His words touched her more than his earlier admission that he’d once loved her. Tears spilled out over her eyelashes, tracked down her cheeks before she could stop them. Gently, he lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers. Once. Twice. As softly as if he were touching the most fragile glass. “Thea,” he whispered against her mouth. “Don’t let this end here.”
Oh, gods. She’d always been powerless against him. He was right; the connection he spoke of was deeper than even she understood. And she was so tired of fighting it. Of fighting this. Them. What she’d always wanted.
Her lips moved under his as she kissed him back. And even though a small voice in the back of her head warned this was wrong, that eventually she’d get hurt again, that things never worked out for her, she couldn’t help herself. She twined her arms around his neck, tipped her head, rose on her toes as she tasted him and he tugged her close so they were locked tight together, chest to hip. He groaned into her mouth, changed the angle of the kiss, nudged her back toward the shower wall. Water sprayed up around them as his hand ran down her backside to draw her closer still.
“Thea. I can’t get enough of you.”
She couldn’t get enough of him either. She rose up, kissed his nose, his cheek, his mouth all over again. And though she knew the others were downstairs, that they were probably talking strategy, that she and Zander needed to be there, right now she just needed him.
She lifted her leg, slid her thigh up his to hook around his hip so he could settle between her legs. “Zander…”
The low growl in his throat told her he needed the same thing. He nipped at her earlobe as he pushed his hips playfully against hers. “Thea…”
The door to the bathroom opened with a slap of wood against wall. Zander stiffened, dropped her leg and moved his body in front of hers so whoever came through couldn’t see her.
“Shit, Z. There you are.”
Callia recognized Titus’s voice even though she couldn’t see around Zander’s broad shoulders.
“Get the hell out of here, Titus,” Zander growled.
“Oh, crap.” Shoes squeaked on the tile floor, and then Titus’s voice came out muffled, as if he’d turned away. “I didn’t expect you to be so, ah, dirty that you’d need more than one shower.” Humor filled Titus’s voice. “Hey, Callia.”
Zander’s scowl deepened as he looked down at her, and for some reason, the absurdity of the situation lightened Callia’s mood. “Hey, Titus.”
Zander rolled his eyes. “Okay, you’ve had your fun, Titus. Now get the fuck out.”
Callia studied Zander, who still hadn’t taken his eyes off her. Though he was clearly irritated with Titus’s interruption, there was no heat behind the words. And that temper that seemed to come and go with him was nowhere to be seen.
She focused on his newly silver irises.
“I will,” Titus said, sobering. “But I thought you both might want to know. Nick’s scouts brought in a human. A trucker they found up in the northern country. Daemon attack. He’s badly injured, but he’s mumbling something about a boy who helped him get away. One he picked up hitchhiking in British Columbia.”
Callia’s smile faded, and a strange sense of foreboding raced through her chest. She knew Zander felt it as well, by the way his expression hardened.
Zander turned to look through the frosted glass toward Titus, careful to keep his body between hers and Titus’s. And when he did, Callia spotted the scars on his upper back. Thin, faded white lines. Ones she was sure hadn’t been there when she’d operated on him. Ones that were eerily familiar.
Wait a minute. What the heck is going on here?
“How old?” Zander asked.
“About ten.”
Titus’s answer was all she heard. Callia’s eyes darted from the scars on Zander’s back to his face when he turned. It couldn’t be…
“And Z,” Titus added, “get ready for this. The guy…the human? He says the kid had markings on his arms. Markings that look just like ours.”
Urgency pushed at Zander as he and Callia headed down the long corridor. After Titus left, they’d quickly dressed. Callia hadn’t spoken, but her nerves showed on her face, and he felt her anxiety all the way to his bones.
His boots echoed as they descended the stairs to the main level and turned to the back stairs that ran down to the medical clinic deep beneath the lodge itself. As the colony was built into large caverns hidden deep in the Cascade Mountains, the air was cool. Candles every ten feet lit the space to save power, and the rock absorbed all sound, making it seem deserted.
At the bottom of the stairs, Callia turned left toward the conference rooms where Nick plotted war strategy with his soldiers, but Zander tugged on her hand, still tucked tightly into his. “They’re this way.”
“How do you know? I left them down here.”
“Because the medical facility is this direction.”
Her expression was easy to read. The crease between her eyebrows said she didn’t understand how he would know that. And when her face softened, he knew she’d figured out he’d been here when she was injured. And that he hadn’t left her side.
Which was weird because she’d been a closed book the whole time they were together. He’d never known what she was thinking. What she was feeling. But now she was finally letting him in.
“I think,” she said softly, “I never thanked you for saving my life.”
He moved forward to brush the hair back from her face and press a kiss to her forehead. “I will make this right, thea.” He tipped her chin with his finger. “No matter what happens, believe that.”
Resolve settled in her eyes. She breathed deep. Nodded.
He squeezed her hand and led her to the medical rooms. Mumbled voices echoed their way as they turned a corner. Ahead a doorway to the left was open, fluorescent light spilling into the dark corridor. Theron’s broad shoulders filled the space just inside the door.
The leader of the Argonauts turned when he heard their footsteps. “Z.” His questioning dark eyes flicked briefly to Callia as Zander pulled her into the room after him, but Zander didn’t let go of her hand. “We were just about to send a search party out for you.”
“Where is he?” Zander asked, ignoring Theron’s sarcasm. He looked toward another open door on the right wall. The sounds of machinery whirring and beeping met his ears.
“In the other room,” Titus said. “The colony’s healer is with him.”
“I want to see him,” Callia said. “Maybe I can help.”
Zander glanced her way, then back at Titus. “Is he conscious?”
Theron nodded. “He was earlier.”
Callia let go of Zander’s hand and headed across the room. Zander followed through a doorway that led into a high-tech hospital room.
Wires and tubes ran from the man’s arms to machines behind his bed. An oxygen mask covered his face, and bandages were wrapped around just about every exposed piece of skin on his body. Judging from the amount of damage, the guy was lucky to be alive.
Callia moved closer to the bed. Nick stood on one side looking down at the human while Lena checked the machines on the other side.
“How’s he doing?”
Nick crossed his arms over his chest. “How would you be doing after being someone’s lunch?”