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  And then she saw a huge metal hand catch it by the throat and squeeze. At the same time, a booted foot kicked out and caught the other sniffer squarely in the chest. It gave a mechanical squeal, like a piece of equipment that needed oil, and fell backwards. It tried to get up but the boot descended on its blood-smeared jaws and crushed the metal flat. The low slung silver body writhed for a moment and then a grinding sound, like something breaking, came from it and it lay still. The boot came up and a wisp of black smoke drifted out of the robotic carcass.

  “You dare…” The deep voice was familiar but so distorted with rage it was barely recognizable.

  Mei-Li looked up and saw that both the boot and the metal fist holding the still struggling first sniffer belonged to Six.

  “Well, hello there, Six.” Two’s long thin body looked tight as a wire under his blood spattered leather coat but his voice was still calm and relaxed.

  “You dare to threaten my female. You dare try to harm her?” Six ground out, glaring at the other man.

  Two shrugged his boney shoulders. “I had no choice—she was committing Feel-crime. As a member of the Purge Squad, it was my duty to eliminate her.”

  “She has a dispensation!” roared Six.

  “Which she had hidden under her cloak.” Two folded his thin arms over his narrow chest. “It was not clearly visible. I was perfectly within my rights to have her purged.”

  “And I would be within my rights to purge you myself, here and now,” Six growled, leaning forward to get in the other male’s face.

  Instead of jerking back, Two inhaled deeply and then grinned his awful metal grin.

  “Careful, Six, you appear to be committing Feel-crime yourself right this moment. Is this little female getting to you? Are you having emotions?”

  “You…” Six took a deep breath, clearly trying to calm himself. “You are wrong. What I feel is simply my natural Kindred instinct to protect my female. That is all.”

  “Is that so?” Two inhaled again. “Then why do I smell so many feelings on you? Rage…fear…even…” He sniffed once more. “Oh my, is that lust that you’re feeling for this little one? My, my—how very intriguing.”

  “You’re wrong,” Six growled. “I feel nothing but that will not stop me from killing to protect my female.”

  He took a step back and held up the first sniffer which still twitched in his grasp. There was a sudden spasm of his metal hand and the robotic head with its long, ugly snout and gore-flecked silver teeth popped off. The body fell twitching and smoking to the ground.

  Six threw the disembodied head at the other man’s feet.

  “Touch her again and see what happens, Two.”

  Then he turned and pulled Mei-Li up off the ground.

  “Six,” she began but one look from him was enough to shut her up. She thought she had never seen so much rage—or so much conflict—in a face, human or Kindred, before.

  “Come, I am taking you home.”

  Before she could protest, he lifted her in his arms and strode out of the market place. Mei-Li didn’t dare to talk but she shot a glance over his broad shoulder. Two was standing there with the ruined remains of the sniffers and Malak’s dead body at his feet.

  He was still grinning.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Six didn’t know how to master the sensations that were flooding through him. One moment his chest was burning, his muscles were tense with the need to tear and rend and punch and all he could see was red.

  Killed—she could have been killed! Mei-Li could be lying dead in a pool of her own blood just like the old male if I had been a moment later!

  This thought brought a whole new range or sensations. His throat felt tight and his eyes stung. A desire to hold her tightly and never let go rushed through him. Thank the Goddess, he had made it to her in time! If he hadn’t…if Two had done as he wished…

  I’ll kill him! The next time I see him I’ll pull him limb from limb! I should have done it this time! The only thing that had stopped him had been the other male’s accusation that he was feeling. That couldn’t be right—could it?

  Then what are all these sensations you keep having? whispered a little voice in his brain. Why are you having so many irrational thoughts and impulses? What’s wrong with you? Maybe it’s time to call these “sensations” what they really are—emotions.

  No!

  Six tried to push the thought aside, to still the little voice, but he couldn’t quite manage it. All he could do was clutch the girl in his arms tighter as he strode through the streets to his domicile and swear to himself that this time he would never let her go.

  * * * * *

  Mei-Li didn’t know what to think. She had never seen Six look so wild and out of control, not even when he’d walked in on her the night before and seen her watching his memories. She’d thought for a moment that he was going to murder Two aka Mr. Metal Teeth but the other man’s accusations that he was “feeling” seemed to have put an end to that.

  Mei-Li knew it was wrong but she wished the big Kindred had killed Two. The way he had looked at her as Six carried her away made her think there was going to be trouble in the very near future. And after watching the bastard kill poor old Malak in cold blood…

  It could have been you. It almost was you. If Six hadn’t come—No, I don’t want to think about that! God, she was shaking all over! She took a deep, breath, trying to regain control. All right, I’m all right…

  Just then Six pushed open the door to his house, cutting off her train of thought. He kicked the door shut, took three strides into the living area, and set her down so roughly her teeth clicked together. Then he took her by the shoulders and glared down into her face.

  “Six,” she began tentatively.

  “You could have been killed, Mei-Li. Do you hear me? You could have been killed!”

  It was exactly what she had been trying so hard not to think about.

  “I know! I know that! I saw what…what he wanted to…to do to me.” The memory of Malak’s death rose fresh in her mind again, his choked cries and the horrible ripping sound as the sniffers tore out his throat… No, stop it! Stop thinking about it. To her horror, she found that tears were very close to the surface. Somehow she managed to swallow them back down.

  “Why were you there, anyway? Why did you go out into the city alone, without me to protect you?” Six demanded angrily.

  “Without you to protect me? You’ve been acting like you don’t want to be anywhere near me!” she snapped. “You made me feel like crap this morning before you left. So instead of moping around the house, I decided to go out.”

  “You decided to go out?” His gaze was burning into her. “To go out to one of the most dangerous parts of the city alone?”

  “I didn’t go out looking for trouble,” she protested. “I made myself a cloak so I’d be less conspicuous.”

  “This?” Six grabbed the back of her black, hooded cloak and ripped it off her in one stroke, revealing her red wrap dress. “This fucking thing that nearly got you killed because it covered your dispensation?” He shook it in her face and dropped it on the floor. “Goddessdamn it, Mei-Li!”

  “I didn’t know the stupid thing had to be visible all the time,” she flared, waving her arm with its glowing yellow numbers in his face. “You never told me!”

  “I never expected you to go out on your own looking to be purged!” he shouted. “Looking to get killed.”

  “Why would you care if I got killed?” Mei-Li demanded. “You have no emotions, right? You’d probably just step over my body in the street and go on with your business.” She knew she wasn’t being fair. Six had just saved her life and no matter what the big Kindred insisted about his emotionless state, it was becoming clear that he wasn’t as cold and unfeeling as he wanted to believe. But she couldn’t help herself—he had hurt her deeply and the words just came out.

  “Is that what you think?” The look Six gave her was almost wild. “Is that really what y