Page 63 of Tainted Gifts
Stupid blabbermouth mind!
He stifles a laugh, and Kellan groans while standing up, rubbing his face as he does so.
"Any idea what's going on?" Kellan asks my full blood stepfather.
"Go back to the part you were saying just before Commander Eric-"
"Jase," Jase interrupts, making sure my stepdad doesn't feel so formal around him.
Uncle Brazen smiles, nodding slightly, and then turns back to Kellan to finish what he was saying. "Before Jase got here."
"She's hot all the time and she craves to be somewhere cold. She's been wanting to go north. I think we're going to leave tomorrow, get away for a few days, unless she's changed her mind."
"A month," I add, pulling out my paper for vacation leave. "Here." I hand them to Jase. "They need your approval."
He frowns, but before he can say anything, Uncle Brazen interrupts. "Go back. You're burning up and you want to go north? Care to fill us in a little better?"
I shrug, leaning into Jase more while contemplating what it would be like if we had gone away the way we once planned. Would we be here, broken and confused?
"Sure," I murmur before Jase can acknowledge my silent question. "I feel like that's where I'm supposed to go. There's a cavern up there, and though I've never seen it, I feel desperate to go there. It's weird, but it aches so much to be here, and it feels so good when I think about leaving."
Mom and Uncle Brazen exchange a horrified look, and Jase leans up, all else forgotten as he prompts them to fill us in.
"What?"
Uncle Brazen pulls out his phone, ignoring Jase as a touch of panic begins to spread.
"Corbin, hey, it's me. Have you got the kids situated again?"
"Yeah, they're staying with your mom and dad, though I don't like it. They're not strong enough to keep them safe," Corbin says, sounding normal instead of arrogant for once.
"It's temporary. I need you to do me a favor."
"Sure."
"I need a detoxifier right now. The sooner the better."
"O...kay... I can have one to you in less than thirty minutes. How much does the affected person weigh?"
He shakes his head, acting as if he's trying to free something terrible from his mind.
"It's Aria, and judging by the time frame, they used a hybrid. Make it a double dose."
"Fuck! I'll be there in twenty instead."
Uncle Brazen drops the phone, and Jase's grip tightens on me.
"Brazen, what the hell is going on?" Jase demands, panic now in his eyes.
Kellan comes to sit back down beside me, careful not to touch me and provoke the pain Jase is taking away.
"It's a calling," Uncle Brazen says in a hushed, cryptic whisper.
Jase goes pale, Kellan too. I'm just confused.
"A what?" I ask, feeling Jase's grip get tighter, almost painfully so.
He loosens his hold the second he hears my inner pronouncement of pain, and then he kisses my forehead, his chilled breath bringing me butterflies and pleasure.
