fingers over the weapon still strapped around her forearm.
“Not if you’re dead.”
“Fool me once, shame on you.” He curled his forefinger in invitation. “Aren’t you going to come out and play?”
She leaned against the doorjamb. “No, I don’t think I will.”
“Afraid?”
“Too well trained to fall for such an obvious trap.” She sniffed the air. “Where is Arel? Trying to sneak in the back door?”
Niko’s smile never faltered despite his stab of fear. The bitch was supposed to be attacking him, not remaining lodged in the trailer like a rabid guard dog.
So how did he convince her that she had no choice but to fight?
By proving that the risk of leaving Arel and me alive is too great . . .
The thought seared through his mind at the same time he was struck by inspiration.
There was only one thing that Dylan feared.
And that was losing her one chance to be made normal.
She had to believe her dreams were about to be shattered.
Niko folded his arms across his chest, trying to look nonchalant.
“I wanted to make sure you didn’t slip away before we could finish this.”
“I’m not afraid of you.” Dylan flared her flat nose in what he assumed was disdain. “Or your devoted sycophant.”
“Arel isn’t going to be happy to be called a sycophant,” he drawled. “And I don’t give a shit if you’re scared or not. All I need to do is keep you cornered until the cavalry rides to the rescue.”
She pretended indifference, but Niko didn’t miss the sudden tension that gripped her body.
“What do you mean?”
“Arel contacted Wolfe when he found me unconscious,” he smoothly lied, betting on the fact this female wouldn’t have any inside connections left at Valhalla. One phone call and his fib would blow up in his face. “The Tagos wasn’t pleased to discover you’re carrying around an illegal weapon, let alone kidnapping a scientist who they hope will be the salvation of those high-bloods who can’t survive their mutations.”
Her laugh was strained. “I suppose you want me to believe he’s sending a hundred—oh wait, maybe it’s a thousand—warriors to capture me?”
“I don’t have a clue, but since the guardians can only transport two or three at a time, you won’t have to worry about a thousand arriving on your doorstep.” He waved a languid hand toward the empty road. “At least not in the next hour or so.”
Dylan frowned, proving she hadn’t had word that the guardians were refusing to leave their necros, and that there was no possibility of any backup arriving in time.
“No,” she hissed. “You won’t ruin this for me. Not now.”
He smiled in open challenge. “There’s no escape.”
The crimson eyes at last smoldered with the panic he’d been hoping for.
Even a Sentinel made stupid decisions when driven by fear.
“I can go through you,” she rasped.
He held out his arms in mocking invitation. “You can’t kill two of us.”
“Watch me.”
Lifting her arm she released a blast from her shockwave. Already anticipating the shot, Niko lunged to the side, allowing the electrical charge to slam into the tree behind him.
“Is that all you got?” he taunted, brushing off the bits of bark and shattered wood that clung to his jeans.
“And the healers told me that I was the one with the death wish,” Dylan snarled, leaping off the front steps of the trailer even as she was sending another invisible bolt of power in his direction.
He felt his hair rise as the electricity filled the air, his gaze trained on the female launching a kick at his head.
Distantly he was aware of the wary humans peeking out their windows and a few braver souls who stepped out of their shabby homes, but he didn’t worry they would interfere.
Life was difficult enough for these norms. They didn’t willingly place themselves in danger.
He was far more concerned by the barely audible sound of Arel’s soft murmur as he spoke to Angela. No doubt he was trying to convince her to slip through the back door rather than charging into the fray. His scientist might be brilliant, but she could be as stubborn as hell.
Reassured by the sudden fading of her scent, Niko grasped Dylan’s foot and twisted it to the side. The well-trained Sentinel flowed through the air, easily landing on her feet as she let off another shot.
Niko hissed as the bolt went just above his ducked head, close enough to make his ears ring.
Christ. He had to disable the shockwave. Sooner or later he was going to run out of luck.