CHAPTER TWENTY
Cassandra sat in the soft green recliner between Damion’s and Sterling’s beds, knees under her chin. Finally, Damion was resting. The poor man had been through hell, absolute hell. Throwing up, shivering, and shaking. The same things she’d seen Michael go through, yet Sterling, who had been injured more seriously, had experienced nothing but peaceful sleep.
“Knock, knock.”
Cassandra looked up to find Kelly standing in the doorway. “Hey,” she said, smiling, glad to finally get some time with her. Kelly had been so busy earlier. She’d whizzed in, drawn blood, checked vitals, and taken off again.
“What happened to my order for you to rest?” Kelly asked.
“I’ll rest when you rest,” Cassandra vowed.
“Still as difficult as ever, I see,” Kelly teased, claiming the rolling doctor’s chair. “And no, before you ask, I don’t have your blood work back.”
Cassandra smiled. “I was going to ask.”
“I know,” Kelly assured her. “I still can’t believe you were wearing Michael’s mark for all that time at Groom Lake and didn’t tell me. I would have kept it a secret.”
“I didn’t want to put you in that position,” Cassandra said. “And I always thought we’d come forward. Things just…happened.”
“Things,” she snorted. “That’s a good way of putting it.”
Guilt fluttered inside her. “I’m sorry I dropped off the face of the earth.”
“If you mean Germany and the silent treatment,” Kelly said. “I’m not. You should have stayed there. You were safe.”
“Safe is an illusion as long as Adam is free.” Then she changed the subject, asking what she hadn’t been able to when Kelly had been busy. “The final lifebonding process where I convert to GTECH. It hasn’t changed—right? The eye color change. The sickness. My symptoms all seem like I’m converting, but we haven’t done a blood exchange.”
“And these things are triggered by sex, right?” she responded. Cassandra nodded, and Kelly continued, “Could be that his body evolved, and perhaps now the process doesn’t require the blood exchange. Maybe a few sexual encounters will do the job.”
That wasn’t the answer Cassandra wanted. So, no sex or lifelong bonding—there had to be an in-between. Maybe a condom but…“It’s not sex. It’s orgasm,” she said, remembering the restroom encounter in the hotel.
Kelly tucked her hands in her lab coat. “I won’t ask details,” she said. “But I trust you on that one.” She sat there, thought a moment. “It could simply be that you’re ovulating. If you are, it’s quite possible this is simply your body responding to your mate—a natural need to reproduce.”
Cassandra studied her. “I know you, Kelly,” she said. “Stop with the good bedside manner routine. You don’t believe that ovulation thing for a minute. I wind-walked and survived.”
“With Michael,” she said. “There is a physical bond there that, in theory, might have offered some protection.”
“Kelly,” Cassandra warned. “Shoot straight with me. Tell me what I need to know, not what you think will make me feel better.”
Kelly pursed her lips. “You’ve had the mark for two years—which I still can’t believe you kept from me, but nevertheless—Mother Nature has a way of finishing what it begins. And as I said, Michael may well have evolved beyond needing the blood exchange. There’s no denying he has skills with the wind that the other GTECHs do not. Of course, I have no idea why. He refuses to give blood. I think he’s afraid we’ll find out he’s like Adam or something crazy like that. Like we even know what Adam is to compare anyway.”
“Because he’s X2 like Adam,” she said. It wasn’t a question.
“Yes,” Kelly agreed. “But if he didn’t turn aggressive and join the Zodius movement while he was undercover, then after all this time he’s not going to. And if he’d let me take his blood—maybe we’d find out he isn’t X2. Maybe the test was an error. Or maybe he has something that offsets the X2 violence. I can help him get answers if he lets me. He won’t.”
Michael didn’t do anything he didn’t want to do—except bond with her. Panic began to form in Cassandra. She did not want lifebonding forced on her. Or on Michael for that matter. It should be like a marriage—a choice. “If seeing each other again has somehow bypassed the blood bond, can it be stopped if we stay away from each other?”
“Why would you want to do that?” Kelly interrupted. “You love each other. Cassandra. I really don’t believe the X2 gene is a danger to you. If Michael—”
“It’s not that,” she said quickly. “It’s complicated. Too complicated to get into right now.”
