Page 49 of Stone Cold Touch

I shrugged as I eyed him over the bottle. Plopping down on the couch partially hidden by the shadows, I set my OJ on the end table. “You going to tell me about the bloodroot?”

“It’s a herb.”

I picked up a pillow and placed it in my lap. “That much I figured.”

“It’s actually pretty dangerous.” He followed me over to the couch, sat and kicked off his boots and socks. Leaning back against the other arm, he stretched out the best he could, which meant he left me the tiny space I was occupying. “It doesn’t have much of an effect on demons, other than making them sleepy. But it can kill a human and knock out and paralyze a Warden for a while.”

My heart skipped a beat. “Why would Abbot have something like that?”

“I don’t know. The bottle looked ancient. So did a lot of those bottles in there. He might have saved it for a Warden who gets out of hand. Like with Elijah back...” He trailed off, lowering his gaze.

I stiffened a little as my fingers tightened around the throw pillow. It was the first time Zayne has used my father’s name—my absentee father. The Warden who’d slept with Lilith, and who, after discovering he’d fathered a child, had tried to have said child killed. Multiple times. That would be me. Abbot had stopped him when I was young and I could see how bloodroot might’ve come in handy then.

“Anyway,” Zayne said, watching me. “I came home early because there wasn’t much going on. And I ran into Roth.”

A twisty motion seized my stomach. “You did?”

He nodded. “He was doing his nightly stalking duties, I guess. Found me down by Foggy Bottom and wanted to know how Abbot took the whole Church of God’s Children crap.”

I schooled my features into blankness. Roth could’ve easily texted or called me to find that out. Then again, I’m not sure why I’d expect that from him. “Good to see that you two didn’t physically harm one another.”

“I wouldn’t say it was the most pleasant conversation.” Zayne shifted on the couch beside me, nudging my thigh with his foot. I looked at him, brows raised. “What’s your deal?” he asked, brushing the flop of blond hair off his forehead.

Holding my pillow closer, I shook my head. “Nothing.”

He leaned against the arm of the couch, lazily clasping the back of his neck with his hand. The muscles under his thin shirt bunched with the movement. “Something’s bothering you.”

Sometimes I really hated that Zayne could read me so well. That when he looked at me, like he was now, I felt as though he could discover all my secrets with his stare alone. But that didn’t mean I was up for caring and sharing time.

Zayne sighed. “You avoided me all day today.”

“Did not.”

“Did, too.” He closed his eyes, giving a lopsided shrug. “Something is up with you.”

Twirling a long strand of hair around my finger, I made a face at Zayne even though he couldn’t see it. “I wasn’t avoiding you.” Totally a lie. “That’s just your insecurity talking.”

One eye popped open. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” I said, trying to hide my smile. “I wasn’t ignoring you. I’ve been very busy today.”

The other eye opened as he lowered his arm, draping it on the back of the couch. I had his full attention now. “You didn’t do crap today but hang out in your room and stare at Izzy as she tried to bite your feet.”

My eyes narrowed.

“Why couldn’t you sleep?”

I continued to twist my hair into one giant rope. “I just couldn’t.”

A couple of moments of silence passed. “I’m actually glad you’re up. There’s something I want to talk to you about. It has to do with Roth.” He said the name as if it were some new STD.

“Do we really need to talk about him?”

“Yes.” He frowned. “Stop messing with your hair.”

My fingers stilled and I dropped my hand, returning his frown. “What about Roth?”

“I don’t trust him. Not just because he’s a demon, but because of what...well, what he may or may not mean to you.” His eyes still hadn’t left my face. “He’s... It doesn’t matter. I know you’re going to see him at school, but I don’t want you running off with him alone.”

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