He didn’t increase his pace, needing to get his raging hormones under control before he reached her. Even from a distance, he could see the shocking blue of her eyes glimmer through the night. She shivered slightly, though she was wrapped up while he wore only jeans and a black long-sleeved T-shirt, keeping his hands in his pockets. He was such a cold bastard that even Mother Nature could no longer touch him.
She tensed as he finally approached, looking at the darkened house and then at her. “Is my uncle here?” he asked.
“No.” She shook her head. “I knocked and I rang the bell, but nobody answered.”
Good. Hopefully Santino had found safety in the underground bunker and was not being tortured by Talen right now. “You have to know that I didn’t mean for you to get hurt,” Paxton said quietly, his gaze catching on the sling barely visible around her neck. She sat tipped to the side, as if her arm was folded beneath the jacket. “Wait a minute, you still haven’t healed your arm?” Irritation slashed through him.
“No,” she said, “not yet.”
He was unable to stop himself from taking another step toward her. “Why?”
“Because I just didn’t,” she said, her small chin lifting. Several streetlights shone down and fully illuminated her, showing her pale face and fragile bone structure. Not to mention the unfathomable blue of her eyes that matched the prophecy markings on each side of her neck.
“Are you telling me you still can’t heal your arm?” he asked, not feeling the cold, even though it had to be about zero degrees Fahrenheit. It was probably too chilly for her to be out, but he knew she wouldn’t come inside the house. The woman was there for answers, and he didn’t have anyto give to her.
When she didn’t answer him, he stepped even closer so his legs were touching hers as they dangled off the side of the hood.
“Hope?” He put command into his voice this time, even though his brain was still mushy from those drugs.
“I can’t heal it, all right?” she snapped, her tone tense as frustration lowered her brows.
Shock kept him immobile. He knew that she caught illnesses sometimes, but he figured that even somebody with slower healing cells would be able to heal a fractured bone in a day. His fangs slowly slid down. “You need blood?” He pushed his shirt sleeve out of the way so he could get to his vein.
“No,” she said, holding up one hand.
“Don’t make me force you.” He’d do it, too. In order to heal her, to make her feel better, he’d do pretty much anything except tellher the truth.
Her delicate jaw firmed. “I can’t take blood, Pax, or I would’ve already taken it from my dad. I mean, give me a break.” She might sound snippy, but he could feel the pain vibrating from her. “Emma doesn’t want me to take anything until the drug from the darts is completely out of my system. It might react negatively with vampire or demon blood.”
So the darts were filled with more than just a tranq. Great. He frowned, the nape of his neck itching as the night air finally began to clear his head. Being casual about it, he glanced around the neighborhood. Ah-ha. That made more sense. “How many snipers are trained on me right now?” he asked. “Merely curious.”
“My team of four plus me,” she admitted. “I had to fight to get Dad and Dage to treat me like an adult. I’m a little irritated with you right now as well.”
So this was a setup. Good to know. He figured she wouldn’t have been able to just sneak out of the Realm hospital and into demon territory, but his mind wasn’t working quite as fast as it should. “Did Emma determine what wasin the darts?”
“Mainly a horse tranquilizer, but also something she couldn’t identify.”
Shock kept him quiet for a moment. “There’s something Emma can’t identify?” That was pretty much unheard of. The queen knew every compound there was.
“Yes.” Hope looked small and defenseless on his truck.
“Well, fantastic,” he muttered. “Whatever was in those darts is in my system too. Is that why you couldn’t heal your arm?” Yet he’d had no problem healing his wounds from thelaser bullets.
She shook her head. “I don’t think so, but I don’t know for sure. There’s really no way to tell, is there?” She tapped a finger on her lips. “Unless afterI heal this...”
“No,” he said softly, his voice determined. “You will not break another bone and use yourself as atest subject.”
Her eyes flared. “Considering you’re a traitorous bastard, I don’t think you are in any position to give me advice, much less tellme what to do.”
The woman wasn’t wrong. He did notice that she was still wearing the silver ring he’d given her so long ago, and he’d bet everything he had that the pink quartz necklace was still hanging between her breasts. It gave him an odd satisfaction that he had no right to feel. He was balancing on a razor-thin line, and there was absolutely no doubt he was going to fall over into the abyss, but for now, he’d make sure she was safe.
“Do you want to come inside? It’s too cold outhere for you.”
“Yeah, right,” she snorted. “The snipers wouldn’t like that.”
He shoved his hands farther down in his jeans pockets so he didn’t reach for her. “All right, so obviously you’re supposed to be getting information from me. How did you get them toagree to this?”
It was unthinkable that Zane would let his only daughter so close to Paxton after everything thathad gone down.
