Stone Cold Touch (The Dark Elements #2)(30)
Author: J. Lynn

“Shut up.”

“Didn’t say I didn’t enjoy the feeling.” He rolled onto his side, and I noticed that the dark shadows under his eyes had faded. His gaze drifted over my face. “I like waking up and seeing you here.”

A warm sensation buzzed through me like a happy little honeybee, and the feeling made me antsy. As I looked away, my hair slid over my shoulder, shielding my face.

“What?” he asked, dropping my wrist to reach up and brush back the blond locks.

“I don’t know.” I peeked at him, forcing my attention not to wander below his chin lest I find myself majorly distracted. “It’s just…I don’t know how to act when you’re so…open about this.”

His fingers lingered in my hair, slipping through the strands. “Act like you’ve always acted, Layla-bug. That’s what I’ve always liked about you.”

“The fact that I act like a dork most of the time?”

He grinned. “Yes.”

A laugh escaped me as I started to relax. Raising my legs, I crossed them. I watched him place the arm closest to me behind his head.

“I wish I would’ve been more open about it sooner,” he admitted quietly. “That I didn’t wait so long.”

I wished he had, too, because maybe things wouldn’t be so confusing and complicated now.

“Better late than never, right?” When I nodded, he slid his fingers down my arm. Even through the hoodie, I could feel his touch. “What’s for dinner?”

“I think some kind of stew or pot roast.”

“You going to eat with the rest of us?”

I shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know. It feels awkward to do so.”

“It’s not as though no one wants you there, Layla.”

That wasn’t how it felt to me. I glanced at the clock on the wall. “I should probably get going. You need—”

Zayne caught my arm and rolled so quickly that there was nothing I could do. I was suddenly on my back, staring into eyes that sparkled with mischief. He hovered above me, supporting his weight on his arms.

“Your running off isn’t what I need,” he said.

“It isn’t?” I squeaked out possibly the stupidest question, but I wasn’t to blame. The sheet had slipped low on his hips, and I honestly couldn’t tell if he was wearing anything under it.

“No.” His grin tugged at my chest. “Let’s snuggle for a while.”

“Snuggle?” I giggled at the image of a six-and-a-half-foot gargoyle cuddling.

He chuckled. “I thought girls liked to snuggle?”

“I really wouldn’t know.” That wasn’t true. I did love me some snuggling. All those times Zayne had slept beside me, and then there was the time with Roth, when all we’d done was lie in each other’s arms and talk about nothing important.

I drew in a sharp breath as my stomach flopped. I should not—could not think about him right now.

Zayne’s smile slipped as his eyes searched mine. “Sometimes you disappear on me when you’re here, and I probably don’t want to know where you go.”

My breath caught as my lungs expanded. I wanted to tell him that I didn’t go anywhere, and if I did it was nothing to be worried about, but that would be a lie and he’d know it.

One side of his lips quirked up. “But you are here. So that means more.”

“It does.” And it did.

A beat of heavy silence stretched out between us, and his gaze dipped to my lips and then below, to where my hoodie was zipped up to my neck. His grin spread. “Cold?”

“It’s chilly in this house,” I responded, happy for a shift in topic.

But then his gaze rose, and those eyes were electric. My chest rose with a deep breath. “I should get ready,” he murmured.

“You should.”

“But I sort of want to just lie around and do nothing.”

A tingle started at my lips and shivered its way down to my toes. “That’s very un-Wardenlike.”

“If you only knew my very un-Wardenlike thoughts, you’d probably run from this room.” He took note of my sharp inhale. “Or maybe not.”

My fingers itched to touch him, but I kept them by my sides. He’d suggested that we take it slow and give us a chance, and that probably didn’t involve feeling him up. But it was so hard.

“You want to get some training in with me tonight?” he asked.

“Yeah.” My voice sounded husky. “That…that would be cool.”

“Really cool. Or maybe hot. Probably hot….” He trailed off, and his head dipped.

I shrank back, pressing into the mattress as if it could suck me right through. “Zayne, you shouldn’t be so—”

“It’s okay.” He kept coming, moving closer, completely unafraid and completely crazy. “You worry too much.”

“You’re crazy.” I turned my head, but he placed two fingers on my chin and guided my head forward. My eyes widened. “Completely freaking crazy.”

“No. I just trust you.” He rested his forehead against mine, and every muscle in my body locked up. “See? You’re not eating my soul, now, are you?”

I kept my mouth clamped shut. The faint burn was in my throat and I didn’t trust myself to speak.

He shifted his head and his nose brushed mine, a totally new experience with Zayne. My heart sped up, beating so fast it was tripping over itself. A sigh shuddered out of him and into me. My eyes fell closed as his fingertips trailed across my cheek and then down, to where my pulse beat rapidly. If he lowered his body just a bit, we’d be pressed together in all the ways that made my toes curl and my knees weak, and I had a feeling I’d discover quickly if he wore anything under that sheet.

Oh God, that was so not the right thought to be having right now.

I thought I heard him whisper my name, and then I felt the barest sweep of his lips, as soft and quick as the flutter of wings, across mine.

Shock rippled through me, stealing my breath. My eyes popped open wide, and Zayne lifted his head. There was a tiny, smug smile on his lips and mine…oh, mine were tingling and humming from the brief touch.

“Hmm…” he murmured, and his tongue flicked out, smoothing over the indent in his upper lip. “I’m still here. Soul intact. Go figure.”

I was absolutely stupefied, beyond the ability to speak. It hadn’t really been a kiss. My lips had been sealed tight, so you couldn’t even say it was a peck, but Zayne…he had dared to put his lips against mine. He’d risked that—risked losing his soul for a brief brushing of lips.

