She sucked in a breath. “Sorry.”

“Why?” he insisted, forcing his mind to return to the mission. Not kissing, not licking. He fisted the back of her robe, preparing to strike. “Because I’m not in charge? Well, Mia isn’t either. Not really. There are a lot more powerful people out there.”

“I know.” She pulled from him, danced around him. He spun with her, never giving her a glimpse at what he still held behind his back. Thankfully, she stopped in the same position as before. Facing, close. “But I’ve been to many, many planets, and one thing is always the same. The military, especially the forces patrolling otherworlders, is revered. Unquestioned. Mia might have bosses, but her troops will obey her. Not her bosses.”

Again, he didn’t think she realized what she’d admitted. What she wanted involved the military, which involved national security. “Hate to break it to you, baby, but AIR is questioned all the damn time. There’s even an Alien Pride parade scheduled later this week, to protest the need for us.” Had she known what he’d been planning? Was that why she’d danced around him?

Her hands glided over his belt before tracing up his shirt. “Do you want me, Dallas?”

“What do you think?” He kissed the shell of her ear again. His tongue inched out, but just before contact, he lifted his head. No. “That’s not difficult to figure out, I’m sure.” He was hard as a rock, and that rock was pointed directly at her like a heat-seeking missile. He wanted to rub.

She chuckled. “True. You do, you want me. But your erection isn’t the reason I know. I’m a mind reader.”

He’d wondered. “Are you now?” If that was the case, he was in trouble. She would know that he’d called Mia. That Mia might be on her way. That he was still holding the gun. Yet here Trinity stood, unmoving, unafraid.

“Oh, yes. I am.”

Why tell him, then? Why give away the advantage? “Then tell me what I’m thinking.”

“That you’ll do anything to be with me.”

Maybe she could mind-read; maybe she couldn’t. But the true power, he realized, was that she could make him want whatever she said. She’d spoken, and the words had blasted through him, reshaping him, making him desperate. He would do anything to be with her.

Fight. You have to fight. She was a killer, he reminded himself. Dangerous. Destructive. He tried to force his hand into motion, to shoot her at last, but a heavy lethargy settled in his limb, stopping him. Before he could panic, he thought he heard hinges squeaking behind him.

The cavalry?

He spun Trinity with the arm still on her, the one still working. “You can read my mind? Tell me why I just did that?” Hopefully she would think he’d done it simply to test her ability, never realizing any agent who entered his living room would now have a direct shot at her back.

She gazed up at him, all little-girl innocence and burning sensuality. A sultry combination. How many men had fallen for that act? Countless, he was sure. Because it made his mouth water even though he knew the consequences.

“Don’t move me like that again,” she said.

“I won’t if you swear not to infect anyone else.”

Silence.

“Just give me time to think about your offer. Okay? Just a little time.” From the corner of his eye, he saw three black-clad agents tiptoe from the hallway, weapons drawn. Oh, yes. The cavalry was here.

Trinity smiled, a little sad now. “I’m sorry, Dallas.”

Stall her … “Because you won’t give me any time?”

“No. For your pain.”

They fired. She disappeared, and each of the rays—two stun and one pyre—slammed into his stomach.

Fuck! The burn was massive, consuming. He would have collapsed, would have grasped his stomach to staunch the flames, but the stun rays had frozen him in place.

In unison, the shocked agents ripped off their masks, and he saw Mia in the middle, Devyn at her left and Hector at her right.

Mia was pale as she rushed to him. “Shit! I’m so sorry. Get the medics in here,” she yelled over her shoulder. “Now!” Then she grabbed one of the shirts on his couch and pressed it into his wound.

Motherfucker! That pyre-fire was a kill wound, having burned a hole just below his ribs, scorching one side of his intestines. He’d endured this type of wound before. That’s when Kyrin had fed him Arcadian blood. He’d healed then, and he would heal now. That didn’t lessen the pain, though. He couldn’t even curse out loud.

