Page 11 of Stone Cold Touch

The Warden wheeled around and went for me again.

He didn’t make it.

The snake shot at him like a bullet heading straight for the head. “Bambi!”

Too late.

Like a wimp, I squeezed my eyes shut at the first high-pitched yelp. My stomach turned as a sickening succession of crunching noises filled the alley. I pivoted around, facing the mouth of the alley. People strolled in both directions, having no idea what was going on in here.

There was a loud swallowing sound and there was a good chance I was going to hurl. Looking down, I wrapped my hand around my left arm and winced as pain shot through me. My sweater was dark, masking the blood, but it was dripping onto my hand. Biting my lip, I closed my eyes as a wave of dizziness washed over me.

Criminy, I had bad luck when it came to alleys.

Bambi nudged my hip with her nose. Taking a deep breath, I faced her. Her red, forked tongue wiggled in the air and she nudged me again. My gaze lifted to the shadows of the alley. Besides the rats, we were the only two things there.

“Oh my God,” I breathed, patting Bambi’s head awkwardly. “You seriously just ate a Warden.”

And my life seriously had just gotten a lot more complicated.

I managed to find an old silk scarf in the bottom of my bag. Using it to wipe the blood off my hand, I then balled it up and kept it handy just in case I started dripping all over Nicolai’s leather seats.

I didn’t say anything to him, because what could I say? A Warden tried to kill me. I might be bleeding to death over here. Oh, and by the way, Bambi ate said Warden for dinner. Yeah, that was going to go over like a ton of bricks laced with dynamite.

So I focused on not passing out from the moment Nicolai showed up. As soon as I got home, I’d find Zayne and... God knows what after that.

I needed KWWRP—Killing Wardens Witness Relocation Program.

Clenching my jaw hard to keep from moaning every time we hit a pothole, I felt a bit out of it by the time we reached the compound. The cut couldn’t have been that deep. At least I hoped it wasn’t, but damn if my entire left arm didn’t feel like a cold piece of meat.

I hurried inside and skidded to a stop in the foyer. Deep male voices rang out from every corner of the home it seemed. I looked into the living room, disoriented.

Jasmine stood there, her arms around a tall male Warden with thick, wavy auburn hair. He was holding their daughter, Izzy. The two-year-old was in her human form, but two dark-colored horns parted her red curls and her wings were poking out the back of her pink shirt. Drake, Izzy’s twin brother, was clambering at the male’s legs, grunting each time he jumped.

Dez was back.

Which meant Jasmine and Danika would be heading home soon since the members of their clan were back and it was no longer necessary for them to be kept here for safety reasons. Yay.

A strange look pinched his handsome features as his gaze scoured his surroundings. When his eyes landed on me, his shoulders relaxed a bit, but the odd tension on his face remained.

“Layla,” he said, smiling as he handed Izzy off to Jasmine and bent, picking up Drake, holding him close to a massive chest. “It’s good to see you.”

I blinked slowly as I dropped my bag beside the small table in the foyer. Still holding the scarf, I forced a smile. “Hey. How...how are you?”

“Good. You look...”

Voices neared and the doors to Abbot’s library swung open. As if moving through a fog, I turned. Another unfamiliar Warden stepped out, drawing to a halt when he saw me. Like the one in the alley and like Dez himself, he was young. Probably in his mid-twenties.

“What the...?” he said, reaching behind him.

Oh, for the love of God, if he pulled out a knife, I was going to give up on life in general.

“Maddox.” Dez stepped forward, clutching Drake as the toddler grabbed a handful of hair with chubby fingers. “This is Layla.”

There was a heavy layer of warning in Dez’s voice that caused Maddox to straighten as though steel had been poured down his spine. He nodded curtly and then stepped around me, giving me a wide enough berth that one would think I was carrying some kind of vicious disease.

“Have you seen Tomas?” Maddox asked, watching me from the corners of his eyes. “He went into the city. Has he come back?”

“No,” Dez said, hoisting Drake up. Behind him, Jasmine frowned as she eyed me. I was sure her “there’s a wounded bird nearby” senses were firing. She was a Hell of a healer. Something I was in desperate need of, but I needed to get out of here. “I’m sure he’ll be back soon,” he finished.

---