Page 109 of The Order

I watch him wince as he rummages through his cabinets, grabbing what's left of my bottle of Cure-All and moving straight toward me.

“A Foreign Entity…. A Shifter, like the one the night of the screening.”

“H-how is that possible? How did it look human?” I question.

“They can alter their DNA. One of the many, miserable perks of nuclear fallout,” Fallan says, rubbing his hands along his face.

“It called me Marked,” I start, finally getting his full attention. “How did it know what I am?” I question.

“Your blood. For some reason, they can't get enough blood from people like us. Someone is commanding them to hunt us, letting them past the ward,” he mutters, ready to douse me in the Cure-all, but none of my injuries are so bad that I'd see the last of it used on me when he’s in such bad shape. I grab his wrist, stopping him as he clutches his side.

Without thinking, I grab the bottom portion of his shirt, forcing it up to reveal a very unpleasant bruise on a very visually pleasing torso. He moves to pull away, and I can see he’s already conjuring up as many angry words as he can for touching him too abruptly. I quickly silence him by grabbing the bottle and rubbing the mixture into my hands. I reach under his shirt to soothe the bruises.

“Fuck. I can't even breathe. You've let your injuries sit too long,” I mutter, letting my fingertips trail along his skin, watching the way his hand holds my arm, readying to pull me away.

“You can feel my pain?” he questions, his face that much harder to read with all the bruising.

“The minute I saw you,” I whisper, keeping my hand under his shirt well after I’d finished applying the solution. The warmth of his skin radiates over my hand, each of his strong stomach muscles pressed against my palm. He keeps his head lowered as he watches me, slowly moving my hand away from his flesh, only to let it rest on the waistband of his pants.

“What are you doing here, Forest?” Fallan questions angrily, finally stepping back to put space between us. Although I feel how furious he is, I know it’s not directed at me. It’s something more like fear for what might have happened to me. I guess his pain isn’t the only thing I can feel.

“Xavier said-”

“Don’t say his fucking name around me!” Fallan snaps, turning on his heels at the mention of the blonde Official. I stand my ground as he marches toward me, refusing to back down from him.

“Fallan,” I start, grabbing his face between my two hands, unsure why I can't stop myself from doing so. “I had to make sure you and Hunter were okay. I had to make sureyouwereokay,” I say. There’s no alcohol driving his reaction to me now, and I need to understand how he really feels.

He slowly raises his hand to my own, and for a moment, I think he’ll embrace me like he’s done before. But he suddenly jerks the Cure-All free from my grasp and moves back.

“I’m fine,” he starts, spraying the medicine into his hands. “Does blondie know you're here?” he questions, referring to Xavier once more.

There has to be a reason for Fallan’s contempt towards him.

“He doesn’t know I’m here. It's just me and Kaiden. No one else knows where we are,” I whisper, touching my aching chest.

Warmth surges through my body as his hand dips under the hoodie. Keeping his eyes on me, his hand slowly drags up my stomach. My legs shake as I try to control my thoughts while enjoying the feeling of his strong fingers delicately caressing my bare skin. I move my head to look at what he's doing, only to be stopped by his other hand wrapped around my chin. He pulls my face forward, directing me to hold eye contact. The hand that’s been under my hoodie moves higher up my stomach, pausing right below the material of my bra where the pain is the strongest. My thundering heart betrays me and refuses to listen to my commands as it races so fast that I can feel it beating in my throat. I am unable to process what’s happening. I want nothing more than to move his hand beneath the undergarment completely to ease my aching breasts.

“I feel your pain too,” he starts, working his fingers along the middle of my chest. He suddenly pushes his fingers under my bra, but carefully enough not to touch my breasts while he works to move them in position over the ache that radiates across my sternum. I’m unable to move beneath his touch, feeling a warmth between my legs that threatens to consume me if I don’t find a way to satiate it. “And your pleasure,” he continues, gently massaging the bruised skin on my chest. A shaky gasp leaves my mouth as his hand moves to touch the supple skin of my breast. I bite my lower lip, unsure why I can't stop myself. I grab the collar of his shirt.

“Fallan,” I whisper, unsure why I give him so much access to me.

He quickly retracts his hand, taking several steps back as he runs his hands through his hair. I listen to him groan as he bites his inner cheek, opening and closing his hands as he usually does when he’s overly frustrated. I feel the heat in my cheeks, and I can see the same redness staining his skin between the purple and green of the bruises. I let the cloud of desire dissipate, watching him finally apply the Cure-All to his face as his stoic demeanor returns. He moves toward his kitchen, running his bloodied hands under the hot water in the sink. Grabbing a towel, he cleans his face, working in swift motions. He wastes no time moving back over to me, taking the towel and working it along my hands and face to remove the dried Shifter blood.

“How often are we going to find each other like this, only to walk away?” I question, hearing him scoff at the statement.

“You are a distraction,” he mutters, pointing his finger at me with accusation. “A physical distraction. Nothing more,” he says coldly, my heart filling with indignation at his statement.

“You don't mean that-”

“Why wouldn’t I? Would it make your journey over here pointless knowing I couldn’t care less about you? Why is it so hard for you to understand there’s nothing here? I won't tell you what you want to hear, connection to me or not,” Fallan says, growing more hateful with each passing second.

“A distraction?!” I yell angrily, moving toward Fallan, shoving him in the chest out of frustration. “That's all I am, then? Something for you to play with until you get bored. I don't believe that,” I say, pointing my finger hard into his chest.

“It's not like a Blackburn is good for much else,” he hisses, looking away each time he answers me.

I think of that night by the bonfire, feeling my heart ready to burst from my chest.

“Can you even look at me while you say that?” I question, silently urging him to look at me.

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