Salvaged Soul (The Ignited Series Book 3) (19 page)

“How is she?” I asked. I had left the Infirmary a little over an hour ago, but in her condition, a lot could change in an hour.

Micah waved at the entrance to my room, which was still blocked by Nathan. “May I?”

Even with his back to me, I could practically see that muscle in Nathan’s jaw ticking. Though stiff with reluctance, he stepped aside to let Micah in the room. Once past Nathan, Micah turned his back to him to focus solely on me.

I knew that look on his face, and what it meant. As always, he was curious about Nathan, and about the state of our relationship. I enjoyed watching his curiosity shift to frustration when I put the wall up, blocking him from picking my head for the truth. Not that there was that much to keep from him, but I enjoyed watching his discomfort at not knowing. If he really got on my nerves, I’d give him flashes of some of mine and Nathan’s more graphic make out sessions just for fun.

Once Micah realized he couldn’t pick anything out of my head, he moved on to the reason for his visit. “When I was leaving, she wanted me to ask you to stay with her for a little bit.”

I could do better than that. I looked past Micah, to Nathan, who still stood by the door with his hand on the knob like he was waiting for the first opportunity to shove Micah out of the room.

“I’m going to spend the night there with her,” I told him. “I had been doing that a lot while you were gone.”

He had already planned to check on Alec later, so we weren’t going to be together anyway. From his carefree shrug, I knew Nathan didn’t mind.

From the barely audible grunt Micah emitted, I suspected he had read more into my statement than I had intended—like I had otherwise been planning to spend my night with Nathan. Which I did on occasion, but Micah’s imagination likely made them far more risqué than they were in reality.

I chose not to correct him, and quietly started to gather what I would need for the night. During the few minutes it took me to toss a change of clothes and my hairbrush into a small bag, no one spoke. An uncomfortable silence settled around us—so uncomfortable I spoke to Micah just to break it.

“So how did she look?” I asked him.

“The same.” He shrugged. “It’s weird though. The doctor seems to think that there is something unnatural keeping her alive at this point.”

I froze with my toothbrush in my hand. “What?”

Micah glanced back and forth between Nathan and me, before settling on me. He sounded unsure, like he didn’t know the right words to use. “He said that as sick as she is, he hadn’t expected her to live this long, and that
something
he can’t explain seems to be keeping her alive.”

“Same curse that’s making her sick in the first place?” Nathan suggested thoughtfully. “Maybe it’s not ready to be fulfilled yet?”

“Or one of the spells actually did something?” I ventured, though I was doubtful. Nathan’s suggestion sounded more plausible. I remembered what Lillian had said about the events being put into motion . . .

The ball wasn’t ready to be dropped yet. Hopefully, we found a solution before the time came.

I tossed my toothbrush into the bag and zipped it shut. Looking to both guys and gesturing toward the door, I said, “I’m going, so . . .”

Get the hell out of my room now
, while direct and to the point, probably wouldn’t go over well with either of them. Luckily, they both got the hint.

We walked in uncomfortable silence from my room on the top floor to the main doors on the ground floor. It worsened once we were outside, and Micah hinted at returning to the Infirmary with me.

I glanced at Nathan just in time to catch him roll his head from side to side. I have seen him do that dozens of times—always before squaring up to a fight, both in real situations and in training.

When his eyes shifted to mine, I saw the spark of his temper ignite. I shook my head before it erupted into a full-blown frenzy. “It’s okay,” I whispered to him.

He didn’t look pleased, but didn’t argue. I gave him a reassuring smile and turned in the direction of the Infirmary. I didn’t get far before Nathan’s hand snagged mine. In one swift motion, he spun me around and pulled me flush against him.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he murmured before pressing his lips to mine.

It wasn’t unusual for him to kiss me goodbye when we parted ways, but usually those were chaste goodbye kisses. This kiss was anything but chaste. Oh, no. This kiss sent a message.

