Forrest moved again, and his hand moved down her back to her butt. Her lower stomach clenched, the feeling pleasurable. She moved back into him and placed a small kiss on his chest. She liked that and did it again. She wiggled up until she could reach his lips with hers and kissed him softly. His eyes were still closed, and she kissed him once more, harder this time. She wanted him awake, and she wanted to keep kissing him, touching him. She stroked his back, loving the feel of bare skin, and wished she had had something other than her new long johns to wear to bed. The barrier was frustrating.
“Forrest.” One more kiss, this time on his chin.
His only reply was a small grumble.
“Forrest. Wake up.” She reached down and grabbed his butt, matching his gesture. It was a stretch; her arms weren’t long enough to reach his butt and keep kissing his lips at the same time. She also couldn’t quite believe she had just grabbed his butt. Ass. Tush? She squeezed.
Voices and another crash came from across the hall, reminding her why she had woken up in the first place. She snatched her hands back from where they’d seemed to have taken on a life of their own and pushed at Forrest’s chest.
“Wake up. Something’s going on.” She pinched. “Come on, wake up!”
“What?” Forrest blinked down at her. “Ow. Why did you pinch me?”
Blue pinched him again. “Because you needed to wake up. Something’s going on, and you have a death grip on my ass.” She grinned, pleased with herself for actually using the word out loud. She mentally added to her list: Get more comfortable thinking of and using the words for body parts and sex.
His hands tightened before releasing her so quickly you’d think her butt was on fire and burning him. His face filled with color, and he moved his hips away as well. Blue was a little sorry for it, but she also wanted to get across the hall and find out what was going on.
The voices rose, and she pushed away again, harder this time. Forrest let her go, and she rolled out of the bed, hitting the floor with a soft thud. The voices stopped, and her door flew open.
Mo’ata filled the opening, his eyes wide and expression stiff. “What happened? Are you okay?”
Blue couldn’t suppress her snort. Weren’t those the questions she was supposed to be asking? “I’m fine. I just fell out of the bed.” She picked herself up and moved next to him. “What’s going on?”
The covers rustled behind her, and Forrest stood. “Is everything okay?”
Mo’ata, face hard, turned and gestured for them to follow.
Blue stopped just inside the door to Felix and Levi’s room. Horror swept through her at the state of the man lying on the bed, still as death. Levi’s chest wasn’t moving, and the ashy color of his skin brought a small cry from her. “Is he…?” She couldn’t finish the sentence, let alone the thought. He was her silent savior. He couldn’t be—
“He is alive. We do not know what happened. He must have remained awake long enough to push his emergency alert, but he was as you see him when we found him.”
Forrest cleared his throat. “Was it Phillip?”
“Not know. Getting image from Sora.” Felix stood across the room, comm to his ear. His expression was cold, almost blank. Blue saw the true mercenary, not her playful bear. This was the man she’d first seen back at the capital when he and his team approached their table at the inn. She hadn’t seen this side of him since, but here it was. This was bad.
She moved to the bed and took Levi’s limp hand. “Have you called anyone? A healer?” She couldn’t look away from that lifeless face. She hadn’t realized how alive his face was, how many of his thoughts and emotions usually showed, until she saw him like this.
When she got no answer, she pulled her gaze away and looked to Mo’ata. He glared at Felix, whose stony expression never wavered. This was what they had been arguing about.
“I don’t read minds. Talk to me.” Her voice was harsh, but she was worried and frustrated and didn’t want to deal with whatever manly dramatics they had going on. She just wanted Levi to be okay.
It was Mo’ata who spoke. “As Felix pointed out, we can’t let anyone know what’s going on. If word got out that there was some sort of crystal out there draining life, there would be a panic in the city and we would lose any leads we have. We’re close.” His voice lowered, the anger clear. “But he needs to get checked out by someone, if for no other reason than to be sure nothing vital was damaged.”
“Word is already out. Sora knows something is up. She may not know it’s a crystal, but she knows we’re here for more than my family. The shopkeepers know something is going on, and I bet, with how much everyone seems to love to gossip around here, that all the workers know something too. Hell, the innkeeper could probably tell you exactly where all of the deaths have occurred and all of their names. We should just go talk to him, and we could solve the whole thing.” She hated how shrill her voice sounded, but she was so angry and so worried she didn’t care to rein it in.
The stunned looks on the men’s faces, Forrest’s included, almost pushed her over the edge again, but a small groaning sound came from the man on the bed, and she recalled herself.
Levi groaned again as his hand tightened briefly on hers, but he didn’t open his eyes and he didn’t wake up. She sat beside him on the bed, keeping a tight hold of his hand. “Get a doctor or someone who can at least check his vital organs or something.” No one moved. “Now.”
That pushed them into motion. Mo’ata hurried to the door, and Forrest followed, returning shortly with the cubs and an extra blanket. He set the fur-babies next to Levi on the bed, and they snuggled next to him. The purring soon started. Did his eyes flicker? She couldn’t be sure if he was coming to or if it was her hopeful imagination.
