Page 145 of Stone Cold Touch

I started to argue, but as my eyes met his, I knew there was no point. So did Roth. If the thing with the witches failed, there wouldn’t be time to do anything else.

Roth’s chin lowered and he drew in a breath as he raised my hands to his lips, pressing a kiss against each knuckle. “Your hands are so cold.”

I blinked slowly. There were so many questions I wanted to ask him, but each breath I took required a lot of energy.

“How did this begin?” he asked, raising his tortured gaze to mine.

“Zayne... Zayne kissed me,” I whispered, and watched his eyes dilate. “He’d done...it before, and nothing happened then, but...”

His mouth worked. “So because the idiot kissed you, they accused you of attacking him?”

I closed my eyes, focusing on my words. “It’s more...than that, but Zayne...he’s okay. Now.”

“To be honest, I don’t give a shit about him right now.”

I would’ve laughed if I could.

“Open your eyes, Layla.”

It took longer this time to do that. “I’m...tired.”

He swallowed hard. “I know, baby, but you need to keep your eyes open.”

“Oh...kay.”

A small smile appeared, more like a grimace than anything. He brought my hands to his lap, holding on tight. “You said he kissed you before and nothing happened?” When I nodded, he swore under his breath. “I should’ve known.”

I wasn’t really following that part.

“Bambi.”Understanding flickered across his face as he glanced to where the snake was curled beside my hip. “I knew she had bonded with you as a familiar. That’s what I wanted from her, so she could protect you if necessary, but I didn’t know she’d do so on that kind of level. But it makes sense now. You can see souls again, right?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s because of her. She’s not on you now, but when she was, she bonded with you, she changed your abilities and affected them. Familiars can do that, and I imagine even more so for half demons. I thought she would only make you stronger. I didn’t know she could affect your ability to control taking a soul.”

I closed my eyes as that sank in. So it hadn’t been my feelings for Zayne preventing me from sucking out his soul like some kind of cosmic love shield. It had just been Bambi—a demonic familiar. Disappointment was a fierce knot in my stomach, but at least now I knew how it had been possible for me to kiss him. And it explained why my abilities got wonky. At least, for the most part. Maybe Bambi’s powers had also warped my feeding, enabling me to take the souls of Dean and Gareth. It made sense, especially since I hadn’t gotten sick after feeding off the woman at the club, but felt it afterward with Zayne. The only difference was when Bambi was on me and when she wasn’t. And with what happened to Maddox and the windows—it could’ve been Bambi affecting my powers again. Or it could’ve been what Abbot had feared, that my powers were simply changing anyway. And that would mean there was no wraith at the compound, and I guess that was good news.

If that was the case, then if Bambi had never bonded with me, none of this would’ve happened. I couldn’t be mad, though. Bambi had saved my life that night with Tomas. What I didn’t understand was why Roth had wanted Bambi to bond with me.

“I would’ve forced you to keep her if I’d known,” Roth said quietly. “I would’ve never let you leave that elevator if I had known the full extent of how Bambi was affecting you.”

Surprised, I looked at him. He sat back with an honesty in his gaze that hadn’t been there before.

“Damn,” he said in a low voice. “I’ve made a complete mess out of this.”

Cayman suddenly popped back into the room, and Roth eyed him intensely. “Please tell me you have something.”

“I do.” He approached the bed, and in his hands was a small vial. “There’re no guarantees, but this was the best they could give me and you don’t even want to know what I had to promise to get this.”

“I don’t care what you had to promise.” Placing my hands gently on the bed, Roth rose. He took the vial from Cayman.

“Oh, you’re probably going to care later. But that’s something to talk about when it’s water under the bridge, right?”

Unease formed in my belly, but Roth had already unscrewed the vial. “What is this?” he asked.

“Some kind of concoction that will reverse the effects of the bloodroot and should, technically, kick her body’s natural healing into high gear.” He paused. “They said it will make her sleep and not to fear if she slips away.”

Roth nodded as he sat beside me again. If this was some kind of trick from the coven, it really didn’t matter. I was growing more and more tired, and quickly. I felt a stab of cold terror because I knew I was seriously dying. And I really didn’t want to die. I let Roth raise me enough that he could pour the contents of the vial down my throat.

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