“What else do you need?” he asked, his voice quiet and gaze fixed on the steps.
He’d be able to smell Alice’s pain, burns, and blood as well as I could. My blood, too. I still had stains on my shirt and dried blood on and below my ears.
“I think that’s all we’ll need,” I said, my voice edged with my wolf’s growl. “She’ll be all right once we get into the house. The wards are keeping us out until she’s awake to lower them.”
I trusted Ben with my life, but that was all I felt I could confide at the moment. I knew too little about Alice’s situation to explain further.
“Please keep this between us,” I added, though I was pretty sure I didn’t need to tell him that.
“Of course.” He gave me a grave nod. “If you need anything else, let me know.”
“I will.”
He turned and left quickly, knowing my wolf wouldn’t stop bristling until his taillights were well on the way to the stop sign at the end of the block.
I nudged the cooler lid open with my foot. Six small bottles of cold water were stacked inside, along with two insulated cups full of crushed ice.
Holding Alice to my chest, I picked up a bottle of water and one of the cups, shut the lid, and settled back into the swing.
For the next hour, I rocked us, slipped chips of ice between Alice’s lips, and used my soft cotton undershirt to dab her skin with cool water. Taking my shirt off while holding her had been tricky, but I hadn’t thought to ask Ben to bring something else I could use for the job.
And having her against my bare chest, where I could keep her most warm and comfortable…that was the best part of this entire day.
Just after two a.m., she exhaled in a long sigh, rubbed her nose against my chest, and murmured something that soundedlikeforest. That didn’t make any sense, though, so I must have misheard her.
“Hey, baby,” I said softly. “Wake up.”
Very slowly, her eyes opened.
The tightness in my chest that had taken hold when she dropped into my arms on Natalie’s front porch finally began to ease.
In the soft moonlight, she blinked slowly, her gaze moving from my face to the swing, her front door, and back to me, as if she was trying to figure out where she was and how we’d gotten here.
Her coffee-brown eyes had none of the flinty glare or distrust she’d leveled at me earlier. She didn’t tense or try to pull away. I hoped she sensed she was safe with me.
All too soon, her eyes drifted closed again.
Thankfully, she only seemed to be dozing instead of being unconscious. I fed her more chips of ice and dabbed cool water on her skin, waiting for her eyelashes to flutter again.
When they did, I adjusted her on my lap so she was sitting up more. Her eyes opened, and this time she seemed to actually see me clearly.
“Can you hear me?” I asked, dropping my shirt on the swing beside me.
“Yes.” Her voice was faint, but it sounded really damn good to me.
I kissed her forehead gently. “Do you think you can lower the wards?”
It took a long time for her to answer, as if was trying to figure out why I’d need her to do that. Maybe she wasn’t sure if she wanted me in her house. I didn’t see any suspicious or distrust in her expression, though, which gave me hope.
“I think so,” she murmured finally. “Help me up.”
There was no way in hell she’d be able to stand up, but from what I’d learned about her so far, that wouldn’t keep her from trying.
Instead, I left my shirts, the cooler, and what was left of the ice chips by the swing and carried her to the front door.
Her fingers twitched as if she was trying to touch the doorframe, but she didn’t have the strength to reach out. So I had to stand so close to the wards that my skin sizzled. Another few seconds of this, and I expected to get my own burns and for my hair to catch fire.
She brushed the doorframe with her fingertips and the wards fell.