She looked to where Felix still stood, arms crossed and silent. She wasn’t sure what his problem was. He hadn’t said anything since telling them Sora was sending the surveillance footage.
“Is there anything on the footage?” It was a peace offering, the closest she could get right now.
Felix looked at her but didn’t answer. She let it go and put all of her attention back onto Levi. Forrest joined her, sitting at her feet on the floor beside the bed.
An hour must have passed before Mo’ata returned with a doctor or healer or whatever they called them. Blue moved aside, reluctant to let go of Levi but knowing she needed to give the healer some room.
The doctor set a large case on a chair and pulled a small device from it, holding it over Levi’s chest until it beeped rapidly. He and Mo’ata spoke for a few minutes, the doctor frowning and Mo’ata shaking his head. Their voices raised, and the doctor gestured wildly. Blue looked at Felix, who just stood there watching. Why was he doing nothing?
“Excuse me.” She tried in Common, keeping her voice at a normal level. When neither the doctor nor Mo’ata looked to her, she spoke again, louder. “Excuse me.”
The doctor spun to her. “Yes?”
She continued with her small vocabulary. “Levi well?”
The doctor raised a brow, looking her over. He wasn’t bad looking, with dark hair and green eyes, but she didn’t like the way he eyed her and he wasn’t answering. She frowned and looked to Mo’ata.
His own frown grew. “He says Levi will heal. He needs rest and nutrients. His body is depleted but otherwise fine,” he said in English.
“So why are you arguing?”
“He wants to take him to a healing center and would not listen when I told him we could manage.”
“Is he going to be a problem?”
Mo’ata’s gaze shot to Felix then back to Blue. “No. But I am having trouble getting him to listen to me. It is a matter of me being a clansman, and the same reason we have been having Felix take the lead here.”
Blue also looked at Felix, who still did nothing. “Maybe I should talk to the doctor. The shopkeepers at least seemed to show some respect for the Faust name.”
The doctor jerked when she spoke. His eyes dar
ted back and forth between her and Mo’ata and Levi. He didn’t even seem to see Felix and Forrest in the room. “Faust?”
Blue stepped closer to the doctor, prepared to make herself understood somehow and get the doctor to leave. Suddenly there was a body in front of her blocking out everything except the broad back of Felix. He’d done the silent, sneaky-fast movement thing again.
Felix spoke quickly, harshly, and this close to him, Blue could almost feel the anger radiating off him. She wanted to put a hand on his back to soothe him, but she didn’t know what to do with an angry Felix.
A moment later the door opened and closed, and silence descended on the room once more. Felix didn’t move, so Blue stepped back and around him. The doctor was gone.
Blue looked up at Felix. “Thank you.”
He nodded once jerkily and went back to the corner of the room. Blue sighed and moved back to the bed, taking Levi’s hand once more. She squeezed it tight. “We’re here, Levi. Come on back to us, okay? Who knows what will happen if you’re not here to save me.”
This time she knew she hadn’t imagined the return squeeze, and a tightness in her chest eased. “He’s going to be okay.”
Mo’ata moved behind her, and his arms wrapped tightly around her middle, hugging her to him. “Yes, he will be okay.”
Forrest came up from the side and hugged them both, squeezing in a big bear hug. “Hugs are good. Let’s all do hugs.” He rocked a little back and forth. “See, Blue, we’re one big happy family. This’ll work out great.”
She smiled and gave Forrest a quick kiss on the chin, the only place she could reach, wrapped up in arms as she was. “Yes, hugs are good.” She enjoyed their closeness for a little longer. “Do you think we can all stay in here tonight? I don’t want to split us up, not tonight.”
“Is good idea.” Blue looked to where Felix still stood outside of them all. He didn’t look angry anymore. He looked… lost. She freed the hand that wasn’t attached to Levi and held it out. This time he took the peace offering.
It took some arranging, but eventually everyone was settled. They left the cubs with Levi, and Blue snuggled into his other side. Felix was in his own bed, while Mo’ata and Forrest had dragged in mattresses from the other room.
Everyone laid down, but Blue didn’t think anyone slept. She certainly didn’t. Every time her eyes closed, she found herself listening for Levi’s breaths, scared that at any moment they would stop.
“You awake?”
Blue didn’t know who Forrest was talking to. “Yeah,” she answered, just as Mo’ata said, “Yes,” and Felix grunted.
Forrest gave a little choking sound. “Okay then.”
Silence.
“Blue, do you think he did this?”
She didn’t need to ask who he was talking about. Phillip. “I don’t know. I didn’t really get a chance to know him.”
“Kevin told you about what he tried to do to Jason.”
It wasn’t a question, but she answered anyway. “Yeah.”
“I don’t want to believe he could do this.” Forrest’s voice was small, quiet, like a boy asking for reassurance after a bad dream.
“I know.” Her voice was as gentle as she could make it. She needed to say something, anything. “Let’s just wait till Levi wakes up, see what he has to say. Maybe it was that other guy.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
She heard the doubt in his voice—the same doubt she had. She didn’t think it had been anyone but Phillip. The last time she’d seen him, he’d already changed, his mood swings scary and out of control. And they all knew he was obsessed with her for some reason. Hell, she was the bait.
