“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 any to 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 tell her 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 was in 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 the laser 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 after I heal this...”
“No,” he said softly, his voice determined. “You will not break another bone and use yourself as a test 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 tell me 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 out here 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 to agree to this?”
It was unthinkable that Zane would let his only daughter so close to Paxton after everything that had gone down.
“I didn’t give them much of a choice,” Hope admitted. “I needed to talk to you, and frankly, we all need answers. I’m an adult, and I’m good at what I do.” She was, and he was proud of her. She probably had the best strategic mind of anybody he’d ever met. “Why don’t you trust me, Paxton?” she asked softly.
He blinked and then shoved his mask back into place. “I do trust you.”
“No, you don’t, or you would’ve told me what you were up to.” She leaned toward him, reaching with her good arm for his. He could sense someone’s finger tighten on a trigger nearby, but he didn’t care. He didn’t make her remove her hand. “Come on, Paxton. It’s me. I don’t believe you would want to hurt my uncle or that you would be working with the Kurjans against us.”
“I’m not working with the Kurjans, and I’d never harm Dage,” he said. “You have to know that.”
She nodded, her eyes luminous now. Were there tears in them?
His heart took the pain as if somebody had stabbed him. “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, Hope. I hope you believe me.” He didn’t elaborate, but things were about to get a lot worse, probably for all of them, because he was certainly failing at what he needed to do.
She tightened her grip, her nails digging through his thin shirt. “Paxton,” she whispered. “Please tell me what’s going on. Does this have to do with your uncle and the Defenders?”
He barely kept from reacting. Instead, he forced an indulgent smile to his lips, one that would irritate the hell out of her. “The Defenders? Who in the world are the Defenders?”
“Don’t play stupid with me, and don’t treat me like I’m dumb. Do you think our computer experts are not tearing apart your entire history right now? They know you’re part of the Defenders. They know your uncle is a member of the Defenders. Come clean now, Paxton, or I swear they’ll decide you’re a traitor and slice off your head.”
Spirit and heat filled her face, and for a moment all he could do was stare at her. She’d been adorable as a kid. As a woman, she was downright fucking gorgeous, even while she was pissed off and wounded and sitting on his favorite truck.
“Is this about the Seven?” she asked.
Heck, she was smart. She was so freaking smart, he didn’t know what to do with her sometimes.
“I know only what you do about the Seven,” he said. Which frankly wasn’t nearly enough. He did know that the Seven Warriors had broken the laws of physics to create three prison worlds to house a dangerous Cyst, one of the spiritual leaders of the Kurjan nation. When those prison realms had been destroyed, all the worlds had gone out of whack, including Earth, which was why demons were no longer able to teleport. The Seven had a final ritual in mind to kill Ulric, but unfortunately, it involved using Hope.
He’d vowed with his own blood to prevent that from happening. He’d been more foolish than courageous, and that was how he’d ended up in this clusterfuck.