United (The Guardians Book 2) (16 page)

She didn't know how or why, didn't care that it should have been impossible, didn't want to know if it was a trap. All she wanted was him.

He watched her with rapt attention, his eyes taking in every inch of her with a hunger that seemed to possess his very soul. It was clear he was just as surprised to see her standing before him as she was.

They stood in motionless silence for almost a whole minute as they took each other in. Gable didn't know about him, but she'd forgotten how to move. How to put one foot in front of the other so she could grab him and hold on to him and never,
ever
let him go again.

Her heart pounded furiously behind her ribs, her fingertips numb. She must have dropped the dagger at some point, a foolish move probably, because her fists were clenched so tight her nails were cutting into her palms.

“Gable,” Sacha breathed, and the spell was broken.

At almost exactly the same time, they launched themselves at one another, running towards the only home that either of them had ever truly known.

Fifteen feet.

Ten.

Five.

They were just a couple of feet apart when they reached out, but just before their skin touched. . .

Gable's eyes snapped open and she heaved in a large gasp of air. She was still sat across from Cadby, still in the lotus position, still linked with him.

And Sacha was nowhere to be seen.

“Where did you go?” Cadby asked, staring at her in awe. “I mean, you were here physically. . .but you were definitely gone. Where did you go, Gable?” He tried to pull his hands away but she clung on.

“Send me back,” she begged, not caring about the desperation bleeding through her voice. Sacha had been right there, right in front of her. Losing him again was devastation in its purest form. “Send me back to him, Cadby. Please!”

He watched her like he was seeing right through her, which he probably was. “You were with Sacha. . . I see it now. Oh, Gable.”

“I know. So send me back to him.”

“I can't. I'm so sorry. Even if I knew how I did whatever that just was, we're blocked from him again. He's back with the leech.”

She opened and closed her mouth, unable to speak though she had so much to say. Finally letting go of his hands, she pulled her knees to her chest, hoping the pressure would ease the hollow feeling in her stomach. It didn't. “Was it real? Did I really see Sacha? Or did my mind just imagine him up?”

“It was real, I think. For whatever reason, he wasn't with a leech for that brief time and I somehow connected your minds.”

“So we were really together, but only in our heads?” She didn't know if that made it better or worse.

“That's right.” He reached over to pat her knee. Their earlier awkwardness was gone, like it had never even happened. “Don't despair. That was a good thing, don't you see?”

“How? We lost him again.”

“I may not be able to send you back, but the exchange left an energy trail linking you to him.”

“What in the hell does that mean?”

He lowered his chin and looked at her. His eyes were dark but his smile bright. “It means I know exactly which way to go.”

“Stop fidgeting,” Xahlia demanded from her cell.

Sat on the edge of his cot, Fortune's knees froze for just a second before they began jiggling up and down again. He was so full of nervous energy, and being trapped inside his tiny cell meant there was no way to expel it.

Sacha had been taken away for testing at first light that morning. Fortune was awaiting his return, praying they didn't keep him for days this time. He was worried – Sacha was usually at his very worst after a round of testing. His friend always arrived back at the cell with dead, lifeless eyes, like they'd stolen his very soul in those labs.

They had no concept of time down in the cells, not really. There were no windows to tell how high or low the sun was, no clocks, and none of them were permitted such luxuries as watches. The only way for them to really know whether it was morning, noon or night was when they received their meals.
If
they received their meals.
 

Thankfully it was a good day, and at some point – Fortune assumed it to be midday – they were served a lunch of some kind of broth. It was even quite edible, and almost still warm, which was a treat. Small lumps of something floated at the top, a meat that Fortune had never tasted before being locked up in the cells. He guessed it to be a local animal, which meant it wasn't from their realm. Because despite not really knowing
where
he was, Fortune knew they weren't on earth. When he'd been kidnapped he'd been forcibly escorted through a portal, and if that hadn't been enough of a hint then peeking through the fence when they'd had their outside time had been. The rainforest out there was definitely otherworldly.
 

Sacha finally returned when they were mid meal, and instead of the dull, deadened face he'd been expecting, Fortune was surprised to see his eyes were wide and bright, almost feverish. He sat down on his cot and picked up his bowl of broth, eating with such gusto that he practically inhaled it. It had been a while since he'd voluntarily eaten anything; Fortune usually had to beg him just so he wouldn't starve.