Zayne stretched up, kissed my forehead and then rolled onto his side. “I really need to get into gear, and I need to get changed.” He swung his legs out from under the sheet and stood.

He was totally nak*d.

Totally freaking na**d and I was staring at his behind, his rather firm and— “Oh my God!”

Glancing over his shoulder, he arched a brow as his sly smile turned wicked. “What?”

“What?” I gaped at him, but then my gaze dropped and my face burned like the first circle of Hell. “Oh my God,” I said again as I rolled off the bed, onto the other side. A giggle crawled its way up my throat and burst free. “You are so freaking nak*d.”

“Really?” His response was dry as he plucked up the sheet. He turned slightly and—oh dear God, I whirled around, eyes widening.

Holy baby gargoyles, he was…

“You doing okay over there?”

“Yeah,” I croaked, feeling flushed for a whole different reason. I turned slowly.

He chuckled as he wrapped the sheet around his waist, covering his…his goodies.

“I’m going to have to drop this again to get changed.” His eyes danced with mischief. “Not saying you have to leave, but…”

“I’m leaving.” I shot around the bed, my hair trailing out behind me. As I passed him, he reached out, tapping my behind. I jumped, shooting him a look. “You are so bad.”

“Terrible.” He grinned as he backed up, one hand resting on the knot of the sheet. “See you in a bit.”

I meeped something to the affirmative, and then flew out into the hall. My entire body was flaming as I pressed one hand against my still-tingling lips and the image of Zayne’s behind emblazoned itself into my eye sockets.

He had a great ass.

And from what I’d seen, he wasn’t hurting in any other department either.

I giggled as I turned to the stairs, almost plowing straight into Maddox. He halted at the top step. “Sorry,” I mumbled.

His expression was sharp, not entirely trusting, but he nodded. As he stepped to the side to let me past, a wave of irritation pricked its way up my back. Would it kill him to say something? The Warden had never spoken to me.

Not once.

Taking a deep breath, I moved my foot to the step below and a cold blast of air came from the hall behind me, stirring my hair and sending thin tendrils around my face.

I looked to my left and all I saw was Maddox’s face white with shock, and then he tumbled head over feet down the steep stairs.

Screaming, I hurried down the steps, grimacing when he smacked the hardwood floor below, his head cracking off the floor. I reached his side as feet pounded from every corner in the house.

He lay at an unnatural angle, arm twisted behind him and one leg bent at the knee. I bent down. “Maddox?”

He didn’t answer.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Seconds later, and I still had no idea what just happened.

Dez was the first to reach us. He placed a hand on my shoulder and gently moved me aside as he knelt. “Maddox?” he said to the pale, unmoving Warden. When there was no response, he placed a hand on Maddox’s chest. “Christ.”

I folded my arms over my chest. I knew that Maddox had to be alive. A fall wouldn’t kill a Warden, but in their human form, they were susceptible to injury, even the severe kind.

“How did this happen?” Dez looked over his shoulder at me.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. He was coming up the stairs and then he just fell backward.”

Zayne came down the stairs, dressed only in a pair of loose sweats. “What the Hell?”

“He fell,” I explained lamely.

“Jasmine!” shouted Dez as he rose.

Within seconds, Jasmine arrived, her eyes widening. She turned, handing Drake off to Danika. “Keep Izzy and Drake out of here,” she said, turning back to Maddox.

Danika nodded, glancing to where Zayne and I stood. She turned, quickly taking Drake back the way they’d come. A door shut softly.

As Jasmine knelt on Maddox’s other side and placed slim fingers on his neck, the rest of the crew arrived. Once they heard that Maddox had fallen backward down the stairs, Abbot turned to me.

Shrinking back, I realized I was so about to be crucified.

“He simply fell backward?” Abbot asked, disbelief ringing from his voice as he stepped around Maddox’s prone legs. “You expect me or any of us to believe that?”

At least he cut to the chase this time. “Yes! He just fell. I don’t know if he lost his balance or— Wait, there was a rush of cold air right before he fell.” And now that I said that out loud, I knew it hadn’t been the first time. “It was the same with the windows. There was a gust of—”

“Of wind?” Abbot finished doubtfully. “Did the air kick on with enough force to knock out windows or throw a two-hundred-and-thirty-pound Warden down the stairs? That’s if we used the air-conditioning this time of year, which we don’t.”

“Okay. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I’m not lying.”

Zayne moved to my side. “She has no reason to lie, Father. If she said he fell, he fell.”

“She has every reason to lie,” his father spat. I blanched. “Once was enough, but this?” He gestured at Maddox. “One of our own—a guest of our clan—has been injured, and another is missing.”

I stiffened at the implication, even though the latter was very much on point. Zayne stepped forward, blocking me. “What are you saying?”

“Guys,” Jasmine spoke up. “I need to move Maddox to get a better look at his injuries. Right now, it looks like he’s just knocked out. Maybe a broken arm or cracked skull, which will heal. But I need help moving him.”

Zayne and Abbot, who were currently in an epic stare-down, didn’t seem to hear her.

Dez nodded as he moved to stand before Maddox’s feet. “Nicolai? Can you get his arms?”

As Nicolai did their bidding, Abbot eyed his son. “There is no way that I, or you, can believe that he lost his balance and fell.”

Wardens typically were a wee bit more graceful than that, but there was no other explanation…other than that strange wind.

“Are you suggesting that Layla pushed him?” Zayne challenged as the muscles in his back rippled. “Because that’s stupid.”