Page 59 of Shai

there was no sign of Shai. I went to the back, where Shai had said there were blue bottles of cyanide. Sure enough, there were blue bottles. I pulled one out and stared at it. All I had to do was drink it and there would be no more Elijah. Unlike venom, I was fairly sure there was no antidote to cyanide poisoning.

Or… What if there was some way of giving it to McIntyre? He was

going to kill me, but what if I could take him down first? I’d probably still die, but at least I could do it with a smile on my face knowing that I’d taken him with me. Take it, or save it for McIntyre? There was no contest. Not really. I slid the bottle into my pocket, praying the seal was tight enough not to leak.

It was another five minutes before Shai reappeared, my heart

performing its customary gymnastics at the sight of the syringe in his hand. I could already taste it, my body yearning for the cool perfection of the chemical in my blood. His gaze trailed over me, pausing at the sleeve I’d rolled up and forgotten to put back into place. “Someone’s ready for this.”

I let him think that, holding my arm out and watching as he wrapped the

tourniquet tightly around it, the veins popping out in anticipation of their reward. “Can you give me some to take with me?”

Shai’s gaze flicked to mine. “If I did, do you really think McIntyre

would let you take it?”

Hope deflated inside of me. There wasn’t a chance in hell. McIntyre

would enjoy seeing me suffer from withdrawal. He’d probably keep me alive longer just so he could witness it.

Shai slid the needle into my vein. “Besides, I’m sure he’ll search you.” The tiny glass bottle in my pocket seemed to glow and take on a life of

its own. Shai was right. I needed to find a better hiding place for it. He pressed the plunger and I gave myself up to the feeling of euphoria, arousal chasing it as it always did, my cock stiffening against Shai’s hip.

He removed the needle from my arm, his fingers sliding down to palm

my cock through my jeans, rubbing it in just the way I liked. “One for the road?”

It would be so easy to turn and face the wall. I’d push my jeans down and Shai would slide his cock inside of me and fuck me until there was no McIntyre, and no deal. Just two bodies moving together to reach their inevitable conclusion, the way we’d gotten so good at doing over the past few weeks. Something niggled at me through the comforting haze of the drug. I didn’t let it go as I normally did, chasing it until it crystallized into a solid thought. Shai didn’t want me. He’d made a deal to give me away. He was swapping me for a man who only worked for him. Where was my self-respect if I let him fuck me?

I pushed him away, Shai seeming genuinely surprised. I gathered words into my mouth that my tongue felt too thick to deliver, proud of myself when I managed to get them out anyway. “No! You don’t get to fuck me again. You made your choice.”

His eyes narrowed. “You know I could just take it anyway. And your body wouldn’t say no, your body would lap up every bit of attention and beg for more.”

Despite my high, I held his gaze. “You could do that. My body is drugged, though. It would be the Void saying yes, not me. I just want you to know that.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Do you think it bothers me one way or another whether you want it or not?”

A wave of sadness engulfed me. “No, I don’t expect it does, but I just wanted to make it clear.”

A charged moment passed between us, a moment where a part of me hoped he’d ignore me and take what he wanted anyway. Either way, I won. I’d get fucked or I’d win a moral victory.

To my surprise, he backed off. “Fine, Elijah. Be like that. Cut off your nose to spite your face, why don’t you. It really doesn’t matter to me.”

No, it didn’t. And that was the problem. Well, that and a million other things.

THERE WAS no one else on the bridge save for the two vehicles parked at either end of it. Shai had said very little to me since I’d turned the opportunity for a final fuck down. At least the fear of what was to come seemed to have dialed down the arousal a notch, making it bearable. Grayson killed the engine, the car at the other end of the bridge silent and still.

Shai’s gaze found mine from the front seat. “Time to go, Elijah.” Time

to go! He made it sound like I was going to a fucking tea party, not into the hands of a man who was only saved from being the world’s biggest megalomaniac by the presence of the man in front of me, who’d been fucking me for the last couple of months.

I got out of the car without having to be asked. If this was happening, I

wanted it over and done with as quickly as possible. Fear gnawed at my insides, my legs shaking so much that the distance between the two cars seemed like an infinite chasm. Shai came to stand next to me, Grayson and Wyatt trailing in his wake. “I don’t suppose you have some sort of plan you’ve been keeping to yourself that involves getting Taylor back without actually doing a swap?”

Shai’s gaze slid sideways to find mine. “No.”