Page 139 of Stone Cold Touch

There were no answers in the blackness that surrounded me and my heart ached. Every time I thought his name, it cracked open and festered into an ugly wound. If I had hurt him, if I had changed who he was, I could never forgive myself. And no amount of punishment, nothing that Abbot or the other Wardens planned, would be truly fitting.

The sickness from feeding on Zayne’s soul took hold. When it passed from my system, leaving behind the chills, I screwed my eyes shut and refused to see the part of him I stole.

Was he okay?

I didn’t understand why the soul had sickened me now when it hadn’t before. There were a lot of questions, and again, no answers.

After a little while, the ache in my cheeks and sides became a steady throb. The bloodroot prevented me from shifting and had to have also affected my body’s natural healing cycle. With each passing hour, different parts of my body began to hurt and then tiny pangs of hunger spliced across my stomach. The back of my throat burned. Water. I became fixated on it, obsessing over how it would feel slipping down my throat.

Finally I could speak above a whisper and I called out. And I kept calling out until my voice gave way.

No one came.

More time passed. Hours. Days maybe? Eventually I could move my legs and then my arms. I could almost sit up without hitting the bars of the cage.

And still no one came.

Tiny squeaks, along with the rasp of sharp claws against cement, joined the sound of dripping water.Rats.They came closer, their eyes shiny in the darkness. I curled into the back of the cage, pressing into myself.

Had they forgotten about me or had they left me down here to die of thirst and hunger? The backs of my eyes burned. I didn’t want to die in the cage. I didn’t want to die at all. It wasn’t the demon in me fearing that. It was me. I wanted to live.

But more time passed and I couldn’t feel my toes. It was so cold down there and the rats drew closer, sniffing around the bars, looking for a way in.

I’d lost track of time when a small light flared to life somewhere beyond the cage, sending the rats scurrying back into the thick shadows lining the slippery walls. Muscles cramped and weak, I forced myself to turn around.

More light flooded the room, blinding my too-sensitive eyes. There was the sound of heavy footsteps approaching the cage and finally the light receded. I could see.

The Warden in front of me was young, only a year or two older than me, obviously one of the newest recruits, straight from the house where the mated Wardens lived with their children. But that wasn’t what held my rapt attention. It wasn’t even the opaque glass he carried in his hand that was probably full of much-desired water.

It was what I saw before I could pick out the Warden’s features.

I saw the pearly translucent glow around him—his soul.

“I see your soul,” I whispered in a thready voice.

Those words were lost on the Warden as he knelt in front of the cage. He glanced over his shoulder and I saw the other Warden’s aura. When it faded, I recognized Maddox. “Are you sure it’s okay to open the cage?” the younger Warden asked.

Maddox stopped by an empty cage, crossing his arms. “It’s fine. She’s not going to do anything.”

My gaze shifted back to the newer Warden. A look of doubt crossed his features as he reached for the lock, which was unnecessary. I could barely keep my head up.

“Is she supposed to look like this?” he asked.

Did I look that bad? But then my gaze dropped to my own arm. With the light, it was the first time I could see myself. Through the torn shirt, my skin was mottled—gray, black, and pink. My eyes widened. What in the holy Hell?

I tried to speak again, but the words only scratched at my dry throat.

“She’s a mutt—part demon and part Warden,” Maddox explained as he came closer, kneeling down beside the other Warden. “The bloodroot is keeping her from fully shifting in either form. Give her the drink, Donn.”

The door to the cage opened and Donn extended an arm in. It took a lot of effort to reach for the glass, but thirst was a powerful motivator. The glass shook as I raised it to my lips and drank greedily. The moment the liquid sloshed down my throat, I jerked back, dropping the glass. Water spilled across the cage, seeping into torn, dirtied jeans and then through to my skin.

Maddox sighed. “The drink isn’t poisonous. It’s just bloodroot mixed in with the water. We can’t have you shifting.”

My head pounded disbelief. “Wh-why?”

“We need to move you out of here, to the warehouse,” Maddox explained, and my heart stuttered weakly in my chest. I knew what those warehouses were used for. “And we want as little trouble as possible.”

I wanted to point out that I wasn’t going to attack them unless they gave me no choice, but the room started to swim again. Before I slipped away, I forced his name out. “Z-Zayne?”

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