Kelly considered a moment. “If you like, tomorrow we can sit and talk. I’m here if you need me.”
Her heart warmed. “I’m really glad I found you again, Kelly.”
Sterling moaned and rolled over, bringing another question to mind.
“Why does Damion have the healing sickness and Sterling doesn’t?”
“I wish I knew,” Kelly said fretfully. “The more developed the GTECH’s evolvement, the more enhanced the healing sickness. And the worse their vitamin C deficiencies as well. A good portion of the men now have to inject themselves daily with high doses of C.”
A sudden tingling sensation trickled down Cassandra’s spine.
“Michael,” Cassandra said a moment before he appeared in the doorway, filling it with his broad shoulders and dominant presence. Dominant. Everything about the man darn sure dominated her senses. His hair was tied back, his face brushed with a light shadow of masculine stubble. His dark eyes seemed to spiral endlessly through her soul. The man stole her breath. She should be mad at him for being such a jerk earlier. Instead, she was simply relieved he was safe. Near. There were things to say, things to understand between them. Now they had the chance. Now they were together.
“Did you get the bullets?” Cassandra asked.
“Not only did we get them,” he said, “we put them to good use on the Zodius soldiers who’d camped out near our entrance. They’re gone. We sent them home to Adam with their tails tucked between their legs.”
“If I never see another one of those bullets in one of our men, it will be too soon,” Kelly said, rolling her chair so that she brought them both into view. “I was just going to find Cassandra a place to get some rest. We took some blood and hope to have some answers tomorrow.” She hesitated and then, “It would help to have a sample from you too, Michael.”
Seconds ticked by, his jaw set in a hard line, his expression indecipherable, before he said, “Where do you want me?”
You could almost hear Kelly’s jaw hit the ground before she jumped up to offer her chair to him, and in the process, cast Cassandra a discreet wink. “Let me get supplies,” Kelly said. “I’ll be right back.”
Kelly thought Michael’s agreement to give blood meant something—though Cassandra didn’t know what. But her stomach was fluttering wildly as Michael walked into the room, nearing her with that overwhelming presence of his and claiming the chair, his eyes locking with hers. “How are they?” he asked.
“Damion has been horribly sick, but it seems to have passed.”
“How are you?” he asked gently.
Better now that he was back, she realized. “I’m okay.” She tilted her head, studied him. Those dark eyes flickered with some unidentifiable something that made her return the question. “Are you?”
A long pause, and then in a barely audible voice he said, “I don’t know, Cassandra.”
Shock charged a path through her body. He’d never said anything like that to her before. Never. She doubted the man had ever said anything like that to anyone. He needed her. She sensed that, and suddenly all her doubts and worries paled in comparison.
Kelly returned, armed, and ready for action. “Okay. Let’s get this done so you two can get some rest.”
Michael’s eyes clung to Cassandra’s for another moment before he turned and offered his arm. Kelly drew the blood—two more tubes than she had drawn from Cassandra—and then packed it all in a pocket. “All set. I told Cassandra I’d have preliminary results in the morning, but really I’d like to keep her for a few more days.”
Michael glanced in Cassandra’s direction as if he expected her to argue, but she didn’t. She was too tired to object. “I’ll have to figure out how to contact my father and make up an excuse for being gone that he will buy.”
Michael arched a brow at her in surprise.
“You gave up your blood,” she said softly. “I’ll give up my time.”
Understanding flashed in his face before he cast an accusing look at Kelly, his tone gently chastising. “I see you’ve discussed my distaste for your needles.”
“It might have come up,” she said slyly.
His expression turned darker. “What’s happening to her, Doc?”
Kelly’s gaze shifted between the two of them. “What’s supposed to happen. I think you both know that.” She let her answer linger and then added in her more official tone, “As for the biology of it all…well, we’ll see what the tests say. As long as you are together though, I suspect your bodies will continue to try to complete what has started.”
“Which means being apart is the only way to stop it,” he said.
It wasn’t a question, but rather a statement, and Cassandra had the instant sense that it was something he’d been thinking on his own. Unbidden, those words ripped through Cassandra and twisted her in knots. There had been no good-bye last time. He’d just disappeared. She couldn’t live through that again.