His mouth moved possessively against mine, and lasted a few seconds longer than what I considered publicly acceptable. Even after he softened and eased his lips from mine, he lingered agonizingly close, grazing my cheek with the back of his hand. Though I knew the ulterior motive behind his actions, I enjoyed every second of his touch.

I let the show go on only because I agreed that Micah needed a reminder every now and again. And only because I actually enjoyed his caveman-like declaration of ‘mine’, I gave Nathan a smile instead of the thump to the back of his head that he deserved when he finally let me go.

“Think he got the message?” I whispered conspiratorially.

Nathan grinned. “That should do it.”

Nathan finally let me turn to leave, and then I had to hold back a laugh at the look on Micah’s face. The daggers shooting from his eyes gave new meaning to the phrase,
if looks could kill.

As I walked away with him, I shot a quick glance over my shoulder at Nathan. From the smug smile on his face, he knew it as well as I did—Micah got the message loud and clear.

Chapter 19

{Nathan}

Alec had a room on the top floor. I guessed the Kala thought they were safer keeping their
threats
up high. But then, I doubted the upper-level Kala knew that half the island had mastered the skill of scaling the buildings using the balconies, and just about everyone snuck out on a regular basis.

As fun as it was to scale the side of the building, I had no reason to sneak into Alec’s room, so I used the stairs like a normal person. Bruce stood outside Alec’s door, and nodded as I approached.

“Is he out?” I asked.

“Nope.”

“No? How long could it take?” I shot Bruce a puzzled look as I knocked on the door. It swung open before I finished the third knock.

“Nathan!” Alec gushed. Or rather, slurred. “’Sup, man!”

I took a step back, putting distance between myself and the overwhelming aroma wafting from Alec’s pores. “Did you confuse the potion with a bottle of vodka?”

“Try Tequila,” Alec snorted. “Come in! Come in! I almost got that pesky little worm. He’s hiding at the bottom of the bottle. If you want, you can have him.”

Against my better judgment, I walked into his room and—Sweet Jesus, it smelled like an old bar that had a long night’s worth of stale beer spilled all over the floor by sloppy drunks. I shot a wide-eyed look at Bruce as I closed the door behind me. His lazy shrug hinted that this wasn’t the first time Alec was drunk off his ass, nor did he expect it to be the last.

The potion sat on his desk, untouched.

“I thought you’d be eager to get this over with,” I said to Alec.

He stumbled to the bed, where he sat heavily. “Just having a little fun first. Before I either turn into the spawn of Satan or a goody-two-shoes who doesn’t know how to have fun.” He paused long enough to take a drink, then pointed a finger at me. “Kinda like you.”

I let the insult slide, considering how wasted he was. “Having fun by yourself?”

“Hey!” He pointed at me again, this time with one eye closed—probably to merge the two blurry images of me he had to have been seeing. “I happen to be the funnest person I know. Besides, you’re here now. You might not be as fun as me, but you’ll have to do.”

“I’m not staying,” I returned. “I only came to check on you. It’s a good thing I did.”

Alec grunted.

It seemed Kris had been right about Alec earlier. He had the same concerns she had—except he also feared becoming ‘too good.’ I considered the possibility that Alec was beyond help, but shook that thought out of my head as soon as it started. If Lillian had come back from the land of the evil, surely Alec could avoid falling headfirst into it.

But it looked like he would need some help. At least help taking the first step.

I opened the door a crack and motioned to Bruce. “Do me a favor and go get a few cups of coffee from the mess hall. I’ll stay here with him.”

Bruce hooked a skeptical eyebrow.

“I’m good,” I reassured him. “I can handle Alec.”

God knew I had experience with it.

Shutting the door, I turned to find Alec with the bottle tipped back in his mouth as he drained every lost drop of tequila, including that damn worm, and I knew I was in for a long night.

One coffee later . . .

“You know . . . you’re not as bad as I thought you were.”

I glanced up from the music magazine I had been flipping through in an attempt to pass time. Alec was still looking at me with one eye, but the slurring had improved. I gave him a dismissive nod before returning my attention to the magazine.

