Dying Wish: A Novel of the Sentinel Wars by Shannon K. Butcher Page B

and saw scars crisscrossing the man’s face. He was trying to smile at her, but it pulled his skin, twisting his mouth. He had bright blue eyes and hair the same dark blond as Andra’s husband’s.
    “Where were you going so fast?” he asked, his voice quiet and gentle as if he was trying not to scare her.
    “I was just getting some exercise.”
    He pulled a phone out of his pocket and started playing with it, his thick fingers flying fast. He watched her and not what he was doing. “The only thing down this hall is the garage. You wouldn’t be trying to sneak out, would you?”
    He’d caught her. She was cornered. Trapped. Panic raked her skin and she realized there was only one thing she could do to escape.
    Tori moved fast, giving him no time to react. She pulled a steak knife from her bag and stabbed it into his chest.
    Nicholas stared down in disbelief at the knife buried in his chest. Pain radiated out from the wound, but it was nothing compared to the pain he endured every day as his power grew. Nothing compared to the betrayal he felt.
    Tori had stabbed him. All he’d wanted to do was stop her from leaving and getting herself hurt or killed. Hell, he hadn’t even touched her, despite his urge to see if she was the one who could save his life.
    Jackie sure as hell hadn’t wanted him. Not that he blamed her.
    Tori’s small hand was still wrapped around the wooden handle of the knife. When he felt her tug on it, likely to pull it out and stab him again, he covered her hand with both of his, holding the knife in place.
    The pain his growing power caused seem to dull. Theedges rounded, and the bulging pressure behind his eyes eased. Everything within him went still and quiet—even his heart stopped for a few, timeless seconds.
    Tori was compatible with his power. She could save him.
    He hadn’t been this close to her before, but now that he was looking at her, he realized she was just a child. A feral, deranged child.
    Her blue eyes went wide with shock, and then a rabid snarl contorted her face and a low growl of warning spilled from her lips.
    In that moment, he realized that her compatibility didn’t matter. He couldn’t ask anything of her. He’d been there the night she’d been rescued. He knew what she’d gone through. It wasn’t fair to ask her to do anything more than heal and grow strong.
    Nicholas ignored the pointless surge of hope, shoved aside the pain of his wound, and showed no weakness. His tone took on the same disappointed, lecturing quality his father had used on him too many times when he was a child. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You don’t go around stabbing people like that.”
    She tried to pull her hand away, and it wiggled the knife, burning like fire. Her lips pulled back, baring her teeth. “Let me go!”
    “Not a chance. You’re staying right here until Andra shows up.”
    “She thinks I’m sleeping. I snuck out while she was in bed with Paul.”
    “Sorry to break it to you, kiddo, but I texted her. In fact…”
    The heavy beat of footsteps came pounding down the hall. Andra raced around the corner, her face pink and her shirt on inside out. Paul was only a couple of steps behind her, and he was shirtless and barefoot.
    Tori let out a scream of frustrated outrage.
    “Thanks for coming,” said Nicholas. “Now that you’rehere to deal with her, I can have this knife removed. I suggest you figure out something to do with her before she hurts someone for real next time.”
    He didn’t wait around to see how Andra dealt with her deranged sister. It was none of his business. As much as he wished otherwise, as much as he would have gladly altered his life to help Tori heal, all he could offer her was the added burden of saving his life.
    It was just as well. She was too young for him to think of her as anything but a child, and she was too unstable for any kind of relationship, even if he could overlook her age. It didn’t matter how patient or gentle