“If it can be stopped,” Kelly replied, tugging Cassandra out of the wildfire of erratic thoughts. “I have my doubts. But I could be wrong. As I told Cassandra, this could be something as simple as hormonal fluctuations that fade when you two are apart. There certainly are scientific reasons not only to want to understand what’s happening, but to need to do so. Others will experience this same thing. I have no doubt. We need to know if bonding can take place without a blood transfer. We need to know what bonding ultimately means for the couple. We’ll try and find out everything we can as fast as we can.” She shoved her hands in her lab coat. “I’ll go get the testing started and then catch a few winks myself.” Her attention shifted to Cassandra. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. We can grab coffee between me poking and prodding you.”
Cassandra smiled. “Sounds good. Well…the coffee part.”
A moment later, Kelly departed, and Cassandra was alone with Michael, her heart pitter-pattering against her ribs in a wild, bluesy kind of beat that said heartache was coming.
Michael rolled the chair around to face her. “Ready to get out of here?”
She swallowed hard and nodded. “Yes. I’m ready.” He held his hand out to her, and she tentatively settled her hand against his. Warmth spread up her arm, across her chest. He opened his mouth to speak and shut it. She chose not to press. Not here. Not now. She wanted to be alone with him. To be with him. God, she wanted to be in his arms more than she wanted her next breath.
Hand in hand, they walked through the sparsely populated hospital and exited a door to a narrow electronic conveyor that traveled through a high cavern. Flickering florescent lights clung to ceilings and walls and seemed to travel onward forever.
Michael pulled her close, his big body surrounding hers, his hands tangling in her hair before lowering his forehead to hers. “My mother,” he whispered. “I confirmed she’s a part of all this.”
She pulled back, brushed wayward strands of his hair from his face. “Oh God. Michael. I was hoping it wasn’t true. I’m sorry. Did you see her? Talk to her?”
He inhaled a labored breath, and she settled her hand over his heart, feeling the pounding vibrating through her palm, urging him to calm down with her touch. Finally, air trickled from his lips. “I saw her. She lied and said she sold them to the military.” His hand went to hers on his chest. “I expected you to do what I couldn’t. Give up on your father. I knew what my mother was, but I still went there tonight wanting her to prove me wrong.”
She wanted to cry. The pain in Michael seeped through her skin right to her heart. “Michael—”
His hand tightened over hers. “Hear me out, baby. Please.”
She nodded, instant understanding coming to her. Listening was the most important thing she could do for him. “Of course.”
“I need to tell you I’m sorry. I’m so damn sorry.”
Her free hand went to his jaw. “I’m sorry for both of us.” Their eyes held and locked. For long seconds, they were transfixed, entwined together in past and present, in the anticipation of what lay ahead.
The spell was broken by a buzzer sounding the warning for the end of the pathway. They turned and walked off the conveyor and into the most amazing place Cassandra had ever seen in her life. It was a city underground. Quaint little stone buildings with a red brick path. Stores and restaurants, little outdoor tables and chairs.
“Oh my God,” Cassandra said. “How is this even possible?”
“Money and a lot of care,” he said. “And Caleb wanted this place to feel like home to those who live here. A safe place that wasn’t like a prison.”
“Is this what Zodius is like?”
“Our city is much smaller,” he said. “Zodius City exceeds our population by thousands.”
“How did the Renegades afford all of this?”
“Private money from people like myself and Damion, who had it to give. Caleb struck a funding deal with the government as well when we agreed to support them. We’ve invested with what we have.”
“Amazing,” she whispered. “Just amazing.”
They walked to the left and took another conveyor that led to a tunneled walkway branching left and right. They turned right to a row of doors and stopped at the very end. “This is me,” Michael said, punching in a code and opening the door. He then stepped back and leaned his arm over the door seal. “What’s mine is yours. I think you know that. I’ll come early in the morning, and we’ll get you a phone line to your father, code it to make it look like it’s coming from your cell phone. I’ll bring you some clothes, too.”
She tilted her chin up, stood close, almost touching. “You don’t seriously think you’re leaving me tonight?” she asked. “Do you?”
“I won’t be able to keep my hands to myself if I come in that door,” he said hoarsely. “I can barely keep from doing so now.”
“Then don’t.”
“You heard what the doctor said,” he argued. “If we—”
She wrapped her arms around him and stared up at him. “You aren’t leaving me tonight.”