The Mech Who Loved Me(108)

"Yes." Maybe. Her ears were ringing. The blood loss would be crucial.

"Get my belt off," Kincaid told her.

"What?"

"Get my belt off," he ground out, applying pressure to the wound and looking up at her with such vibrant blue eyes. "We need a tourniquet. At least until we can slow the bleeding down."

All she could do was focus on the blue. There was a rushing sound in her ears that sounded like it was going to swallow her whole. A cold band seemed to squeeze her head in a vise.

-Blink-

Garrett's teeth started chattering, and her stomach took a dive. Ava found Kincaid's coat in her hands and wrapped it around Garrett, trying to keep him warm.

"No other injuries?" Kincaid asked.

She checked him over, just as Garrett's eyes rolled back in his head. "None."



       
         
       
        

Someone screamed, and Ava flinched. She could hear herself screaming, banging on the glass of the aquarium Hague had trapped her in, an oxygen mask over her face, and warm liquid caressing her naked body.

But nobody heard her screaming.

"Ava?" someone barked, and a hand curled around hers, slick with blood. Kincaid's face swam into view. "Why are you friends with Garrett?"

"What?" She swam out of the nothing, jarred by the strange question. Forced to think.

"C'mon, kitten. Tell me a memory. One of you and Garrett." Even as he said the words, his hands worked constantly, doing what she could not-saving Garrett's life. Kincaid slashed a nick in the vein at his wrist, and held it to Garrett's mouth, cradling Garrett's head in his lap.

What a fool she was. Of course. Ava watched helplessly as Kincaid tried to get Garrett conscious enough to drink. Garrett's eyes flickered open, black with the hunger as the craving awoke within him at the scent of the blood.

"When was the first time you met him?" Kincaid crooned. "That's it. Drink it down."

She had to think. "He saved my life. He and Perry. They rescued me from Hague's laboratory."

Blue eyes seared her own. "When did you start working for the Nighthawks?"

It was all starting to come back to her. "It was Garrett." Heat flushed her eyes, but no tears, damn it. "He suggested if I wanted a career, then Fitz-the crime scene investigator-needed another set of hands at his side, and I'd shown an interest." She swallowed the lump in her throat, and held Garrett's cold fingers. "I think he knew I needed something."

I think he knew going home had torn the blindfold from her eyes-there was no home there in Edinburgh for her anymore, no fiancé, nothing but a cold barren hall where her father didn't know quite what to say to her anymore.

-Blink-

Dr. Gibson was there, pushing her aside. He had his medical bag, but the first thing he grabbed was a flask of blood. "Out of the way, lass. We need to get more blood into him."

Then there was a gurney, and worried Nighthawks helping to lift the guild master onto it.

A coat around her shoulders she couldn't remember acquiring.

Hands resting on those very same shoulders, drawing her back against a hard body.

Blood.

Ava tore her face away from Kincaid's bandaged wrist, shivering with need. "Don't touch me."

"All right. I'll stand here beside you then," he replied.

Dr. Gibson instructed the Nighthawks to lift the gurney into the medical wagon. The streets were eerily quiet. People groaned on the cobbles, crushed by the retreating mob, or perhaps beaten down by Nighthawks' truncheons. A burned Nighthawk was rushed to Gibson's medical wagon, his leather body armor still smoldering, the stink of it making her retch. 

Nighthawks crowded around. Some were bloodied. Others hung their heads as the doors were closed behind Garrett.

Ava clung to the lapels of Kincaid's coat, staring desolately at the smoky streets. "We failed," she whispered.

Nobody had won. Not the human mob. Not the Nighthawks. Not the Company of Rogues.

Only Ulbricht and his unseen master.

For she had the feeling this was just the start.





Twenty-Six





IT WAS A nightmare, an utter nightmare.

Ava pressed her hands to her lips, letting Kincaid rub her back as they waited to hear word. He'd been particularly quiet since they arrived at the guild, letting her process what was happening around her without pushing her to make conversation, or trying to hug her or overwhelm her.

She was grateful for that. She needed the small touch of his hand in the middle of her back, but she didn't think she could cope with more. Not right now. Perry had stridden into the courtyard when they arrived, and Ava couldn't stop seeing the look on the other woman's face when Ava breathlessly tried to explain what had all gone so horribly wrong. Perry had known. The second she saw the medic van her face lost every trace of expression, and then she was barking orders, sending Doyle off with the twins, who desperately wanted to see their papa.