Page 14 of Stone Cold Touch

“Maybe she has an upset stomach.”

A partly hysterical laugh burst free and a small grin stretched his lips. None of this was funny, but if I didn’t laugh, I’d probably start screaming. “I tried to stop her. And I tried to get the Warden to understand. I swear, Zayne. He just wouldn’t. He said I smelled like a demon. Do I smell like a demon?”

His mouth opened and then he clamped it shut. Tossed the bloodied towel to where my sweater lay. “The cut’s not healing up and it’s not going to with an iron blade and that’s damn...”

“Dangerous to demons. Great. That’s perfect.” I stared up at him, holding the quilt to my chest with one hand. “Do I smell like a demon?”

“Let me get Jasmine—”

“No. She’ll tell Abbot and that Warden probably belongs to the New York clan. Abbot will blame me.”

“No he won’t.”

A ball of unease formed in my belly. “I came to you because I trust you. You can’t tell your father. Please.”

Zayne’s shoulders tensed. “Then let me get Danika. Don’t look at me like you just swallowed cat urine.”

“Ew,” I groaned.

“She won’t say anything and she’s as good as Jasmine when it comes to these kinds of things.” He leaned in, placing his hands on either side of my legs. “We can trust Danika.”

I bet my face looked as though I’d also swallowed hamster pee.

Zayne got really close, pressing his forehead against mine. I tried to edge away, but he followed and he was too close. I closed my eyes, clamping my mouth shut as the urge to—to feed rose above the pain and the icy feeling of panic.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he said, his hands curling around my knees. “I’m going to get your arm fixed up and then we’re going to figure this out. But if you trust me...”

I started to look away, but he placed his fingers on my cheeks, stopping me. “Zayne.”

“If you trust me, then you have to trust that this will be safe with Danika,” he continued. “I can’t do this—stitch your arm. Not by myself. Okay? I got you.”

Holding my breath, I nodded. I was unsure if I agreed just to get him to back away before I latched onto him or if I was actually willing to dump my trust in Danika’s—of all people’s—hands.

Zayne lifted his head and kissed my forehead, causing my heart to tumble over itself. “I’ll be right back.”

It took about two minutes for him to return with Danika. During that time, I’d convinced myself that Zayne had been waylaid by his father and forced to spill the truth. The sick sense of dread was like rotten food in my tummy.

Zayne stepped in, closing the door quietly behind Danika. She carried a small bag that looked like a sewing kit. Oh God. They were so going to sew my skin. I turned wild eyes on Zayne.

He sat beside me, drawing my wide stare. “I’ve told her everything.”

“I’m not going to say anything,” she said, placing the bag beside me and immediately starting to rummage through it. “Just that I’m glad you’re sitting here and Bambi got a good meal in.”

I gaped at her.

She shrugged one elegant shoulder. “I don’t like judgy people or judgy Wardens and if it was Tomas, then he’d be the kind to be judgy.”

“Y-you knew him?”

Nodding, she turned to my arm and made a clucking sound. “This was definitely iron,” she said to Zayne. “See how the edges are kind of burned?”

My skin was burned?

“Even if she had shifted, this wouldn’t heal. She’ll be fine once she’s stitched up,” she went on, and I saw something out of the corner of my eye that looked like thread. “If she was a full-blooded demon...”

“She’s not,” Zayne said, and I almost laughed at the needless reminder.

“I know,” she replied quietly. “I can understand why you don’t want Abbot to know. You must’ve been so scared.”

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