“A-hem.” Alec’s grunt forced my eyes up again. He stared at me, apparently waiting for something.

“You’re not all that bad either, Alec,” I said. “At least, when you’re sober.”

He didn’t say anything, and I returned to the magazine. I felt his eyes on me for several moments before he finally said, “I’m not sure I believe you.” I stifled a smile at the wounded-pride sound of his voice. “You know, I’m usually a fun drunk. You’re taking all the fun out of it.”

I pointed at the Styrofoam cup, reminding him that it was in his hands before he spilled it all over himself. Again. “Drink up.”

He lifted it to his lips shakily. “You suck,” he muttered before taking a sip.

And another coffee . . .

“I let you have her, you know.”

I groaned inwardly. The coffee was not working fast enough—or he had just been
that
drunk.

“If I had tried harder,” Alec continued, “eventually she would have been mine.”

“Maybe.” I shrugged and returned Alec’s hard gaze with an indifferent one of my own.

He had entered the mean phase of drunkenness about ten minutes ago. So far, everything from my personality to my haircut had taken a hit. And now, apparently we were back to fighting over Kris.

Well, he was. My goal was to get through the rest of the night with both of us in one piece. I needed him to sober up enough to drink the potion before I could leave. I didn’t know what would happen if he mixed it with alcohol. It might not work right, or for all I knew, it might kill him. As tempted as I may have been to chance it, especially when he was being a jerk, deep down I knew I couldn’t let that happen.

So I got cozy on the floor with my head propped against the wall, settled in as babysitter, and vowed to stay there for as long as it took.

Third, and final, coffee . . .

The mean phase had long passed. Compared to the overly emotional, sentimental phase Alec was in now, the mean phase had been a piece of cake. We were one man-bear-hug away from the worlds’ most awkward bromance, and that was far worse than any of the verbal insults he had hurled at me earlier.

“She always loved you, of course. But just so you know,” he said, pointing at me for what might have been the hundredth time. Drunk-Alec pointed,
a lot
. “There’s a part of her that loves me, too. Maybe not the same as she loves you, but she does, even if she doesn’t know it.”

“I know,” I returned quickly, and smirked at the look of surprise on Alec’s face. I’ve known it all along. It no longer bothered me like he expected it to bother me.

He thought about my response a moment. A long silence stretched between us before he finally broke it. “Too bad that little piece of her that loves me will be gone in a few days.”

I stared at the top of his head as it hung, bobbing side to side. I had never seen Alec like this before, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t know what to do with it, and I didn’t have any clue what to say to him.

After all, I was partially responsible. I was the reason he didn’t get the girl that he claimed, when sober, to be over—the girl that I now knew he wasn’t over. Even if he might not act on his feelings, and she may never know about them, they were obviously still there.

Not knowing what else to do, I let the silence stretch. And stretch. Just before it got really uncomfortable, I jumped to my feet. “I think you’re sober enough.”

“Yeah,” Alec agreed quickly. He stood and swiped the vial from the nightstand.

I glanced at my watch. 3:32. With some luck, I could be back in my room in five minutes. I looked up in time to catch Alec downing the fluid in one gulp.

“Uh, you need to lay down.
Now
,” I said, moving quickly to his side.

“Why? Oh . . .” I watched as the drowsiness hit him.

I followed as Alec stumbled the few steps to his bed. Fortunately, he made it before his body gave out, and he sprawled out sideways across the mattress, his feet planted on the floor. Hooking my arms under his shoulders, I shifted him into a semi-reclined position, propped up against a few pillows stacked against the headboard. I took his shoes off, but didn’t touch his clothes. It was his own damn fault for not doing this on his own like he was supposed to.

I backed away, leaving Alec to the potion, and his fate.

A lot would change in a few days. While severing Alec from the forces of evil residing in him was necessary, I wondered how Alec might change as a result. Would he become a different person, as he and Kris feared?

