Katie's Hellion

He had no reflection.

She squeezed her eyes closed and breathed deeply, swaying. His touch made her jerk away and her eyes snap open. She stared at him, backing out of his reach until the back of her knees hit a chair and she dropped into it.

His eyes had changed color to a deep violet-blue, a beautiful shade of tanzanite. She felt cold again on the inside and shivered. He looked away finally and returned to his desk.

"Are you all right?" he asked in a measured tone.

She cleared her throat and said simply, "Yes."

As if sensing the weight of the word, he turned, brow furrowed. He perched on the edge of the desk, the fire casting shadows across his perfect, chiseled features. Any other day, she'd have stared at his hard body and the way his jeans hugged his muscular thighs and the round globes of his backside, or the T-shirt that fit so well.

"What's your name?"

"Katie."

"How did you get in my lab?"

"Ully brought me."

"From the Outside?" He crossed his arms, displaying his displeasure without his face changing.

She nodded. "You must be Kris."

"I am."

"Ully said you don't let him out much."

"I don't."

"And that he was once a dead doctor."

"Yeah."

She shuddered. They gazed at each other for a long moment, her shock and exhaustion too deep to fear the man who radiated power and control, even in a simple T-shirt. Tattoos of interlinked geometric shapes glowed on his arms before fading.

"Why do you need my blood?" she asked.

"Ully's testing it. It's what he does."

"Dr. Williams said my blood tests were unusual."

His eyes turned from tanzanite to deep emerald. She shivered again.

"I need a shot of whiskey," she said.

For a long moment, she didn't think he'd agree. At last he moved around the desk to a dark corner and withdrew a crystal carafe from a locked cabinet.

"Don't give me your good stuff. I don't intend to savor it," she warned.

He gave her an amused look, then poured her three shots worth of whiskey and handed it to her. She downed a mouthful, grimacing at the burn that went down her throat and all the way to her gut.

"I can't get warm any other way," she admitted, and took another gulp.

"You're in shock," he surmised.

"No argument there. I have a feeling you know already what the past two days have been like."