Page 75 of The Stone Curse
“You don’t have to be, you know. It’s okay to be sad. To grieve. Trust me, I know.”
He tucked in his chin. “I know, but it’s better to hope. To plan and take action. This team is my plan, my action, and my hope. The hope that I can maybe bring back my friends, and if I can’t,hope that I can avenge them.” He turned his body toward me. “That’s all I can think about.”
All that was keeping him going. “We need you, Orix. We can’t do this without you.”
“You won’t have to.” He smiled with his eyes. “I’m so proud of you all. You’ve worked so hard, and once you clear the elite trial tomorrow, the real work can begin.”
I smiled up at him. “So are you glad you didn’t kill me now?”
He let out a surprised laugh. “Will you ever let that go?” I pushed up on my toes and kissed his cheek.
“Consider it forgotten.”
He sighed and hugged me to him. “When you see him next…tell him…tell him I fucking miss him.”
I hugged him back. “He already knows.”
“Pizza is here!” Curi entered, holding several boxes, and Levi followed with several more.
Orix and I broke the hug, and standing here, surrounded by all the people I loved, it was impossible to stave off the warm fuzzies. I accepted the feeling, let it wash over me, then stamped it out. There would be no true joy for me until I brought Serath and Romi home.
I watchedthe movie but didn’t take anything in. My thoughts kept returning to Melanie and everything we’d learned then skipping to Serath and Romi, wondering how they were faring. The graynites were probably hurting them. Torturing them. Serath was hanging on by a thread and he’d been a captive for weeks while Romi…
No. I didn’t want to think about that.
What was I doing? Sitting here relaxing when the people I loved were in danger. Hurting. This was all wrong. My mouth was too dry. My throat suddenly parched. The damn tincture to stave off the needing seemed to have side effects it seemed. I slipped off the sofa and climbed over Touron’s legs to get to the kitchen.
Derek looked across at me, his diamond eyes darkening in concern, but I shook my head, letting him know I was all right.
I crossed to the sink and filled a glass with water, then downed it.
“Hey…” Levi came up behind me. “You want to talk?”
I licked my lips to absorb all the moisture and refilled the glass. “No. I want to get the elite exam over and get out there. I want to punch a hole in the graynite wards and get Serath and Romi back. I can’t sit here anymore. I can’t pretend that everything is normal when it so obviously isn’t.”
“This will be normal for you as an elite,” Levi said. “Seeing terrible things, knowing terrible things, being helpless sometimes. It will be the norm to come back here and watch a movie or eat a meal with your team because if you don’t do those things, if you don’t decompress and allow a little levity, then you will drown beneath the weight of all the responsibility. Our world is a dark and dangerous place most of the time, Cam, and this…” He looked back at the lounge area, at my goyle buddies chuckling over something happening on screen. “This is what makes it worthwhile. This is what we fight to come home to.”
“When did you get so smart? You’re not even an elite yet.”
“You don’t need to be an elite to know that to be an effective warrior you need something to fight for.” His eyes darkened. “I’ll be fighting for you and them.” He looked back at the others. “I’ll be fighting to put a real smile back on your lips and light in your eyes. Cameron…I’ll be fighting to bring your mate home.”
My throat pinched. “Thank you.”
He was about to say more when the entrance bell buzzed loudly.
Orix stood with a frown. “Anyone expecting visitors?”
He was met with a chorus of nos as he headed for the exit.
I drank my water and rinsed out the glass. Everyone who mattered to me that could be here was already here.
The sound of the door opening was followed by a tap on my shoulder. “Cameron…” Levi said. “It’s for you.”
“Me?” I turned to find Lionel Basque standing in the doorway.
He looked around and dropped the others a nod before focusing on me. “Cameron, can we talk…in private?”
I ledmy sire to the sixth floor and into the lounge I shared with Curi and Shar. I wasn’t sure what to say. We hadn’t been alone since my time in the infirmary, and now he was here. In the tower, in my lounge.
