“LEO!” I cried, my heart leaping into my throat as I leapt from the chair and raced around the table to where he had fallen. A thousand questions sped through my mind: Was he injured? Had Baldy hurt him? Or was it Grey? Did we take too much blood from him yesterday? Was sharing the one mind hurting them somehow?

He was on his stomach, his head pillowed by one arm, and I quickly sank to my knees beside him and flipped him over. “Cornelius, tell Quess I need him!” I shouted, my fingers going to Leo’s neck. His eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks, and he gave a soft groan, his hand weakly flopping next to him.

“Fine,” he wheezed. “I’m—”

He stopped midsentence, his head lolling to one side. I could still feel his pulse under my fingers, but it wasn’t as strong as I would like. It wasn’t dangerously weak, but definitely weaker. It didn’t make any sense. “Cornelius,” I repeated, looking around. “Where is—”

“I’m here,” Quess cut in, the sound of running feet filling the room. “Can’t we go two minutes without having a medical emergency?”

I slid to one side to give him room, letting him fall into place beside Leo, and then watched impatiently as he pulled out his scanner and ran it over Leo’s body.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know,” I told him, glancing up at where Zoe and Maddox were standing, hovering just to the side of us. “Did either of you see? I just saw him drop to the table and then fall.”

Zoe shook her head, but Maddox nodded. “He started weaving back and forth, this really dopey look on his face. I was about to ask him what was wrong, but then he sort of toppled forward, onto the table. It looked like he fainted.”

“That would make sense. His electrolyte readings are dismally low. Jasper, can you confirm?”

There was a pause. “Oh yeah. Hm. Hold on a second, I’m going to remotely interface with the net and… Oh.” He went silent for a second, and I had to bite back the urge to snap at him to explain what was going on. I knew that electrolytes were really important, but how would Leo have depleted them all? Minerals were put into our water supply to make sure we were healthy, so anything he’d drunk would’ve replenished them. Not to mention, deficiency would only happen if he had been exercising nonstop for several days, without taking in liquids to deplete his dwindling supply.

“What is it?” I managed in a calm-ish voice, when the silence had gone on for too long.

“Quess is correct. Grey’s body has been depleted of its mineral content. He will require fluids and several hours of rest.”

I frowned. “But how did this happen? You know it’s really difficult to have an electrolyte imbalance.”

“You will have to ask Leo that question when he wakes up.”

Odd. Was it because Jasper didn’t know, or because it was somehow Leo’s fault that Grey’s electrolytes were out of balance? It didn’t seem like Jasper was going to say, so the only thing I could do was follow the doctor’s advice and get him in bed.

I looked down at Leo, and then back up to Quess. “Help me move him?”

“Fine,” Quess groaned theatrically. “We’ll get him to bed and I’ll hook him up to some fluids.”

“I can hook him up,” I told him, reaching out to grab one of Leo’s arms. “I learned that much at least from the cross-departmental training courses.”

“Sweet,” Quess said as he grabbed the other. “Then I can come back here and do more research! Yay!”

I laughed at the faux enthusiasm in his voice, but sobered immediately afterward, my concern for Leo and Grey overriding everything.

Quess and I lifted Leo up together, each draping one of his arms across our neck, and carried him out the room, down the hall, and into his bedroom. He remained out of it the entire time, even when we placed him on the bed in the corner. I waved Quess off when he started to help, and he shrugged, leaving the clear plastic bag with yellow fluid inside for me to give Leo before he departed.

I stood staring at the door after he closed it, and then sighed and cast a look at Leo’s unconscious form on the bed. This was awkward. I hadn’t thought twice about wanting to take care of him in the moment, but now that we were here, I was suddenly thinking about last night, and how everything was between us. I certainly didn’t want him waking up while I was taking care of him, because I wasn’t exactly ready to deal with cold Leo yet. Hopefully his lowered electrolyte levels would keep him unconscious long enough for me to get him ready for bed and hooked up to the bag.

Besides, I had other things to do than have another confrontation with him. And I knew waking him up would lead to one, as I wanted to know exactly why Grey’s levels were off. If Leo was harming him in this sudden more-machine-than-man routine, I was going to tear him a new one.

And I wanted him fresh and alert when I did.

