She mutters a warped “fuck you” through the violent heaves.
That triggers my own gag reflex, and I have to step away. “You okay?” I ask when the heaving finally stops.
She huffs. “Define okay.”
“Do you think you can walk back to the compound?”
“Not a chance.”
“Okay. I’ll call this in so Grayson can notify the authorities, and then I’ll tell him to send a car and a medic, too.” I fish the phone out of my back pocket. Thankfully, only the screen protection is cracked.
“Iris?”
I flick my gaze to Veronica, who looks greener by the second. She purses her lips, all of her features pinching in a way that has me worried she’s about to have a stroke. She spews the words as if they make her physically ill, “Thank you…for saving my life.” Then she hastily adds, “Repeat that to anyone at the compound, and I’m going to fucking destroy you. Also, I still wish the Lamia ate your stupid face.”
A small smile tugs at my lips. I offer a nod before calling Grayson.
The sky isthe color of a bruised peach as I get out of the cab, freshly showered and feeling like I belong in a retirement home because every single muscle in my body screams at the slightest effort. Luckily, the drive here was so short that it didn’t throw me into the clutches of a panic attack.
After I gave my report to a haggard-looking Grayson—sprinkled, of course, with half-truths and some lies—Doctor Corey and his team tended to my injuries. Aside from having a nasty concussion, three broken fingers on my left hand, and two bruised ribs, I also have to wear a splint. Dr. Corey insisted I would heal faster wearing a cast, but I refused. At least I didn’t break any ribs. Thank you, God and baby Jesus, for small miracles. Plus, I’m counting on my healing at lightning speed, now that slivers of some supposed power are slipping through the barrier’s cracks. Hopefully, I’ll regain my hand’s mobility in no time.
Suddenly, a familiar weird sensation has me pressing my uninjured palm to the center of my sternum, as if—
“Angel.”
I’m so immersed in my thoughts as I lumber down the front lawn of Sam’s house that I almost jump out of my skin at hearing Kaiden’s gravelly voice. I halt, legs turning to jelly. My head snaps to the six-foot-four demon sitting on the steps. At first, I think I’m hallucinating because I vividly remember that dark witch saying he was out of town.
So what is he doing here?
Kaiden stands. Fuck me. I don’t understand how this is even possible, but he’s somehow more beautiful than the last time I saw him. “I felt—” He shakes his head as if changing his mind on what he is about to say. As if answering the question I thought, he says, “Carter called me in a panic. He told me something happened to you when he and Dean were trailing you tonight. When they realized they actually couldn’t scent you or the other hellseeker, your bodies dissipated like smoke. Then they couldn’t find you. I was so worried—”
“Weren’t you out of town?” I interrupt.
He runs a hand over the back of his neck, which causes the black T-shirt he’s wearing to ride up. My mouth waters at the way his sculpted vee disappears into the waistband of his jeans. “I rushed back after Carter’s call. I shouldn’t have left. I didn’t want to, but I had to close an important deal.” His eyebrows knit. “Wait, how do you know that?”
I flap my hand in the air. “A witch might have mentioned something.”
His eyes snap to my splint. In the next second, he pops off to appear in front of me. He takes my injured hand in his. The simple touch sends a shock wave through the entirety of my body.
Jaw ticking, his thumb brushes softly over the giant bruise Ihave above my right eyebrow from headbutting the Lamia. He trails it down the side of my face before framing my cheek with his big hand. “Tell me who I need to kill.” The gentle touch is at odds with the violence—so potent I can almost taste it—dancing in the tumultuous obsidian sea of his irises. Still, it rips right through those thinly scabbed welts all the same.
I allow myself a few seconds of weakness as I lean into it, even if the love-sick organ in my chest is bleeding all over the ground. Closing my eyes briefly, I swallow a lungful of the scent that is uniquely Kaiden. It envelops me like a warm blanket.
Gritting my teeth because my legs are putting up a hell of a fight, I finally manage to take a step back. The second I do, the frost sinks its claws back in. It will turn into a goddamn glacier the moment he’s gone. “The dark witch is dead. I took care of it. Well, more like the demon she was using as her pet to do her bidding took care of it.” I let out a brittle laugh. “I had a rude awakening tonight. Apparently, the bounty on me is growing by the day.” I recount the night’s events before saying, “I naively thought that maybe it wasn’t so bad anymore since nothing happened in the last few weeks. Turns out, it was only because of you. Thank you. I wasn’t aware you were still watching over me.”
Kaiden shoves his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “You don’t have to thank me, Iris. You are and always will be my top priority, no matter what happens between us,” he rasps.
“Well, if that’s all…” I say and brush past him.
“I miss you,” he whispers when I almost reach the stairs.
My steps falter. There’s so much pain in his tone that I almost crumble to my knees. Still, I let his words roll off my back as if they didn’t eviscerate me and forge forward.
When I enter Sam’s house, he’s already gone.
21
Iris
