Page 136 of A Touch of Gold and Madness

His eyes softened. “I hurtforyou, Gray. Don’t you get that?”

“Yeah.” I snorted. “Only because you feel my emotions. Now that you ate my pussy, you think you can control me. Think again.” I summoned my electric Kinetic magic, ready to hit him with a strong blast.

It fizzled out before it ever left my palm. He’d countered it with his own form of electricity. I growled in frustration. “Why? Why wouldn’t you let me go with you to see the scout? I could’ve helped with getting information from him. I could’ve known him and that…’

“Exactly,” he snapped. “And if he did know you, Gray, that’s the last thing you need to risk. Because if something happened to you because of an error I made on an emotional basis, I’d never forgive myself. That scout could’ve found a way to alert your father with his abilities.”

“That’s not your call to make!”

“It is when this Hollow was entrusted to me!” Chrome yelled, his deep baritone echoing off the lake surrounding us. “The Elementals are my people. They’re yours too, yes. But you’re still new.”

“You can’t order me around like I’m your servant, Chrome.”

“No, but I will if it protects you at times.”

“The fuck you will,” I seethed. “I don’t need anyone’s protection.”

Chrome fisted the base of my hair, pulling me flush against him and forcing me to meet his molten eyes. “Yes, you do.”

I shoved him away, needing to clear my thoughts. Everything about him was clouding my judgment, and I wasn’t ready to drop my issues yet. “Don’t touch me.” I pointed a finger at him.

Pain lanced my heart at the hurt that crossed his face, all his vulnerability shutting down. I breathed out a sigh and ran my shaky hands over my face. “Where’s the letter?”

In a clipped tone, he replied, “I told you. I don’t know.”

“I had it the other day before I went into your room. I dropped it on the floor and planned to come back for it. But then Hogan showed up, and Blaize interrupted…”

“I’ll ask Blaize about it.”

“He didn’t give it to you?” My voice shook, my throat tightening and my face heating simultaneously at the last sliver of hope he might have had it.

Chrome shook his head. “No,” he said, his tone gentler than before.

“Don’t!” I snapped. “Don’t talk to me like I’m a child.” I might have been overreacting, but I needed that godsdamn letter.

Once again, I fought to get a breath. It felt like a wall blocked off access to my lungs. “I…I need…” I grasped my chest, panic seizing me in its unrelenting grasp. “Help.”

Chrome rushed over to me, wrapping me in his strong arms and slowly lowering us to the ground. “You’re having a panic attack.”

“I can’t breathe,” I gasped, squeezing his bicep that caged me against his chest.

“I know.” His voice was calm and sturdy as he stroked his fingers through my hair. “What do you need? I’m here. Take whatever you need from me…”

I was going to suffocate to death. I just knew it. “Chrome…” I whimpered.

Soft lips caressed my temple. “I got you,” his deep voice murmured in my ear, chasing away the wall around my lungs. “You’re safe, Gray. Do you hear me? No one can hurt you anymore. I won’t let them.”

The copper taste of blood oozed onto my tongue from biting my trembling lip. I was trying so hard to hold back years of suppressed rage and pain from abuse. Chrome tightened his arm around my shaking body.

My anchor.

“Stay with me. I’ve got you.”

Chapter 49

Gray

My chest cracked open. Or so it felt.

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