Stone Cold Touch (The Dark Elements #2)(52)
Author: J. Lynn

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.

I gagged. The stuff tasted like warmed over death, but Roth kept it to my lips, rubbing his thumb up and down my throat, forcing me to swallow it all. “I’m sorry. I know it tastes bad, but it’s almost over.”

When it was all gone, he laid my head back on the pillow.

“If this doesn’t work, I will take out the entire coven.” A muscle thrummed in Roth’s jaw. “I hope they are aware of that.”

“I think they are.” Cayman retreated once again as Roth turned his attention back to me. “I’ll go make myself…uh, scarce for a while.”

Roth didn’t acknowledge him. Instead he shifted and stretched out beside me. My legs felt like lead had fused to the bones. My head turned slightly and my gaze met Roth’s. I could see that he was thinking the same thing I was.

Maybe Cayman and the coven’s witchy brew had been too late.

“I just want to hold you right now.” His voice was gruff. “That’s all I want.”

My chest squeezed. If this was it for me, that’s what I wanted, too. I didn’t want to go out alone. It was more than that, but I could barely process what that meant. My lips formed the word okay, but it took too much energy to speak.

He wrapped his arms around me and his body was pleasantly warm. After a few moments, I could no longer keep my eyes open. Fear eased off as a smooth, rolling peace washed over me. If this was dying, it wasn’t so bad. It really was like falling asleep.

Roth’s arms tightened around me as he curled his body around mine, tucking my legs between his and my head under his chin. He drew in a breath. I took the next one and slipped further into the darkness.

“Layla?”

I wanted to respond, but I was beyond answering. The void beckoned and there was no denying it.

“Can you hear me? I want you to know something,” he said, his voice hoarse and thick and sounding so very far away, but full of urgency. “I love you, Layla. Do you hear me? I’ve loved you since the first moment I heard your voice and I will continue to love you. No matter what. I love you.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Coming out of the void was a process of epic proportions. My fingers twitched at my sides. My toes curled. The sweet scent of something spicy and wild floated around me. From the moment my brain started churning to when I opened my eyes, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had taken hours.

I blinked and found myself staring at a broad chest. A na**d chest. A na**d male chest. My thoughts were fuzzy about everything, but I had a general recollection of everything that had gone down. Had I died? Because this wasn’t really a bad afterlife. But no, the deep, steady ache in my body warned me I was very much alive.

My hands were tucked against a hard stomach, resting near the head of a beautifully scaled green dragon.

Roth.

One of his arms was draped over my h*ps and the other was under my shoulders. His hand was buried deep in the mess of my hair. His chest rose and fell steadily. I could feel Bambi on the other side of me, stretched out. What an odd…sandwich to be a part of.

No matter what. I love you.

A tingling heat swept over my cheeks and cascaded down my neck. That had to have been my imagination throwing those words at me. Demons didn’t love like that. Not even ones like Roth, who could pull off some very un-demonlike things. But I remembered the sound of his desperation.

I lifted my head just a little. Thick dark lashes fanned his cheeks. His lips were slightly parted. As he slept, there was a youth and vulnerability in his features that were never seen while he was awake.

He looked like an angel.

I didn’t know how long I lay there and stared at him, but it was probably enough time to certify me as a total creeper. The time was useful, though. I was alive and other than the soreness in my body, I had the sense I was fine. The bloodroot was out of my system; the wound in my stomach had healed for the most part. I’d be up and kicking around in no time.

But everything had changed.

So much so that I couldn’t really even grasp how different my life would be from this moment on. There was no way I could go back to the compound. I didn’t want to, not after what Abbot had done to me—the cage, the warehouse downtown. No way. And if Nicolai and Dez hadn’t intervened, I would’ve died…and that was what Abbot had wanted. Like my real father, he, too, wanted me dead. Yeah, that stung and the bite lingered. But I couldn’t dwell on it.

I refused to dwell on Elijah or Abbot anymore.

School? That was gonna be a no-go. With or without Bambi, it was too much of a risk. I couldn’t take the chance of infecting anyone else, especially when I still had no idea how I was doing it. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I knew I couldn’t stay here. The Wardens would be after me. So would Hell once it got out that it had to be me behind it all. And the likelihood of ever seeing Zayne again seemed slim, and that tore me up, as if I’d been stabbed all over again. I could barely remember a time without him and now I’d face however long I walked this Earth without seeing him again, and that…that was going to kill me, especially knowing what I had done to him. The only thing I could hope for was some real confirmation that he was okay. Everything about my life had changed, but somehow I would survive. I would have to.

