training, but I wasn’t stupid enough to imagine anything romantic between us. Well, my head wasn’t, but my lusty female hormones were another story.
Wiping the sweat from my brow, I leaned back against the wall and took a few cleansing breaths. I couldn’t sell Talon on the yoga idea, but I did meditate on a daily basis to get my Zen on.
A few days had passed without incident, and I hoped it was because of my meeting with Luci. Now I just had to make good on my promise of providing intel on Delacroix and his crew. Nothing like provoking the beast when he’d finally let up on me. Or had he?
“Hey, did Dembrat ever claim the favor from Dallas?”
He tossed the empty bottle in the recycle bin before turning back to face me. “No.” His lips denied it, but his wandering eyes told me there was more to it.
“You sure?”
His dark brows furrowed. “Are you calling me a liar?”
I threw my hands up and huffed. All the Zen gone. Pushing back up to my feet, I grabbed some boxing gloves and headed toward the punching bag. I suddenly had an irrepressible urge to hit something.
I swung at the black bag, and my fist smacked against the canvas with a satisfying crack. I hit it again and again, the anger draining with each punch. Winding back for another quick-fire series, I miscalculated and the target hurtled back at me.
Black canvas blotted out my vision before a sharp pain pummeled my nose, and a loud crack ricocheted across the room. “Son of a denge demon!” I screamed as warm liquid dripped down my lip and into my mouth. The tangy, metallic taste of blood pooled on my tongue.
Talon was at my side a second later, moving impossibly fast for a guy that big. His hand gently closed over my jaw, and he tipped my head back. “Take it easy, wildcat. I think you got him.” He pulled out the towel hanging from his shorts and gently pressed it to my nostrils.
I squealed and shot him a narrowed glare, tears filling my eyes. Definitely not the desired threatening effect. “I think that damned punching bag broke my nose.”
His fingers moved from my jaw to the bridge of my nose. Carefully, he ran his fingers over the bone. “Yup. Definitely broken.” The corner of his lip curled.
“Are you laughing at me right now?”
He smirked, revealing a dimple I’d never seen before. Probably because the cranky bastard never smiled. “You’ll be fine in a few hours. You do have supernatural healing abilities, right?”
“Yeah.” I’d never broken anything though. Mezlor may have been taking it too easy on me.
“Do you want me to take you to the healer?”
My thoughts raced back to the witch that I’d seen with Logan. I’d gotten a total jealous vibe from her. “No, I’m okay,” I finally answered.
“Here, let me clean you up before we head back then.” He released me and walked over to a small cabinet next to the mini fridge. Pulling out a first aid kit, he sauntered back over. “Sit.”
I cocked a skeptical brow and removed the blood-soaked towel from my nostrils. “You’re going to play nurse now?”
A growl vibrated his throat, his eyes shooting daggers. “You just said you didn’t want to see the healer, and I can’t let you walk back to our cell like that. If Logan sees you, he’ll lose his shit and I don’t want to deal with that.”
My hand shot out to grab the kit from him, but he held it out of reach. “Just give it to me. I can do it.”
“Sit,” he snarled and crouched down on the floor. He glared up at me until I gave up and folded down beside him.
My nose still throbbing, I crossed my arms over my chest and stared up at the high ceiling as he removed supplies from the kit. The acrid scent of alcohol wafted to my nose as he neared with a cotton ball clenched between his fingertips.
“Hold still and keep your head tilted back.” His minty fresh breath swirled between us, cutting through the mix of blood and alcohol. I swallowed hard and lowered my gaze to meet his, only his glacial orbs were locked on my lips, my nose, anywhere but my eyes. He gingerly swept the cotton over my skin, removing the sticky blood.
His touch was so gentle, his breaths soft, so unlike Talon. The air between us thickened. My heart tapped out a jagged beat