Mace hated making her do it. Hated watching her bleed. Hated that it turned him on, even as he despised himself. She clearly didn’t enjoy hurting herself to open a gate, and he was a jackass who had to control himself at the tantalizing aroma of her blood. And now that he’d tasted it…
He only wanted more of her.
And not just her blood.
“Whatever.” Mace breathed through a burning spike of pain that skittered upward, all the way to his hip. “Let’s just do it so I can get back here. Eidolon will have me patched up within the hour.”
He allowed Blade to help him to his feet and keep him standing upright as Scotty stepped into the center of the room.
“Someone toss me the knife under my pillow.”
“What for?”
Jon’s question was merely curious, but Mace, pissed off at the situation and struggling to control his pain, snapped, “Because she said so.”
Scotty gestured to Skoll, who was standing nearest the futon. “Because I need my blood to power the gate.”
“Can’t you summon a blade?” Skoll flung aside the pillow and found the dagger Scotty had slept with since her sixth birthday. Blade had been at the birthday party when Ares gave her the dagger. She’d been delighted, swearing she’d never part with it. Her mother, Cara, had been less thrilled. Ares probably didn’t get any that night.
“My summoned blade won’t cut my own flesh.” She made animpatient sound and thrust out her palm. “Hurry.”
Skoll handed her the dagger, hilt first, and she deftly flipped it into the air, caught it, and sliced open her palm in one smooth, practiced motion. Didn’t matter that she did that kind of thing all the time. Mace winced. He really did hate seeing her bleed, especially for him.
Except earlier, when she bled onto your tongue.
Right. Except that. That would provide him with fantasy material for a long time. Masumi could do the red-haired thing like she did for Blade, and—
Stop it!Scotty was off-limits, and there was no point in fantasizing about her. In fact, it would bestupidto fantasize about her. Especially now. He was probably dying, and all he could think about was getting Scotty on his lap again, her throat exposed, vulnerable.
Fucking stop!
Scotty’s blood dripped to the floorboards, forming a thick pool that glistened in the faint light from the propane lanterns. With a wave of her hand, the blood spiraled upward into a thin, vertical line about eight feet tall. It spread, becoming a four-foot-wide shimmering curtain.
Jon let out a low whistle of appreciation. “Awesome ability.”
“Sure,” Scotty said, as she reached for the roll of paper towels on the counter. “If you like pain.”
Jon looked over at her. “Depends on the pain,” he said slowly, and Mace felt the sudden urge to punch the suggestive smile right off his face. “It’s not all bad.”
And wouldn’t you know it, Scotty fell for that husky-voiced delivery and his smoldering, fuck-me eyes, giving him a flirty smile right back.
Mace muttered obscenities under his breath as he limped over to the newly formed Harrowgate. Blade had better keep an eye on this situation while Mace was getting patched up.
“We’ll go with you,” Blade offered, and Mace almost agreed, for no other reason than to get Scotty away from the other two males. But ultimately, they had a job to do, and he wasn’t going to let Kynan down.
“You guys handle the assignment,” he said, “I’ll be fine. There’s nothing you can do anyway.”
Scotty pressed a paper towel into her palm. “Bullshit. You’re the one who says that splitting up the team always ends badly.”
He gestured to his leg. “It already went bad.” He swallowed a little nausea and hoped they didn’t notice. “You know I’m right.”
Yeah, they did. The mission came first. Besides, if they went with him, they’d just end up hanging around a boring-ass hospital while Skolland Jon got to do all the fun shit and get all the credit.
“We’ll check on you later,” Scotty promised.
“I know.” He popped Blade a fist bump, but Scotty bypassed his fist and went straight to a hug, clinging to him, her lips brushing his ear.
“Remember the blood on the floor when we first came inside?” she whispered. “You didn’t really know it was human, did you?”