“Fuck! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Mia babbled. “We thought she was unaware. We had a clear shot. We took it. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

It’s all right, he tried to project. He would have done the same thing.

“Dallas, man. I tried to lock her in place with my mind.” Devyn could control other people’s energy, but more and more, otherworlders were learning to prevent him from doing so. “Thought I had, really, the moment Mia gave the command to fire.” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “I don’t know how the queen escaped.”

Hector, the asshole, seemed to take everything in stride. “Got any beer in the fridge?” he asked.

Mia slapped the agent’s shoulder. “For God’s sake, show a little sensitivity.”

“What?” Hector threw up his arms. “Everyone in this room knows he’s going to be fine.”

Not many people knew of Dallas’s change from human to otherworlder, but Hector was right. The three of them did. Still. Would a little worry have been amiss?

“Plus,” Hector continued, unaffected by Mia’s hate-filled glare. “Your frantic call dragged me out of bed, and I’m thirsty. So … Dallas. Beer? Blink once if the answer’s yes.”

Stun affected limbs and jaw, not eyelids, not heartbeat, not lungs. He blinked, but prayed Hector could read the fuck-you blazing in his eyes.

Chuckling, Hector patted the top of his head and sauntered off. Prick.

Finally, in sprinted three guys with a gurney. They managed to lift him up and lay him flat. Hurt like a bitch. There was a sharp sting in his forearm, then drugs were pumping through his system, at last dulling the pain and weaving dark over his eyes.

“You die,” Mia said, “and I’ll kill you real bad.”

The perfect lullaby, he thought dryly, and allowed himself to drift away.

Eighteen

McKell flattened Ava against the seat, pinning her with his weight. She didn’t seem to mind. No, she reached up, one hand tangling in his hair, nails biting into scalp, the other sliding down his spine, riding the ridges and leaving a path of fire.

Time was his enemy just then. So was his body. He had just meant to kiss her. To soften her. To begin her seduction, their romance, their life. Instead, their lips had met, their tongues had thrust together, he’d tasted her candy-sweetness, felt her luscious heat, heard her gasp his name, and he’d become lost. Lost with no hope of being found. Now he only cared about completion.

He felt like he’d been waiting for this moment, this woman, all the centuries of his life. He didn’t care that vampires slept in the seat behind them, didn’t care that the woman in his arms was human and unworthy.

Actually, unworthy did not apply, and he knew it never had. Ava was worthy of him. He was unworthy of her. She had hunted bloodsuckers for him, and even though they had been stronger than her, she’d held her own, punched one and chased the other. Her determination was unparalleled.

“McKell.” Another gasp of his name. “Are you daydreaming? Let’s do this!”

He reacted to her eagerness with an insatiable growl of approval. The exotic benediction in her tone … if he let her, this woman would be his downfall. He kissed her, hard and deep.

When she arched her back, mashing her breasts, so wonderfully plump, into his chest, he wanted to let her. Falling seemed … fun. No one else had ever fit him so perfectly. Or made him ache so desperately. Or controlled his body quite so forcefully. She walked into a room, he grew hard. She spoke, he grew hard. She allowed herself to be tugged into his lap, he grew hard as a steel pipe.

“Spread,” he demanded.

She opened her legs farther, allowing him a deeper cradle, and he took it greedily, rubbing against her. Full contact, cock to feminine core. Only thing preventing him from shoving deep inside her was their clothing.

“That’s … that’s …” She groaned, eyes squeezing shut, nails still digging, slicing.

He watched her and lost his ability to breathe. Beauty. Such beauty. Not even the vampires could hope to compare. Passion colored her cheeks, the length of her lashes cast shadows, and her lips, red and wet, glistened in the moonlight like a thousand tiny rubies shaped into a heart. Her amber curls were splayed around her delicate face, a wicked frame to a heavenly canvas.

He wanted their clothes gone. He wanted the vampires killed. No one else should ever see Ava like this. No one. He wanted out of the car, where they were trapped between the seat and the dash. Although the lack of space forced them to press as closely together as they could, so her every exhalation caressed his face, her scent enveloping him, the air charging with their arousal.