It was about time she started pulling her weight. She had the beginnings of an idea, but she needed more information. She needed Levi to wake up. And she would need to convince the others. That was going to be the hard part, but this needed to end.
“Forrest?”
“Yeah?”
“You know, I’ve been done with this particular adventure for a year now.” She tried to inject some lightness into her voice, but her throat was too tight, and she just came off as a manic squirrel.
“It’s like the never-ending epilogue, isn’t it?” His words were strangled.
Had she made it worse? “Is this a coconut moment? Do I need to come over there?”
That got a laugh. It was short and soft, but it was real. “No. No, the coconut moment has passed. Levi needs you right now. You stay where you are.”
Blue smiled. Forrest was okay, at least at the moment. She concentrated on listening to Levi breath.
The cubs’ purring picked up. It permeated the entire room and soothed her into sleep. Just as she was drifting off, a whispered question reached her. “What is a coconut?”
Chapter 11
BLUE
It had been two days, and Blue was about to insist that the healer be sent for once more. Levi still hadn’t woken.
“This has to end.”
“You’ve said that before,” Forrest teased, but he had barely left her or Levi these last couple of days.
“When are Felix and Mo’ata back? Have they checked in?” That was something good to come out of the attack on Levi. Mo’ata and Felix had started to really include Blue and Forrest in the actual hunt for Phillip. They’d been mostly helping with check-ins and coordination on the searches, but it was better than the waiting.
Sora had sent over all the surveillance recordings, not only from the area and time of the attack, but from all the other deaths as well. There were seven, including Blue’s cousin Gabriella. It had taken another visit from her and Felix to convince the guards to share their information, and more than Sora had gotten involved. Blue had even thrown around her family name. She had a feeling that would come back to bite her, but she was beyond caring at this point.
The guards had already combed through the footage, but Blue and the others had an advantage. They knew who they were looking for. It hadn’t sat right with her that they were withholding information from Sora. After what had happened to Levi, who knew more about what they were dealing with than anyone, she had agreed that keeping quiet was the best course of action.
She also had a better appreciation for how Jason must have felt. He’d had actual orders to keep quiet. There was no way he could have known that the Zeynars were going to attack that night. He’d probably saved Kevin’s life by drugging him.
“Felix just checked in. He’s at the site of the third murder. Apparently the workers there are just as close-mouthed.”
That was another change. After the night of the attack, Forrest had… hardened, just a bit. He wasn’t avoiding the truth of Phillip anymore. They didn’t have confirmation, and wouldn’t until Levi woke up, but sometime that night Forrest had acknowledged what she already knew. It was Phillip causing the deaths, and Forrest called them what they were—murders. She still couldn’t bring herself to do that.
Her comm pinged, and she grabbed it up from where she’d set it next to Levi’s bed. Every time she used it, there was a moment of unreality. It was so similar to a cell phone that she expected it to be a cell phone. She just stopped herself from bringing the device up to her ear, and hit the part of the screen that would accept the transmission.
Mo’ata’s voice sounded in her ear. “I am checking in.” They’d tried to explain how it was done without some sort of secondary receiver, but she finally just accepted there would be things she didn’t get about all the new technology she was sure to encounter.
“Where are you now?” She brought up the map they had generated of all the known sightings and deaths. The ones Felix and Mo’ata had already checked out were marked in blue, the ones still to be investigated in orange.
“I am heading to the fifth site.”
She double checked the map. He had been at the second, but the fifth was only a couple of streets down. Made sense.
“Were you able to find out anything at the last site?”
Silence.
“Mo’ata?”
“No.”
She sighed. “Felix came up empty as well. I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll find anyone who will talk to us.”
“They talk. They just do not answer what we need answered.”
“Do you think Sora would let us tap into the live feed of the surveillance?”
“Live feed?”
“Watch it as it is happening? Maybe we can see something new.”
A pause. “Maybe. We will have Felix check with her.”
“Okay.”
“I need to go.”
“Okay.” She was speaking to an empty line. Her stomach twisted. Every time he checked in, she felt like she could breathe again, and every time he had to go, the fear returned. This hadn’t happened before the attack. Just one more change.
“Anything?”
Blue pushed down the fear and turned to Forrest. “Nothing new. He’s at the fifth site.”
He nodded. “Okay, I’ll let Felix know to head to the fourth.”
Blue averted her gaze. Forrest had been dealing with Felix while Blue liaised with Mo’ata. Not because they each needed their own handler, but because Blue still wasn’t sure how to act around Felix. Their easy playfulness had been replaced by something else, and there hadn’t been time to sort it out.
A knock sounded at the door, and they exchanged glances. Her stomach flipped. At this rate, she’d never be able to eat again.
Silently, Forrest moved to the door and brought up the view screen, another thing Mo’ata had finally shown them how to use.
An older man stood on the other side, his sandy-blond hair just starting to turn to gray, his face lined and weary. He wore the same coat and scarf most everyone else in this area sported, but his were finer, the colors just a little… more.
Beyond Blue Frontiers Page 14
