“Ya vstayu. Gde mi?” hereplied.
“I have no idea what you just said, but at least you’re talking,” Sean said with arelievedsigh.
Alexei frowned, working his way through the fog in his brain. Everything was jumbled in his mind, the throbbing ache still present in his head and in his side. It took effort for him to string togetherEnglish.
“Am awake,” hemuttered.
“I can see that. But we need you to get up. The plane isready.”
Alexei pushed himself to a sitting position with Sean’s help, swaying there for a moment as he got used to being mostly vertical. His skin felt overly sensitive and numb at the same time, but the burning pressure he’d become used to over the past few years was missing. Alexei stared down at where his hand lay curled on his lap, palm up, and tried to reach for his pyrokinesis. The stabbing pain in the center of his skull made him stop, sucking in air through his clenchedteeth.
“Don’t try to use your power. Trevor thinks it’ll take at least twelve more hours for you to shake off the symptoms, and even then, using your power is going to hurt,” Seanwarned.
“Hadworse.”
Sean eyed him with fond exasperation. “Is being stubborn over wounds a prerequisite for joining Strike Force, or what? Because you’re beingridiculousand—”
Alexei shut him up with a kiss, able to focus a little better now than in the hotel room during their escape. Sean mumbled a few more words against his mouth before giving up and kissing him back with a desperation Alexei could almosttaste.
“Am okay,” he said when they finally parted. “Trainedforthis.”
Sean rolled his eyes. “That doesn’t make your stubbornness anybetter.”
“Youlike.”
“I think the drugs must finally be kicking in for you. Come on, we needtogo.”
Alexei allowed Sean to help him out of the SUV, not bothering to hide how unsteady he was on his feet. He was surrounded by his team, not the enemy, and didn’t have to put up a front. Trevor waited outside the SUV by the door, gently grabbing hold of his right arm to helphimout.
“Looking a little green there,” Trevor said, notunkindly.
“Tell Annabelle no barrel rolls,” Alexeireplied.
“It’s not that kindofjet.”
Alexei squinted through the too-bright sunlight at the civilian plane they were taking north, the feel of it scorching on his bare skin. He knew if they didn’t get into shade soon Trevor would have to treat him for a sunburn as well. Shaking off their hands, Alexei walked a little unsteadily to the small private plane Katie had commandeered for them. He needed to grip the handrails on the steps and take them one at a time to make it inside, but he got there on his owntwofeet.
Madison helped guide him to the closest seat, and Alexei gingerly sprawled out the moment he sat down. The plane was smaller than the one they’d borrowed coming west, with no chance of fully stretching out in the four leather seats that faced each other. Closing his eyes, Alexei rubbed at the side of his head, wishing the ache there and in the rest of his body would hurry up and go away. He’d been hit by a neuro-jammer gun during his initial training with the MDF to learn what it felt like and how to handle the side effects. Alexei was still annoyed to learn there really wasn’t much he could do until his brain and central nervous system evened out to a more normallevel.
The wound in his side throbbed as he shifted in the seat, a painful reminder that Trevor’s field dressing wasn’t the same as a regen regime. Someone rested a hand on his shoulder; Alexei didn’t even have to open his eyes to know it was Sean. “Amokay.”
“You will be,”Seansaid.
“Wheels up in five,” Annabelle said over the publiccomms.
Alexei blindly fumbled for his seatbelt before Sean did it for him. He cracked open one eye, seeing Sean’s face close to his. Lifting a hand, Alexei stroked a finger over the edge of Sean’s jaw, causing those worried brown eyes tomeethis.
“You call your family?” Alexeiasked.
Sean shook his head, mouth in a tight line. “My brothers won’t answer a call from an unknown number. Same for myparents.”
“Could have Katie make call beanswered.”
Sean was quiet for a few seconds before confessing, “Not sure that would matter since they might hang up on me. It’s my dad’s birthday today and I told them I couldn’t make it like all the other times. My mom was prettypissed.”
Despite his brain being mostly mush at the moment, Alexei still remembered the conversation he’d overheard while driving Sean home last week. “Birthdaydinner?”
“Yeah.”