Setting the bag down, I quickly got to work stripping him of everything save for his underclothes. The boots went first, followed by his socks, and then the uniform—which required some struggle. When it came to a particularly stubborn pant leg, I was certain I would wake him, but there was no response in his face. Next came his lash harness. First, I undid the buckles that held the harness in place, and then I rolled him onto his side and worked the gyro in the back out from under him.

I carefully put everything away, and then sat down on the edge of the bed to hook him up to the saline bag and press the transfusion patch into the crook of his elbow. Finally, I sat back to wipe my forehead. I had developed a sweat from trying to move so quickly, in spite of the chill in the room. I looked down and noticed goosebumps forming on Leo’s arm, and reached to grab a blanket to pull over him.

“Hey.” His breath was soft against my neck, and I froze for several horrifying heartbeats before turning my head a fraction of an inch to meet his gaze. I had wanted to be gone before he woke up.

His eyes were bleary and slightly unfocused, but directed fully at my face, and he wore a lopsided smile that confused me. This was different from the icy demeanor he’d been showing me before. Now he seemed warm… and affectionate. I considered the juxtaposition for several heartbeats and came to two conclusions: either Leo had reconsidered what he said earlier, or Grey was now in control. And as much as I wanted it to be the former, the more I peered into those warm brown eyes, the more I realized that this was Grey, not Leo.

“Hey, Grey,” I said haltingly, gently pulling myself into a sitting position, using the pretense of draping the blanket over him to carve out some distance between us. I wasn’t prepared for this little scenario and wasn’t entirely sure how to react. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired,” he said weakly. “But I’m glad I woke up. I wanted to talk to you.”

I paused in fussing with the blanket and chanced a glance at him, my curiosity getting the better of me. “You… were aware of what was happening?”

He gave a soft huff of laughter. “More than you know. Leo and I were arguing about it when the lights went out.” He frowned, a crease forming on his brow. “Don’t be mad at him, but it’s his fault we passed out. He, um… didn’t get any sleep after you two had that conversation last night. He kept working all night, trying to get Jasper and Rose online, and the exertion from yesterday and giving blood… He just pushed my body to its limit.”

This was weird. He was talking about his body as if it weren’t his own, and in a way, he was right. But there wasn’t any resentment in his voice, like I would expect there to be. After all, he’d just told me Leo had put his personal health in jeopardy.

Well, he might not be angry, but I was. First Leo flipped on everything he had been telling me, then he decided to push Grey’s body in some mindless pursuit to get Jasper and Rose online last night! How could he be so irresponsible? What was going on with him?

What was worse than the anger, however, was the pain. It hurt that Leo had treated Grey so callously. I had trusted him to take care of him, and now it seemed he was trying to show how much he really didn’t care. Or maybe he was resentful toward Grey because he had been so confident that his feelings for me were genuine, so he was overreacting toward him?

I wasn’t sure, but it needed to end.

“I’m sorry,” I told him carefully, around clenched teeth. “I’ll make sure to talk to him about it when he wakes up.” I moved to stand up, but he made a small sound of protest that had me settling back down.

“Please don’t go,” he said softly. “I can tell you’re getting angry at him, and you need to understand… He’s hurting, Liana. He’s convinced himself that what he felt for you wasn’t real, but I think he’s wrong. I think—”

“He told you,” I gasped, descending the few inches I had risen during my first attempt to leave, suddenly needing to sit down. My stomach churned, his betrayal stabbing even deeper. He didn’t have the right to do that; it was my responsibility, my conversation to have with Grey. Everything in my mind went blank, until I couldn’t even think of how to respond. “He shouldn’t have done that. Your memory isn’t even fully restored!”

Grey gave me a lopsided smile. “I don’t have all of my memories of us yet, but I’m sure you know me well enough to understand how I can be when someone’s keeping a secret from me. Besides, you have no idea what this is like—how intrusive it is on both our sides! I’m awake, which means I know what’s going through his mind, and he knows what’s going through mine. Believe me when I say he had to tell me, because he couldn’t keep himself from thinking about you. I told him—”

I turned my face away from him in a move that was completely reflexive, but one I was grateful for. I couldn’t listen to Grey trying to validate Leo’s feelings for me. The guilt was too strong, the situation too weird, and I had no idea how to interpret it. He should be angry with me! Furious at my betrayal, sickened by the very sight of me. I was pretty sure that was how I would react should our positions be reversed, but here Grey was, defending him.

