There’s no knock, no warning at all, before the door opens and Ziv strides in. His expression is still pinched. If I had to guess, the talk between him and Kage didn’t go well, but at least I only need to deal with him again. I get to my feet as he looks around the room suspiciously.
“I picked up,” I tell him to waylay any question he might have about someone else being here and doing it.
“I see that,” he grumbles. “Come on, there are some things I need to show you.” He tilts his head ever so slightly, indicating I should move toward the door. I hastily grab my boots and force my feet inside, ignoring the pain from the new cut and older wounds from blisters.
“Where are your socks? Do those even fit you?” He’s getting more and more aggravated by the moment, and I can’t do anything to prevent it.
“They are what I have,” I answer truthfully.
I watch his left hand ball into a fist before he grumbles a string of words under his breath I can’t make out, but I understand the sentiment. “Take them off,” he orders, then ducks his head out the door and bellows, “Bring me some fucking socks!” I’m not certain, but I think I feel the walls vibrate, or maybe it’s just me trembling. I kick my boots off as fast as I can and toss them toward the wall.
Within a matter of minutes, there are people at the door, doing their level best to peer into the room around Ziv, but they are also handing him bundles of socks. My heart constricts in mychest. I’m pretty sure they are for me, but again, I have nothing to trade and no way to pay.
“That’s enough,” he announces, then slams my door, making the walls rattle. The collection in his arms is overflowing, and he drops socks like breadcrumbs as he approaches me.
I’m shaking my head before he even offers. “I can’t pay for them.”
He leans close to me, so his nose is barely inches from mine, and I hold my breath, but I don’t back away. “I’m willing to bet you already have tenfold, little flower, and when I get a hold of your father…” His words trail off, but the menace in his gaze doesn’t end. “I don’t want to hear you mention payment for anything again, you understand?”
I roll my lips in. I do understand, I’m not dumb. I just can’t make that promise. Stupidly, I tell him as much. “I don’t have funds, and I’m not willing to trade my body, not if I have a choice.” The last part comes out weakly, because when have I ever had a choice in anything?
Ziv’s eyes flare wide, and the mercury hues in his irises erupt into a fiery show, twisting and turning in a furious dance. I feel his hand on the back of my neck right before the wads of socks drop to my feet. That weird feeling from the infirmary returns with a vengeance, making my entire body tingle. It’s not entirely unpleasant, but it’s foreign and unexpected.
My breath catches, and my heart misfires in a weird way. I think I’m having a heart attack. Can you really die from fear? Is that what’s happening to me? Ziv’s eyes close slowly, and he takes a deep breath, exhaling through his nose. We’re so close, I feel the heat coming off his skin, but what I don’t feel is any draining from him trying to use his ability against me.
The thudding of my heart finds a steady rhythm again and begins pounding against my chest. I want to shuck off his touch,to be rid of this feeling that seems to only be getting heavier, but I don’t move, and I can’t explain why either.
“I think…there’s…something…wrong with…me,” I pant just above a whisper before I pass out.
ZIV
She drops like a stone, but I catch her easily, wrapping my arm around the back of her waist and keeping a grip on her neck. It’s clear by her reaction she has no idea what’s happening to her, to us, and I’m not ready to tell her.
While she’s passed out, probably from her senses being overloaded, I take the opportunity to run my nose along the smooth line of her neck, inhaling her scent—the scent that is uniquely designed to appeal to me in every way, which is why I flipped the fuck out when I could smell the demon in her room. I should have known by the way he reacted to her yesterday something was off, but I was too caught up in my own thoughts to address it, which brings us to where we are now—she’s passed out in my arms, with neither of us closer to claiming her for two completely different reasons.
When she inhales sharply, I lower her to the bed and pretend I wasn’t just breathing her in like a man starved for air. It takes effort to stand back and put distance between us, but if I haveany hope of walking away from her without staking my claim, then this is just the beginning of my torment.
Briar’s eyes snap open with alertness. There’s no slow welcome back to reality or easing into the moment. Her head shifts, and her golden eyes find me across the room. She blinks once before sitting up and smoothing her hand down her face. “Waking up in a strange place for unknown reasons is getting kind of old,” she mumbles.
“Are you still feeling ill?” I question, knowing she wasn’t unwell. She was overwhelmed by the bond between us, and I doubt it’s going to lessen anytime soon.
I watch her shake out her hands and stretch her body before she answers, “No.”
“We should get going then. There’s a lot we need to go over.”And I need to get you off that bed before I join you.
Without missing a beat, she tosses her legs over the side of the bed and gets to her feet. I pick up a pair of bundled socks and pitch them in her direction. When they smack into her cheek and she winces, I actually feel horror at the fact that I didn’t warn her. She doesn’t see the look of dismay on my face, because she just bends down and plucks them off the floor, then pulls them onto her feet.
“I’ll find you some new boots while we’re out.”
“Should I…” She glances over at the boots on the floor, and I shake my head in denial. I can’t watch her cram her feet into those shoes, knowing they are way too small, nor can I pretend I didn’t see the blisters and calluses they’ve already left behind.
When I jerk the door to her room open too quickly, it slams into the wall and cracks the plaster. Her shoulders hunch, but other than that, she doesn’t acknowledge my fumbling. She is a little slow to trail after me, keeping more distance between us than I can allow.
My instinct tells me to grab her hand and haul her to my side, but I get a little tighter grip on my desire, and instead, I look at the empty space beside me and say, “Do you plan on joining me or trailing in my wake?” I half expect her to hustle right over, but she watches me for a long moment, proving she’s leery of me. Almost reluctantly, she pads forward, still keeping too much space between us in my opinion, but I’ll have to live with it for now.
BRIAR
My shoulders stiffen as we turn the corner, leaving behind the quiet hall where my room resides. I thought being beside Ziv was making me uncomfortable, but this just proves it can always be worse. There are several people milling about, though not nearly as many as last night, when I felt like I was walking the gauntlet, but still more than I would like. Worst yet, they all seem to have their eyes trained on me. Whispers not quiet enough to ignore reach my ears, and I find myself inching close to the giant at my side.