Roth’s lashes fluttered and then they swept up, revealing golden orbs that were bright with relief. He opened his mouth and then wet his lips, but he didn’t speak. We stared at each other, and in that moment and in that bed, locked in a tight embrace, it was just us and nothing else.

Then he lifted his hand from my hip, placing the tips of his fingers against my cheek. “The claw marks have healed,” he said. “There’re just faint pink lines. Who clawed you?”

There was no way I was telling him.

In the silence, he drew the tips of his fingers down to my neck, causing me to shiver. “The chain left a mark.”

“Yeah,” I whispered.

His nostrils flared. “I will kill them all.”

I believed he meant that. Reaching up, I wrapped my hand around his wrist. “I don’t think that’s…necessary.”

“They did this to you.” His lip curled up. “I think it’s completely necessary.”

Lowering my hand, I shook my head and started to tell him that I was okay, but in reality, I was far from it. Yes, I was alive and breathing, but okay wasn’t in my dictionary.

“The stuff that the coven…gave us? Did I hear Cayman right?” I asked instead. “Is something owed to them now?”

One dark eyebrow rose as he moved his finger to the curve of my collarbone. “There isn’t one ounce of my being that gives two shits about that right now.”

A surprised laugh escaped me. It sounded dry and hoarse. “All right.”

“I’ll deal with that later.”

Then he was staring at me again, in the same way he had when he opened his eyes. I found that my breath caught and the muscles low in my stomach tightened. My response confused and even frightened me, because I’d fallen into that stare before and barely resurfaced.

But he was the first to look away. “Want to try to get up?”

I cleared my throat. “Yeah. I could…I could clean up.”

That needed to happen. My clothes were soiled and clinging to me. God only knew the last time I’d showered. Roth helped me sit up after shooing Bambi away. She crawled her way up to the head of the bed and watched us. Once I had my legs pitched over the edge of the bed, Roth froze.

He was standing, his hands on my arms, and then he was suddenly on his knees in front of me. Concern spiked. “Roth—”

“I’m all right.” He closed his eyes as he slid his hands down to mine. “I honestly didn’t know if what the witches gave us would work. I thought when you closed your eyes…” He cleared his throat. “I didn’t know if you’d ever open them again.”

A knot formed in my throat and all I could do was squeeze his hands.

He shook his head. “All I could think of were all the lies I’ve told you and that you were going to die not knowing the truth.”

I thought of those words I’d imagined and my heart stumbled. I opened my mouth, but he leaned in. Letting go of my hands, he did something I’d never expected.

Roth placed his head in my lap, much as Bambi had done earlier, and let out a weary sigh.

My hands froze above his head. Tears welled up in my eyes and I wasn’t sure why. I lifted my gaze to where a sliver of daylight streamed underneath the blinds, casting a halo over Roth’s back.

“When I returned topside and went to the compound to speak to the Wardens, Abbot met me outside first, before you came out.”

This was nothing new, but I sensed there was more.

“Abbot warned me off before I even opened my mouth, before I could even tell him why we were there,” he said, his voice quiet and flat. “Not from his property, but from you. And you know, I got that. I could understand why he wouldn’t want you around me. After all, I am the Crown Prince of Hell, not the kind of guy who’s welcomed into homes. Particularly a Warden’s home.”

As he spoke, I lowered my hands to his head, sifting my fingers through his hair. A deep emotion stirred in the center of my chest, tightening my throat.

Roth turned into the caress like a cat nuzzling, seeking more petting. “But it was more than that. Abbot knew then what was happening with you, or what could happen after Paimon’s ritual. He thought my influence would aid that process along, that I would bring out the demon side in you. And I think…I think he knew I’d never be able to do what I was sent to do. He didn’t want you with me—he didn’t want us together.”

Inherently I knew together wasn’t us being in the same room, but more—deeper and intimate. My fingers stilled. “What…what did he do?”

Another sigh rose from him. “He told me not to even think about pursuing anything with you and at first I laughed and I told him that wasn’t going to happen. From the moment I was pulled from the pit, I was coming for you and not because I was ordered to—not because of what you’d think. Abbot’s threat meant nothing, but…”