Scipio help me, what if Leo was only giving Grey bits and pieces of his memories with me? Could he do that? Would he? If so, it would certainly explain why Grey wasn’t as angry as he had every right to be.

I needed to stop talking with Grey. I needed answers about exactly what Leo was doing to him before I could have this conversation with him. But Leo wasn’t up, which meant leaving, and not coming back until Leo was awake and could account for his actions.

“Liana?”

I steadied myself and turned back to face him, forcing my mouth into something resembling a smile. “I need to go,” I told him. “You need to rest.”

Grey sighed and flopped his head against the pillow in irritation. “Stop treating me like a child. You and Leo clearly have feelings for each other, even though you and I had something going on when this first happened. It really wasn’t that difficult to put together.”

My cheeks flushed in abject humiliation, and I once again looked away, too embarrassed for words. So Leo had given him all his memories. Guilt slammed into me that I had doubted him, and then remounted when I realized that meant Grey did understand what I had done to him.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “I’m so very sorry.”

“Stop it.” His words and tone confused me, and I risked a glance over my shoulder to find him watching me, his eyes brighter and clearer than they had been a few moments ago. “Don’t you ever apologize for developing feelings for someone. I’ve been with Leo for a little over twelve hours, and even I think he’s pretty cool. He certainly made better use of my body than I ever did.” At my questioning glance, he explained, “Leo showed me some of the vid files from the Tourney when I didn’t believe that I had joined the Knights to participate in it. He… He certainly can fight. It makes sense that you started to rely on him.”

I didn’t understand him. He was taking this so casually, like it wasn’t a big deal at all. This was really out of character, considering how bossy and jealous he had been before. “Why aren’t you more upset about this?”

The mattress squeaked slightly under his weight as he rolled to his side, making sure not to disturb his fluid bag. “Well, I’m not going to lie and tell you that I haven’t changed. It’s weird… I have these memories of being afraid, being alone, being abandoned, and having those feelings driving some of my reactions, but now… they don’t seem to affect me as badly as they used to.” He chuckled. “Then again, I don’t know. Maybe almost dying changed something in me, or maybe it’s the way that Leo is giving me back my memories. I feel more level-headed and self-aware then I ever did before, and it’s nice to have that sort of clarity. Puts things into perspective.”

“Like?” I asked, unable to help myself.

“Like you,” he replied with a smile, meeting my gaze. “Of course, I’m only starting to remember you, but Leo tells me that we cared about each other very deeply. And it makes sense, considering how I remember feeling the first time I saw you.”

“Oh?” The sound was soft, barely pushed out from my throat—I was too afraid of letting my breath out for fear of disturbing his words. I didn’t want him to stop. I wanted to understand what was going on inside of him.

His brown eyes twinkled. “You dragged your baton along the ground to create a show of sparks. I remember thinking that you were so commanding and confident, even though you were clearly nervous. I saw how brave you were—so much braver than I was—and it took my breath away. I thought to myself, ‘That’s it. She’s the one.’”

I snorted at that, but his words had brought a bittersweet smile to my lips. I loved hearing his internal thoughts on our first meeting, but at the same time, I realized that all of this could change at the drop of a dime. He might be accepting now, but who knew how he would feel about it tomorrow?

“We really shouldn’t be talking about this now,” I told him softly, once again trying to extricate myself from the conversation. “We should wait until your memories are fully—”

“Give me a little credit, Liana. I know myself a little bit better than you do, and I know what I’m willing to accept and not accept. Maybe before I wouldn’t—couldn’t—tolerate the idea of you and someone else, but I realize now that was my problem, not yours. My fear of being abandoned again, turned away because something in me was faulty and broken. But Leo showed me how much you fought for me, how much you tried to resist your own feelings for him, and I realized that it wasn’t so black and white, so why should I be? Yes, you have feelings for another man. Does he make you happy? Do you still care about me? Can you?”

My confusion and shock at his questions caused my thoughts to completely fall apart. Why was he asking me if I cared about him and Leo both? Obviously, I did. But that couldn’t be what he was asking me, right?

“Why are you asking me that?” I asked carefully, uncertain of how to respond to his questions.

He stared at me, and then reached out and placed his hand over mine. “Because if Leo being in my body makes you happy, then I’m willing to share it—and you—with him.”