Would Kris be the same?

Suddenly, I realized what I should have said to him before he slipped into unconsciousness. I knew that no matter how this potion changed either of them, some things would never change.

“That part of her that loves you will never go away,” I said softly to an unhearing Alec.

Perhaps that was for the best. I didn’t think I could handle him knowing the truth, and reminding me of it on a daily basis.

Alec was still breathing when I checked on him the next morning. I learned that the potion didn’t completely knock him out. According to Bruce, Alec had several moments of zombie-like wakeful episodes throughout the night—enough to get himself to the bathroom and back—though Bruce didn’t think Alec had been aware of his actions.

I checked on him a few times that first day, and got the same report from Bruce each time. Restless sleep. No awareness. Breathing. Alive.

I attempted to check on Lillian after breakfast, but got stopped at the door. Kala management had her under quarantine, where she would remain until they were confident she no longer posed a threat.

When I voiced my strongly worded opinion to Jared, he assured me that he would use his supervisor privileges to keep tabs on her, and to question her about Callie the first chance he got. When I saw him again at the end of the day, he told me that Lillian still hadn’t remembered much about her life as a Skotadi, and remembered nothing about Callie.

The next day, I made it to lunchtime before I barged into Jared’s office. It was one thing that Lillian didn’t remember anything about Callie. I couldn’t force her to remember, but I could express my disapproval of her being boarded up in her room like a convict.

“They’re trying to get everything out of her that they can,” he explained to me.

“You mean they’re interrogating her?”

He shrugged. “I’m not involved, so I really don’t know, but probably. They’re getting concerned about the number of Skotadi that have been spotted on the mainland. They want to know what she knows about it.”

“She doesn’t know anything!”
What part of life changing, post-traumatic amnesia did they not understand?

Jared held his hands up defensively. “Hey, buddy, I’m with you. Trust me. I don’t like it either, but we have to let them do what they have to do so she can get past this.”

Defeated, I sat heavily in the chair across from him. My hands were tied. Lillian was in the supervisors’ hands, and whether I thought what they were doing was fair or not didn’t matter.

“So what about these Skotadi? Any ideas what they’re doing?”

Jared leveled his gaze on me. “They think it might have something to do with Kris.”

I pressed my palms to my eyes and rubbed until I saw spots. “Of course they do,” I grumbled. As if I didn’t have enough shit to worry about.

“Supervisor Jeffries asked me to assemble a team to investigate,” Jared continued.

I lifted my hands to look at my friend. “You want me in on it, don’t you?”

“Actually, I want you to lead it. Pick the team you want, come up with a plan, and execute. I’ll help with the details, but I need you to lead.”

“Jared, I told you I don’t want to be involved with management—”

“I’m swamped right now,” he interrupted. “I’ve got this second trip to Greece to organize, and just this morning, Jeffries gave me two more missions to plan. He wants all three teams to head out within the week. I need someone I can trust with this one. I could have anybody do it, but I want you because I know you can be counted on to do it right.”

“I’ve got too much going on right now, Jared. There has to be someone else you can trust.”

There were only hundreds of us on the island. Surely
one
of them was capable enough to lead a team in investigating the flood of Skotadi on the mainland.

Jared leaned forward in his chair, pinning me with his eyes. “I thought you would want this job, considering it could very well end up being centered on your girlfriend.”

With those words, it clicked, and I understood Jared’s intentions. He wanted me to control the mission for one simple reason: to protect Kris. If Kala management discovered that the Skotadi were amassing because of her, they wouldn’t hesitate to toss her over to the Skotadi to spare themselves. Giving me direct access to any intelligence gathered could give us the heads up Kris would need to escape the betrayal she would inevitably be subjected to if it were discovered that the Skotadi were here because of her.

Or . . . if I could find a way to take care of the matter without them knowing of Kris’s involvement, I could keep them from turning their backs on her. Especially now, when she was so close to severing her tie to the Skotadi.