Page 6 of Raze
“Knock it off, Jack. Cassandra is on her way,” Aiden reprimands, leaving the bathroom.
I huff and look between the other two.
“Who’s Cassandra?”
Chapter two
Raegan
Cassandra turns out tobe a healer who works for Aiden’s Guild and is apparently on call for anything they need. Forhealing, they told me.
Her hands stroke down Kellan’s chest a third time, and I jump up from the couch. “Is that necessary?” I snap at her.
She blinks up at me, her fiery red hair spilling back over her shoulder. Her eyes are green-gold, the inverse of Dane’s. She has a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and along her cheekbones that give her a youthful appearance. If anyone were to look like some sort of faerie, she fits the bill better than anyone I’ve ever met. And I know Portia.
“Is something wrong?” she asks modestly enough. But the edge of excitement in her eyes as she’s touching Kellan is far from innocent.
“Yeah, beautiful. Something wrong?” Kellan questions with an eyebrow raised and the largest smirk on his maw that I’m tempted to stab him for it.
Cassandra’s attention perks at my nickname, and she smiles atKell. “Did you just call her beautiful? That’ssosweet. Are you guys an item?”
Kellan laughs, like they’re sharing a joke between them, and I’m not standingright here. “Naw, she doesn’t want me like that. Isn’t that right?” he directs at me in challenge.
Dane scoffs with obvious disgust from the couch. His arms are folded as he leans as far back into the sofa cushions as he can, one foot arrogantly stepping on the coffee table with his boots still on. There are metal shackles around his wrists, with chains that attach to metal hooks on the floor. He has enough of a radius to go to the living room, kitchen, and bathroom on his own, though he has to leave the door open for the last one, which I found out a few minutes before Cassandra appeared and we both ranted at Aiden for.
This is Aiden’s apparent solution to keeping Dane from running blindly after Vera.
I try not to think about why he has chains handy and choose to assume he took the time to make them with his gift.
“Oh, well, maybe she likes someone else,” Cassandra guesses and then throws me a wink, like she thinks she’s backing me up. Her hand runs down his tattooed arm, and I bristle at the blatant and unnecessary contact. “I could be your beautiful if you’d like.” She bats her eyelashes at him.
That’s it.
I smack her hand off his arm, not caring if I get Kellan, too. “If you know each other, then you’d know he heals himself and is fine. Why don’t you treat the actual patients?”
She gasps and holds her hand to her chest. “Who, you?”
“Yeah, the one bleeding from her head. Oh, and the one with a bullet hole in his arm.” I point to Jackson, who I was sitting beside on the couch. He’s normally perched on the back of it, so the fact that he dropped to the actual cushions is a warning sign in and of itself. He told me he didn’t want Cassandra touching him, and now I know why.
But I told him I wouldn’t let her heal my head until he was better. He relented. Barely.
Cassandra peers past me to Jackson, and I can see the tension in her. My eyes narrow at her. “Is that a problem?”
“Of course not.” She clears her throat and stands to move over to us.
Something pushes me back, and I fall onto the couch. Jackson smiles tightly at me and takes my hand in his. The moment his hand joins mine, I can feel the violent energy swirling just under the surface. Like touching him has given me a glimpse of what’s going on behind the smiles and his cool demeanor.
His eyes leave mine to follow Cassandra’s approach, and the feeling intensifies. I squeeze his hand to remind him I’m here. I won’t let her touch him any more than necessary. Though, by the look on her face, she can see her death in his eyes if she steps out of line with him.
Instead of reaching for his arm as she had with Kellan, she sits on the coffee table in front of us. “It’ll be faster if I can have contact with the wound directly. Do you have any injuries other than the bullet wound?”
“Nothing that won’t heal on its own.” Jackson smiles darklyat her, so it’s more a threat than anything.
“She’s already here. You may as well let her heal whatever she finds.” I hold my breath as he considers what I’m asking and finally nods.
Cassandra moves slowly to his arm opposite the one pressed against me. Her fingertips make contact, and she checks in with Jackson, who’s staring her down but doesn’t react otherwise. Not externally, at least.
Her hands close around his arm, and she focuses back on the hole. I peek over at Jackson to watch what she’s doing. I’m a little fascinated and a lot envious that they’ve had this option when anyone gets injured.