He could’ve knocked me over with a feather. “I…” was the only sound that could escape my clenched throat. Was that even possible? Could we… he… I…

I was overrun with confusion, my thoughts fragmented beyond belief. Of all the outcomes I ever thought possible, this was one I had never even considered, and it damn near broke me.

“I meant what I told you yesterday,” he said, catching my attention. “I would do anything to make the woman I love happy. To nurture her as she needs it. I just happened to fall for a girl who needed a man who could fight at her side while protecting her heart. I’ve got half of that covered. If Leo wants to help me handle the other part, I’m more than willing to let him. All I care about is that you’re happy.” The gleam in his eyes diminished some. “Leo told me about your mom. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. I could tell it hit you hard.”

My heart broke at his words, and I started to cry. He was just too sweet and accepting, and I’d done nothing to earn it. He still cared about me, even though I had betrayed him in such a cruel way. “You deserve someone better than me,” I told him.

Grey patted the bed next to him, and before I knew it, I was curled up on my side, his front pressed to my back, one arm draped over my side. “Maybe,” he said in a light tone. “But that’s my decision to make.”

“How can you be so understanding about all of this?” I begged, needing to understand. “You don’t even remember us.”

“I will soon,” he promised. “And how can I not be? I’m lucky enough to be alive right now, and reliving my past is helping me realize a few things about myself. I came from a place where love was withheld because I didn’t conform to expectations. I don’t want to ever make anyone I care about feel that way. I’m willing to be open to all different forms of it, even those that defy convention. If this is what makes you happy, and lets me keep being a part of your life, then I don’t care.” He paused for a second, and then added, “The other reason is that Leo doesn’t have a corporeal self. Call me petty, but there’s something satisfying about the fact that even though I’m happy to share him with you, he still has to touch you using my hands, and kiss you using my lips. It’s a compromise that I’m okay making.”

I managed a chuckle at that. “You’ve become an oddly laid-back guy, you know?”

“I know, right? I can tell what you’re thinking. ‘Man, Grey is so cool now. I’m even more head over heels for that guy than I ever was before.’” I shoved my elbow into his stomach—not hard, but in a warning shot—and he chuckled, brushing his lips over my temple in a kiss. “You should probably be going,” he said, a yawn cracking his voice. “I know you guys have a lot of work to do, and I need some rest. And hey… I meant it—don’t be mad at Leo. I was also part of the problem. I kept him up, arguing with him about what a jackass he was being.”

“You did?” I asked, a smile breaking on my face.

“Of course I did. It’s obvious his feelings for you are his own. He’s just doubting them after what happened yesterday. And he lacks the emotional experience to know how to deal with it all.”

“They are?” I asked, looking up at him. “He does? How can you know that?”

“I told you this was pretty invasive, having both of us up here. And the reason I know his feelings for you are his own is because his thoughts toward you are way too polite. He just likes to kiss and hold you. Oh, he’s curious about the other parts as well, but he’s perfectly satisfied with the sensation of comfort.” He looked down at me, his eyes blazing. “My thoughts, however, are far filthier.”

My face went white hot with surprise and embarrassment, followed by a shot of lust that hit me from head to toe.

“How can you just talk about it like that?” I asked, my embarrassment outweighing my attraction. “How can you just—”

“It’s my body, remember?” he said, cutting me off by lightly stroking his fingers over my cheek. His eyes dropped to my mouth, and he smiled. “I don’t remember our first kiss yet, and while I’m sure it was amazing, I sort of want to reinvent it right here and now.”

“Are you asking me?” I whispered, my heart beginning to flutter wildly in my chest.

He smiled. “Normally, I would say yes,” he declared, his voice low and smoky. I twisted toward him in response, wanting to face him more fully. “But you’ll have to forgive me if I pass out now instead.” As if to emphasize the point, he yawned widely, and then dropped his head back onto the pillow, his eyelids closing.

I smiled, reaching out to cup his cheek. I didn’t know what to make of any of this, but I had learned something important: I still had feelings for Grey.

If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be this disappointed that he was asleep again, even if he needed it.

“Goodnight,” I said, giving him a peck on the cheek before gently untangling myself. I still had to think about what he had said about Leo, but there were other things that took priority at the moment.

Besides, I needed to talk to Leo before I made any judgments or decisions. If what Grey was saying was true, then maybe Leo’s overreaction was due to his inexperience with complicated emotions like these. I wasn’t sure, but I had to talk to him about it before I started condemning his actions.