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She wasmine, and I took care of what was mine.
The clerk gave me a long, wary look as I came up to the register with an arm full of various bandages and disinfectants. I’d already slipped behind the pharmacy counter and snatched a few pill bottles that would be useful for an injured human. The clerk’s hands fumbled as he rang me up, unable to stop staring at me.
“Are you, uh...having a good night?” he said. I gave an impatient nod of my head. “You, uh...you got a little something...on your face.”
I glanced up at myself on the CCTV. I was smeared with blood from head-to-toe. I smiled tightly as I looked back at the wide-eyed clerk. “You’d better just forget I was here.”
He nodded quickly, shoving my things into a plastic bag. “Oh yeah. Yeah. No problem.”
22
Before I slipped into unconsciousness, my last thought was that this was such a stupid, useless way to die.
I’d acted recklessly, I’d let emotion get the better of me. Strange how imminent death can bring such sudden clarity. My anger, my grief, my despair — they were useless to me now. It didn’t matter. None of it mattered if I was dead.
I floated in pain, the sounds of the Eldbeasts’ horrible cries surrounding me. Their cries grew worse, they became an endless cacophony of screams, howling, snarling. And then…
Then I heard Zane’s voice. I felt his arms around me. The pain got worse and worse, but the howls were gone. I was warm. It was quiet. I drifted deeper to escape the pain.
Death couldn’t hurt this much, at least...I desperately hoped it didn’t.
Something tugged at me, pressing against the awful ache in my side. I weakly tried to shove it away, even though my arms felt like stones dangling from my shoulders. My vision was just a blur. Trying to focus on anything made my head swim.
“Easy, easy. It’s just me.” Zane again. His deep voice was like a warm fire, a soft blanket, a steaming mug of cider. I wanted to sink into it and lose myself in it. It occurred to me suddenly that he’d probably be really good at reading bedtime stories.
It then occurred to me that I’d lost way too much blood, and it was making me loopy as hell.
He lifted me, holding me tight and close against his chest. God, he was so warm. So, so warm. I nuzzled my face against his chest, even though his shirt felt dirty. It didn’t matter that he smelled like blood —hisscent was still there, buried beneath, rich and comforting.
I wanted that scent in a goddamn candle.
But even his warmth couldn’t keep the cold away. I kept drifting in and out of the dark, my eyes too heavy to keep open. I shivered, and as if from a great distance, I heard him say quickly, “What’s wrong? Why are you shaking?”
I laughed a little, or at least I tried. It may have sounded more like a gross hiccup. But he sounded so worried, so...so concerned. For me. But why would he worry over me? If I died, it just saved him the trouble of having to fulfill his end of the deal; I’d be going to Hell regardless. I managed to get my eyes open and realized we were standing inside, in his living room. All the curtains were drawn over the windows, the lights were on, and he was holding me cradled in his arms.
I looked up at him, frowning down at me. “You’re a mess,” I said softly. I needed water. My throat was so dry it hurt. “You’re all...you’re all dirty.”
He shook his head. “You’re one to talk. You look like the leftovers at a meat market.”
My lightheadedness demanded I close my eyes again. When I next managed to open them, I was lying on the couch, my head propped up on a pillow. Zane was crouched over me, his eyes narrowed in concentration. There was the prick of a needle piercing my skin and a tug as my wound was stitched together.
I looked at him in silence for a long while. His intense concentration was focused on the gaping wound on my upper arm, my flesh ripped open by the Eldbeasts’ claws. The pain of the needle was nothing in comparison to all the other agony my body was going through.
“I guess I’m not...not very sexy like this, am I?” I said, my voice little more than a croak. His bright eyes glared at me before he went right back to tying off my stitches. “Did you...did you hear me screaming?”
His face twitched, an expression I couldn’t fully understand. He set aside the needle and picked up a cloth instead, using the damp rag to carefully clean away the blood and dirt on my arm. “Yes. I heard you screaming.”
The warmth of the damp cloth felt good. His hands on me felt so nice I could have moaned, and not even in a sexy way. It was just that everything hurt except his gentle touches. “Why...why did you come back?”
“I never want to hear that sound again, Juniper.” He gripped the cloth in his hand, his fingers slowly curling into a fist around it. He was shaking his head, his jaw clenched so tight that a vein in his temple was slowly turning black. “I never want to hear the way you sound when you’re in pain like that...when you’re scared like that…” He looked away from me, fixing his smoldering gaze on the far wall. “I slaughtered them all, Juniper. Every single one. I promise you right now that nothing that dares try to hurt you gets to live.Nothing.” His voice became a growl and he closed his eyes, breathing slowly.
He was so angry I could feel his arm shaking as he went back to wiping down my skin. I didn’t understand, and it made me frightened again. My heart began to beat harder, and that awful grip of anxiety tightened its hold.
“Please don’t be afraid,” he said softly. “Don’t...just…” He sighed heavily. “I need to bathe you. And get you into bed. And give you pills.”
It was like he had a mental checklist of how to keep me alive. It was...sweet. It was kind. Too kind. Far kinder than he should have been. With a wince, I lifted my head from the pillow and braced myself on my arm. It was far more difficult than I’d hoped it would be. Trying to stand seemed truly daunting.
But I had to do this. I had to get it together. If I was alone, this all would have been up to me, and I knew better than to rely on anyone else.
