain the bastard. Cut off his fingers, one at a time, then his toes, one at a time. He would peel flesh from bone, slice into muscle, remove limbs, organs. Death would always remain a short distance away.
And Ava, who is responsible for you, will pay.
His steps faltered. If Johnny was hurt in any way, everyone would know McKell was responsible. Ava might lose her beloved job. And if she lost her job, she would hate him. He didn’t want her hate.
He needed her devotion.
In a blink, the reckoning morphed into a recon mission. He would learn everything he could about Johnny. Then, tomorrow, he would prove how much better he was. Simple. Easy.
Disappointing.
For Ava, he would persevere.
Currently, Johnny was with the other agent who liked to stare at Ava. Jeremy was his name, and his scent was similar to Johnny’s. Perhaps they were brothers. They kept pace beside each other, unaware of the vampire stalking their every move and listening to their every word.
“You gotta leave that girl alone,” Jeremy said.
Ah. He was the smart one.
“You’re my twin, bro. Not my probation officer. I don’t have to do anything.”
Yes. Brothers.
“Maybe you didn’t notice the rabid vampire eyeing you like man-corn all night.”
“I noticed,” was the grumbled reply. Johnny rubbed his nose, his swollen jaw. “I think he sucker-punched me, like, ten times.”
They snaked a corner, the sidewalk free. Not many people were out now. Most were at home, snuggled in their beds. As McKell would soon be. With Ava. His delicious Ava.
“No way. I never saw him go near you,” Jeremy said.
“He can control time or some shit like that. Believe me, he approached.”
“Well, you shouldn’t have watched Ava like that.”
Smart? Jeremy was a genius.
“She wants me,” Johnny said with enough fire to torch an entire village. “She’s just playing hard-to-get.”
Once again McKell’s nails elongated, sharpened. Surely Ava wouldn’t be blamed for a little scratch on the man’s trachea.
“Are you f**king kidding me? She slept with you, then ignored you afterward. That isn’t playing hard-to-get. That’s playing he’s-bad-in-bed-and-I-want-nothing-to-do-with-him.”
I’m amazing in bed, McKell thought smugly, nails retracting a bit. Once she sampled him, Ava would never want to leave him.
“Fuck you, Jeremy. You can’t even pay a girl to get in bed with you.”
There was no hate or malice to the claim; Johnny spoke as if he were simply stating a fact both men knew and accepted. McKell pictured the agent in question. Unlike Johnny, Jeremy had thick black brows and a too-long nose. His eyes were black, like bottomless pits. Those eyes weren’t evil, though. They were kind, concerned, yet hardened by life.
Still. Not an attractive face, but he was bigger than Johnny. Taller, more muscled. Jeremy would have been the better choice for any female. So why hadn’t Ava chosen him? Because she appreciated beauty?