The Ice Pack

The deafening echo of Vance’s roar still hangs in the heavy air of the guest parlor. "Are you okay?" I blink up at him as he bridges the distance between us in a fraction of a second. He cups my face cautiously in his large, warm hands, his green eyes scanning my features with frantic urgency.

My cheek throbs with a stinging, blistering heat, the impact of his mother's palm still burning into my