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He placed his clipboard under his arm and moved to the other side of the examining table, giving Declan a wide berth. “If there’s any way I can redi
scover the formula, if I can extract it from your blood and re-create it—it’ll be an invaluable weapon. Even though you’ll no longer be a part of it, there’s no reason why the Nightshade program needs to be discarded completely.”
He was helping me so he could try to re-create Nightshade. Sounded reasonable to me.
I nodded again. “When do we start?”
“The moment I have the information I need from these samples. I’ll be in touch as soon as I can.”
I felt lightheaded from the blood donation as Declan and I left the examining room and rode the elevator back up to the warehouse level. Declan kept his hand at the small of my back in case I lost my balance.
We got off the elevator and walked through the empty warehouse until we emerged into the sunlight again.
He eyed me cautiously. “You okay?”
“I’ll be fine.” I pressed my hand to my forehead. “Must be all the blood he took. I’m feeling a bit drained.”
“I’ll go get the car,” Declan said. “Wait here.”
I nodded and leaned against the wall, just outside of the front door, and watched him disappear around the edge of the building. I eyed the camera that was trained on the front door. For something that was there for security reasons, it made me nervous.
“Did it go well?” Jackson asked. I started a little, since I hadn’t seen him standing to the other side of me.
“I think so.” I rubbed my fingertips over the Band-Aid at the crook of my arm. “Listen, thanks for pointing us in the right direction.”
Jackson smiled. He was actually quite attractive in a biker-dude kind of way, and the expression helped soften up the rougher edges. “I’m usually a hard-ass when it comes to shit like this, but I’m really sorry for what you’ve been through.”
That surprised me. “You don’t strike me as the type who’s sorry for much.”
“I’m not.”
I blew out a long breath and pressed back against the wall. The air was dry, hot, and smelled like dust and exhaust fumes. The meeting with Dr. Reynolds had tired me out. Hope was an exhausting emotion to entertain. “You’ve known Declan for ten years, have you?”
“Around that.” He shook his head. “Seems strange seeing him with a woman like you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “A woman like me?”
He shrugged a shoulder. “I can tell a lot just from meeting a person once. You’re somebody who needs a man in her life who’s able to show her a good time.”
“Am I?”
“And I saw how you looked at him before.”
“How’s that?”
“Like he’s on the menu.”
I couldn’t help but snort at that. This guy thought he knew it all. I wasn’t a big fan of cocky. “Is that right?”
“Declan, he’s . . . a good hunter. Loyal to a fault. I know you met the man who raised him.”
“I did.”
“Then you know Declan will stay with someone even when it’s obvious to everyone else it’s a bad idea.”
I bristled at that. “That’s how you think it is with him and me?”
“There’s nothing there, Jill. Just a shell. He’s a machine. A soldier. He kills rogue vampires. It’s what he’s done, 24/7, for as long as I’ve known him. He isn’t somebody who’s going to make a good boyfriend.”
