"Whatever happened, I'm safe for now. What I'm curious about is this defense contractor. What's the name of the company? And the guy in charge that y'all were talking to?"
Marcus shook his head. "Eat your toast and drink your coffee. Once that ibuprofen kicks in and you feel better, we'll talk more."
I made a face at him, but picked up a piece of toast and took a bite. My stomach tried to slide sideways as I chewed but settled as I swallowed. I ate the rest of the toast slowly and washed it down with more coffee.
By the time I finished the toast and the coffee, the meds were working and my headache had faded into a dull throb rather than a piercing stab.
"Okay, all done," I said. "Tell me more about this company and the guy."
"Let me get Callum. He was the one in their computer system and he knows more than I do."
He got up and stuck his head out the door. "Callum!"
When he turned around, I was standing next to the bed. "I want another cup of coffee. I'll come into the kitchen and make another cup while he talks."
Marcus opened his mouth like he wanted to argue, but he shut it quickly after getting a good look at my expression.
"Fine, but if you start to hurt again, you need to come back in here and lay down."
"I'm smart enough not to argue with that."
He sighed and opened the bedroom door for me.
Callum emerged from his room at the end of the hall. "I'm glad you finally woke up. Marcus was worried."
Judging by the expression on his face, he had been worried, too.
"I can't believe I missed the entire thing," I said.
"I'm glad. It was underwhelming and not worth any anxiety it would cause you."
I rolled my eyes. Only Callum would consider being kidnapped underwhelming.
The guys followed me to the kitchen where I found Arien and Harrison sitting at the table, staring at each other. I didn't want to interrupt out of worry that their eyes would cut me to the bone if they looked at me.
"Will you two cut it out?" Callum said. "It's creepy when you sit there and stare at each other in complete silence."
Arien blinked and looked over at us. Then, she smiled at me. "Merry, I'm so happy that you're okay. I wanted to help heal you, but Marcus said you weren't injured, just drugged. Are you still suffering from ill effects?"
I held up a hand and made a seesaw motion with my outstretched fingers. "Sort of. The coffee, toast, and ibuprofen helped."
She nodded and got to her feet. "Please call me if you need anything. I'm going to go help Ava with the wards now that you're awake."
"Thank you, Arien," I said, walking over to her and giving her a hug.
She stiffened for a second before she relaxed and put her arms around me. "You're welcome, Merry."
Arien released me with a smile and left the house.
Harrison had watched this exchange in silence. As soon as Arien was gone, he said, "I'm also happy that you're well, Merry. I'm sorry we weren't able to prevent this."
"It's not your fault. You couldn't have known that this would happen."
"Maybe not, but we should have been prepared."
"You sound like Marcus," I commented.
Harrison shrugged. "There are worse things."
