there. If one world were to be shattered, it’d change all the rest.” She straightened, her voice strengthening as she tried to explain. “Don’t you see? When Ronan’s bubble burst, it created those hell worlds. Or it revealed them or brought them in from elsewhere. We’re not sure exactly what happened.”
“But Quade is in a hell dimension,” Ivar countered.
“Now, he is. But he probably wasn’t until Ronan’s dimension burst.” She tapped her laptop on the table. “We think. And since time is different in different dimensions, three months here could be eternity there.”
“No.” He shook his head and moved toward his weapons. “You need to find a way.” His breath was heated in his chest, and it burned up his damaged throat. “I don’t care if we cause chain reactions in other worlds so long as we get him here. How can it matter?”
Her eyebrows lifted. “How can it matter? For one thing, it could destroy this world. For another, just because you haven’t come across other humans or intelligent beings in those other worlds, it doesn’t mean they’re not out there. If the bubbles are infinite, then you’ve visited less than one-zillionth of a percent of one-zillionth to the nth degree.”
He didn’t care. Not one part of him cared. “Thank you for figuring it out. I appreciate it.” He strapped his knife back in place. Surely Adare would be up for a few hours of sparring.
“Of course.” She frowned.
“But you need to go the next step and discover how I get back to Quade.” He tried to make the statement sound like a request, but it definitely sounded like an order. So be it. “Whether you like the results or not, that’s your job. That’s why you have the grant.”
“Are you doubting me? Do you think I’m lying?” she asked.
The woman thought she was all brain, but in truth, she had an enormous heart. “I think you’re giving up. Part of you doesn’t want me to go, and I think you’re limiting your math.”
Her head jerked. “You’re an arrogant jackass. My math is spot on, and I’ve been working nonstop every second since we met.”
How could he get her to see beyond the numbers? “Your job is to do the math. So do it.”
“Is that why you mated me?” she asked, her voice soft. “You mated me for my mathematical abilities, and you’re not getting the answers you wanted. You made a mistake.”
He paused. “That’s why you mated me. For access to this world and its physics.” She didn’t get to rewrite history now. “I agreed because that’s what you wanted.” Words were bottled up in his chest, and he swallowed through the sandpaper of his throat several times. “I know there’s more between us than science and exploration, and so do you.” But at the moment, he wanted to yell at her, so he needed to get the hell out of there. They’d been playing house with the kissy face and sex, and he’d enjoyed it. But he had a mission to do and a vow to keep. “Don’t think for a second you’re getting out of this mating.”
“My job is bigger than your wishes,” she said, her eyes dark.
He tried to grab his temper. He really did. “That’s all well and good, but you’ll do as you’re told. The repercussions are mine to worry about.”
Her chin lifted and firmed. “That’s where you are incorrect. I have a duty to science and the preservation of life that transcends your wants. You don’t want to work against me on this.”
Was that a threat? A fucking threat? A part of him—a far distant part from the one blowing up in fury—admired her for it. The other part. Well now. That one was going to take control of the situation in a way she surely would not like. “Stick with the theoretical, Professor. I’ll worry about the practical applications.” He strode toward the door, forgetting his exhaustion.
“I’ll stop you, Ivar,” she said, her voice a mere whisper.
He paused in front of the door and closed his eyes. Oh, she had not. He turned to look at her over his shoulder, trying to ignore how sweet and vulnerable she looked on his bed, even though her eyes were now shooting sparks. “Oh, baby. You just try it.” Then he turned and walked out the door, shutting it so quietly it was only a whisper.
His blood heated, he strode to the end of the hall and turned down a stairwell. Demon headquarters had