Chapter Twenty-one
Allison sat beside him as he slept. His sweet blue eyes were still closed as he breathed heavily.
“He’ll be fine.”
She jumped as Rem came to stand behind her.
He had been so gentle with him, making sure the men took care of him and didn’t cause any further damage. It made her feel like shit for ever questioning him.
“How can you be sure?” Allison asked.
He lifted his shirt and pointed to four ribs on his side. “Broke all of them during a training exercise with the Group,” he said. “Thought I might die, but instead it only felt like I was going to. Among other things, we can take a beating and heal quickly.”
She nodded. It seemed they had all walked away from the battle with more than a few wounds.
“But he’s got something I didn’t at the time.”
Allison frowned. “What’s that?”
Rem turned and smiled at her. “His Vestal.”
Hearing the words only warmed her. Made her want to protect him more.
“You share a connection,” Rem said. “You draw off the same force that helped create us,” he said and pulled the sheet down from Quintus’s chest slightly. “Touch the marking.”
Allison leaned forward. The memory of the feeling it gave her to touch the tattoo was still vivid in her mind.
She should have laughed. Act like what he was saying made no sense to her at all.
But it did. For some reason it did.
Allison cleared her mind of all the doubt and placed her hand on the beautiful blue lines.
A warm blue hum filled the room. It wasn’t around her. It was her.
It was like her whole body was vibrating as the glow grew brighter.
Quintus blinked his eyes opened. They shined with a light she’d never seen from him before.
“What...” she said. His words faded as the hum continued to grow.
Allison felt herself shake a little.
“That should be enough,” Rem whispered.
She let go, her body still shaking and slightly more exhausted than before.
“Drink this,” Rem said and placed the glass in her hand.
Allison greedily sucked down the juice he handed her.
“What was that?” Quintus asked.
Rem looked between the two of them. “I still can’t quite explain it, but I believe the connection allows us to draw from our Vestals,” he said. “Much like we might draw from the stone.”
Allison finished the drink and passed the empty glass back to him.
“Thank you,” Rem said quietly to her. “For being the one to save him.”
Allison’s cheeks heated. She hadn’t saved him. All she’d done was place her hand on him.
She was surprised when Quintus reached out and laced their hands together, his touch no longer fevered and weak.
“Agatha is up to something,” he said to Rem. “She mentioned the stone.”
She watched as Rem pressed his mouth in a firm line.
“I suspected as much,” he said. “We’re not worth her attention by ourselves.”
“What are we going to do?” Allison asked.
Rem smiled at her. “Nothing for now,” he said. “We’re at a bit of a stalemate. If we try to take her out, she may alert the Group, even if it puts her at risk. The big advantage we have is that since we know she’s here, she’ll probably pull her Glycons back and the people will of Eagle Ridge will be safe for now. So for now we make plans.”
Quintus sat up in bed. She noticed he winced but stroked her palm with his thumb.
“Plans? Plans for what?” Quintus asked.
Rem paused at the door to the bed room. “Plans for war.” He nodded at them both. “Rest up.” He left.
Quintus still felt the tickle of the connection humming through them. It should have concerned him that Rem used them both to test a theory, but it was hard to disagree with something that felt so natural.
“You okay?” he asked.
Allison gave a small laugh. Tears trickled down her soot-covered face. “I think I’m supposed to be the one asking that.”
He opened his arms in order to pull her tightly against his chest.
Her wet cheeks pressed against he chest, and there was a rightness about the feeling.
“You really shouldn’t be doing that,” she whispered. “You were injured.”
Quintus stroked her dirty hair. “And now I’m not.”
She tilted her head and stared up at him. “I thought you were gone… I thought I’d never…”
The tears flowed freely now, and he only hugged her tighter.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’ll never leave you. Never.”
She leaned up and placed a soft kiss on his lips. The touch was so sweet and pure, it made him ache for more.
When she pulled back, she stared deeply into his eyes.
“I love you,” Allison said with conviction. “I know it’s crazy, and I know it shouldn’t work this way, but I know what I feel. I am crazy in love with you.”
He sat, somewhat stunned by her words. He hoped to hear her say those words so many times, but now she had, he wasn’t quite sure what to say back.
Quintus pulled her back against his chest. The woman he never knew he wanted but couldn’t live without now that he had her.
“You have my heart,” he said to her. “From now and until forever. I am your and you are mine. I love you.”
She nodded against him and when she looked up, he smiled at her sweet tears.
He brought her in for another kiss. This one deep. His tongue delving into her sweet mouth.
When she pulled away, they were both panting for air.
“I don’t think patients are supposed to be making out after nearly being killed.” She frowned at him.
Quintus laughed. A deep one that made his whole body ache.
And this was why he loved her. There wasn’t another living soul that made him feel like she did.
“What about a sponge bath?” Quintus said and raised a brow. “What’s the consensus on that?”
He watched as Allison nibbled her bottom lip before sliding over onto the bed.
“I think that can be arranged,” she whispered.
Quintus grinned. “And after?”
She glanced down at his lap. Her eyes growing wide for a moment before looking back at him, the lust evident.
“I think we might be able to find a happy ending.”
Quintus grinned. Just what he always wanted. A happy ending.