Her eyelids cracked open, revealing a sliver of those toffee irises and blown pupils. “You stopped kissing. Again. We done?”

He was panting, sweating. “Not even close.” He wouldn’t just kiss her, he decided. He would touch her. All of her. Despite their surroundings, their potential audience.

McKell just kind of fell on her, then, tongue plundering. She welcomed him with abandon, taking, giving. He, too, took and gave. He kneaded her breasts, her pearled nipples abrading his palms. Her heart slammed with so much force, he felt the beat inside his own body. And her blood rushed through her veins, a determined stream that created a roar in his ears. A delicious roar.

His mouth watered as his fangs sharpened, lengthened. Just being around her, he could barely keep his hunger under control. Kissing her, there was no such thing as control, the fine threads broken completely. There was only need and desire.

Would he ever get enough of her?

Her tongue scraped one of those fangs, and a bead of her blood slid down his throat. He swallowed with a moan, warmth instantly pouring through him, strength fast on its heels. No. He would never get enough.

“McKell,” she rasped, tunneling her fingers under his shirt. Skin to skin … heaven, hell. Salvation, damnation. Everything, nothing. Her, just her. “Take more,” she pleaded. “Please, take more.” Then, for a moment, she froze. “But don’t you dare give me your blood. Please? Okay.”

“I won’t.” But oh, he wanted to, he realized. Wanted to mate them permanently, forever. Prove to her, to everyone, that she was his. Only his. Finally. He wouldn’t marry them, though, because they had a few things to settle first. He doubted her reason was the same, so her absolute refusal to drink from him irked.

“I’ll kill you if you do.” Even as she spoke, she relaxed, arched, body becoming fluid against his. “I swear.”

“Shut up, Ava. More kissing.”

“Where?”

His woman wanted his mouth elsewhere. He could oblige. Smile forming, he licked the pulse at the base of her neck. “Everywhere.”

She scratched his back, stinging so good, before stiffening again. “Wait. I … we … maybe we should … I don’t know, slow down.”

If by “slow down” she meant “go faster,” he was on board. “Why?” His tongue stroked that still gorgeous pulse, tracing the vein, heating the blood inside, preparing her for total possession.

“You aren’t my type?”

She’d probably meant the words as a statement, not a question, and he took offense. He stopped grinding, stopped licking. Only glared. “What kind of man is your type, then?”

“I don’t know.” As her nails glided forward, scraping his pectorals, she lifted up and nibbled on his bottom lip. “Rich and cute. I’m flexible on the cute part, though.”

He closed his eyes, savoring her attentions. She didn’t want to slow down, then. Had only uttered the words because she felt they were expected of her. “I can obtain money.”

“Honestly?”

He thrummed her nipples, making her gasp. “You said nothing about being rich through honest means.”

A shiver moved through her and vibrated into him. “Oh, well, then. Scratch the money part. I want cute.”

“I’m cute.”

“No, you’re dazzling. But no one can know about us until the case is over. Assuming we’re still together, then. Okay? That’s the only way I can allow this.”

“We’ll still be together then.” Best she know that now, though this reaction was far better than the panic she’d offered when he’d moved in. Still. That she wanted to hide him, as if he were shameful … he didn’t like it, wouldn’t allow it for long, even for the good of the case. For the moment, however, he wanted her and would have given her the moon and stars had she asked. “Besides, if you kiss a man, but no one knows about it, it never really happened. Like the tree that falls in the woods …”

A moment passed, their panting breaths the only sound to be heard. Then she smiled slowly, wickedly, arousal blending with satisfaction. “There’s a new requirement for my list. A devious mind, and baby, you’ve got that, too.”

“So you want me?” he asked, rewarding her with another heated lick, this one up the column of her delicate neck.

“Yes.” A gasp. “But if you’re just doing this to soften me, to get on my good side for a blood donation—”