Jonas could hear the strain in his voice. There were beads of sweat rolling down Kyle’s face. He felt, rather than saw, Camellia turn her head, then shift her body so she could keep her eyes on Kyle as well. He felt her uneasiness.
They’re definitely scouts headed toward the compound, looking to acquire as much information as possible to send back to the troops following them. The troops appear to be four days behind. Possibly five.
Jonas’s belly knotted. His eyes met Jeff’s. This wasn’t good. Troops? What did that mean? They needed to know who’d sent them. They were going to have to stop these men and question at least one of them. Where exactly were the troops? Why hadn’t they been spotted by either Team One or Two? Four or five days out might be so many miles away even he couldn’t feel them coming.
The leader is a short man with dark hair. He’s wearing hiking clothing. Good boots. Dark plaid shirt and good jacket. They’re traveling light, but they have appropriate gear for any weather. They know they could encounter anything this time of year and at this altitude. That’s evident.
Kyle’s voice was becoming more strained. His skin had a bluish tinge to it, as if he wasn’t quite getting enough oxygen.
Red, if Kyle is touched or given nutrients would that harm him or disturb him?
Camellia posed the question, and Jonas knew that neither Jeff nor Kyle could hear her. Was she talking to the Middlemist Red? The plant? The one that had dipped its branches low and swept the blossoms along her face whenever he thought he wanted to touch her? Did she talk to the plant? She’d been alone for a very long time. She admitted she talked to them. But did she expect answers?
A low humming like a series of beautiful clear notes seemed to vibrate along his nerves, and then there was a spectacular burst of heat and light spreading through their bodies.
Some mushrooms have healing properties, Jonas. I can help Kyle.
There was the merest of hesitations, and Jonas knew instantly Camellia had nearly said something else, something of more importance. She had stopped herself, thinking she covered her tell by shifting her body. She rose to her knees to gain Kyle’s attention.
Kyle, I’m coming over to you. I can help you feel better. Just keep your focus on Gray’s vision and let me focus on helping you.
Jonas watched her closely. If she could use mushrooms or the mycelium root system for healing, then he needed to learn how. If there was another way she was helping, a way she wasn’t willing to share with him, there had to be a reason for her reticence. He kept his mind open to hers and stayed as entrenched in the underground network as possible. This time, he stopped watching Kyle and kept his gaze fixed wholly on Camellia, needing to see and feel every single thing she did.
She approached Kyle carefully, almost the way she would a wild animal. He didn’t look up but kept his hands over his face. Light was already streaking the sky, and Jonas suspected that even that small amount of light hurt Kyle’s eyes. What he was doing was uncharted as far as Jonas knew. How Kyle had even discovered he was able to do such a thing was beyond Jonas.
Jonas found himself fascinated with Camellia. She didn’t trust him—or Kyle or Jeff. Clearly, she had secrets she feared sharing with him. Most likely, those secrets had to do with enhancements Whitney had given to both of them. He had the feeling the Middlemist Red Camellia had also been used as an enhancement in both of them. That would account for the strange way the plant had acted with such awareness.
Camellia definitely considered it prudent to reveal as little aspossible about her enhancements, yet she had such compassion in her for Kyle that she took the chance of revealing more to Jonas in order to help a fellow soldier. That only drew Jonas to her more.
He might have every dominant trait instilled and enhanced in him, but he also had quite a few others, and he looked for those in his friends and family. There were certain characteristics he knew he would need in a partner if he ever found one. He was too alpha, too aggressive. He would need a woman who would not only be able to put up with that side of him but also soften his harsher edges. He was highly intelligent and needed someone equally so. He needed a partner who would join him in guiding their children, nurturing them, teaching them.
Despite a lifetime filled with one-night stands, once Jonas settled in a relationship, he would demand absolute monogamy and give the same in return. Loyalty was too huge for him to settle for anything less. That also meant that once he chose a mate, he would mate for life.
Camellia possessed every trait he was looking for in a mate.
She had been willing to sacrifice herself for the other women she’d grown up with. They’d formed a family, and she’d been extremely loyal to those within that pack, so much so that she was willing to die for them. That meant she was capable of forming strong emotional attachments. Jonas knew she wouldn’t love shallowly, or on the surface. Once she gave her heart to someone, she would completely surrender. And by that surrender, she’d make herself utterly vulnerable to the ones she loved. That was part of the reason she fought so hard to protect herself from emotional attachments. They opened her back up to the possibility of betrayal.
The leader and another one, presumably his second-in-command, have walked a distance away from the others and have come close to the broken tree stump where Gray is perched. The mist is much denser here. I doubt they can see him. He hasn’t moved a feather.
The pain in Kyle’s voice was so clear that Jeff signed to Jonas that it was time to bring him back. Jonas signed to wait another couple of minutes, to allow Camellia to see if she could aid Kyle. Jeff immediately turned his attention to Camellia as well.
She had slipped behind Kyle, her hands going to his neck first and then sliding up to his temples. The pads of her fingers pressed on either side of his scalp. She didn’t massage his temples so much as she simply pressed deep.
They are talking about Daniel and whether or not they should make a try for him or wait for the troops. They think it would be safer to extract him and his mother before the war starts. Since the plan is to wipe out everyone but Daniel and Lily, these assholes think it’s best to snatch Lily and Daniel before everyone else gets here.
Jonas and Jeff once again exchanged a long, shocked look. They couldn’t pull Kyle back yet. They would have to get as much information as possible. Who would send an army to kill both Team One and Two, including women and possibly any children in Team Two? It wouldn’t be Whitney. He would never risk the babies he wanted so badly for his experiments. That really didn’t make sense. Jonas hoped Camellia could aid Kyle before he burned himself out.
Switching his gaze back to her, Jonas assessed everything his body felt. There was definite heat along his nerve endings. When he concentrated on the flow of it, he could actually trace the warmth spreading out from a central location as if it were a network all its own. Even the pads of his fingers grew hotter—not uncomfortable, just capturing his attention, as if he should be doing something with them.
He felt he could extend that network inside him and make connections around him if he tried, but he wasn’t certain how. There were so many outlets, so many wires sizzling with energy and life inside of him. He just had to know how to make that last connection to Kyle or Jeff or loop back to Camellia.
They decided to make a try for Daniel and Lily. They plan to gather information on the other compound and send back any weaknesses in their defenses.
In spite of the fact that Kyle had been using the owl’s vision for a longer period of time, it seemed as if the pain was lessening.
Jonas kept his gaze fixed on Camellia’s face. Her expression was soft. She looked perfectly serene crouched behind Kyle, her hands gentle on his skull, fingers pressed into his temples to ease the pain he was evidently experiencing. Outwardly, it was impossible to tell that she was doing anything out of the ordinary, but inside his body where their nerve endings seemed to be connected, he felt everything.
He suddenly realized he was looking in the wrong place. The answer to the mystery of what she was doing was inside her mind. That lovely, sharp-witted, carefully guarded mind that was currently completely open to him.
