Page 104 of To Catch A Rogue

She held her wrist out to him.

There was no knife to slice her vein neatly. Some blue bloods filed their teeth into points, but Malloryn had never seen the point. He was an aristocrat, not a savage. Ava saw him shake his head, and with a sigh, set her fingernail to her wrist.

Jelena leaned against the bars, her single eye burning with fervor.

"I will not hurt her."

Jelena flipped her wrist, and something shot through the bars toward Ava. A small steel star that slashed across her décolletage, splashing blood across her gown. Ava gasped and clapped a hand to her chest, but he could see that seductive crimson tide spreading through her fingers and soaking the lace of her bodice.

Instantly, the scent of blood filled the air, plunging his vision through shades of gray before he forced himself to climb out of the darkness, step by steady step.

"We shall see, Malloryn. It's going to be long night ahead of you." Jelena pushed away from the bars. "I hope your resolve is as good as you claim."

* * *

"Take a little blood,"Ava whispered. "Just a little. Enough to assuage the worst of the hunger."

Malloryn rested his head back against the cell wall, his knees drawn up to his chest, where he gripped them. He didn't dare move. He couldn't look at her. Breathing slowly through his mouth, he tried to ignore her words and the scent that flavored the air.

"Tell me about the others," he finally murmured, forcing himself to focus on the Company of Rogues. "Distract me."

"They'll be looking for us," she promised. "Jelena cut the tracking implant from the back of my neck, but they're close. Charlie and Lark have been searching Balfour's properties, and Gemma and the others are distracting Balfour."

"Lark?" He didn't know that name.

"Charlie's friend from the rookeries. Blade is here too. And Lord Barrons."

All of them. They'd come for him.

The fucking fools.

He was either going to throttle Gemma when he got his hands on her, or lose his composure utterly.

Jelena had made one mistake when she cast Ava in here with him.

Before he'd seen her, he'd thought himself alone. He'd known he would die here. He'd almost reached the stage where he'd accepted it, as long as theymade the pain go away.

But now there was hope.

If they arrived in time.

Because now, Jelena and Dido weren't the threat. He was.

"How did they capture you?"

If she kept talking, then maybe he'd be able to distract himself long enough. The wound across her chest had healed, courtesy of the craving virus, but the blood stained her gown.

His gums ached and his throat was so, so dry. Malloryn smashed his knuckles into the floor, focusing on the pain. It was all that anchored him to rationality.

Ava prattled on, and he focused on her voice, because attempting to concentrate on the words was beyond him.

"Malloryn?"

The words stopped. Malloryn looked up, and realized he'd began to inch closer to her, his gaze locked on the bloodied lace of her gown.

"You're not going to last the night," Ava said, swallowing.

"Yes. Iwill."