“You okay?” he asked Sacha, finishing the last few drops of his broth and placing the thin, tin bowl and spoon by the bars of their cage so one of the guards could pick it up later. It hadn't been a large meal and his stomach was still aching with hunger, but he was used to that feeling by now. “What did they do to you?” He recalled the last time Gelasius had come back from testing and had been so happy. “Did you overhear something?”

Sacha's eyes flickered towards the guard strolling down the aisle. Fortune got the hint, impatiently waiting for the guard to pass them by.

Finishing his broth in record time, Sacha dropped his bowl on top of Fortune's and sat down next to him on his cot. He was practically vibrating with excitement. “Something strange happened to me while I was being tested.”

“One of the scientists get a little handsy?” Gelasius guessed behind them, and Sacha even laughed at the joke. A real, genuine laugh.

“No. Something better.”

Even Moisey edged nearer, interested in Sacha's sudden personality reboot. “What was it?”

“They wanted to test my healing abilities again so the scientists had their leech leave the testing room for a while.”

Fortune nodded at that. Sometimes the scientists needed to test the Outcasts without the effects of the leeches sapping away their powers. They were chained down with multiple guns pointed at their hearts so escape was impossible, but it was rather pleasant not to feel empty for a short while – if they could ignore whatever sadistic test was being done at the time.

“Your healing abilities?” Mosiey wanted to know. He was a grown man, in his late twenties at least, but he'd always seemed younger somehow. Maybe it was his fear of opening up or his nervous, wide eyed stare, like he was a baby deer facing down the barrel of a hunting gun.

“Werewolf,” Sacha reminded him. “I heal fast, even when I'm human.”

Moisey seemed perturbed, and Fortune knew why. “What were they doing to you? To test your healing abilities, I mean.”

For the first time, some of the sparkle left Sacha's eyes. “They cut me open. Again and again. They recorded how fast I healed, then they did it again, only deeper.”

They were silent at they listened to him talk. Sacha so very rarely opened up about his tests, but they all knew it was worse than what most of them had to go through. Like a lot of judgmental Outcasts in the outside world, the scientists seemed to think that Sacha was less than human and treated him just so. They were wrong – Sacha was more human than anyone Fortune had ever met.

“It was too much,” Sacha admitted quietly. “I didn't want them to see how much pain they were inflicting.”

“Hear, hear,” muttered Xahlia, startling Fortune. He hadn't even realized she'd been listening in. But she was right – they both were. Letting the scientists know that their sick experiments were affecting them was like admitting weakness, like handing over their pride on a silver platter. There had been many a time when Fortune had bitten his tongue so hard he'd drawn blood just to keep from crying out on the lab table. Logically he knew the scientists
knew
, but still, it was a pride thing.
 

“I closed my eyes.” Sacha looked down at his hands and smiled to himself. “And when I opened them, I wasn't on that lab table any more. I was out there.”
Gelasius cocked his head. “They let you outside?” This came as a surprise because their outside time still hadn't been reinstated. Fortune was beginning to think Merche had been right – Pablo's partner was going to make things much harder for them down there.

“No, that's the thing! I just closed my eyes and when I opened them I was standing in the middle of that rainforest. I knew it was the same one because I was surrounded by those bloodsucking trees, the ones we could see through the fence when we used to go outside.” He ran a hand through his dark hair and laughed. “She was there, guys. Gable was there!”

Nobody spoke. It wasn't a good silence, just. . .awkward.

Fortune opened his mouth then immediately closed it, having no idea what to say. He knew the others were thinking the same thing as he – Sacha had passed out from the pain and had been dreaming. But how could they say that to him when he was so happy?

“You were dreaming,” Xahlia snapped meanly. Oh, that was how they could say it. Except now Fortune wanted to reach through the bars and throttle the vindictive bitch. She always hated when he talked about Gable.

Sacha stared over in Xahlia's direction, though his eyes were vacant like he wasn't actually seeing her, rather processing her words in his mind.

Sparing a quick glare for Xahlia, Fortune asked Sacha, “Did you speak to her?”

He shook his head, seeming to have lost his steam. “We were only there for a minute before I. . .woke up. Before I woke up on the lab table.” He dropped his head into his hands, obviously figuring out what the rest of them already had, before running his hands over his face harshly and glancing up at Fortune. “Do you think it was real? Do you think she's coming for me? For us?”

“I. . .I don't know.” He was torn between being honest and wanting to keep Sacha smiling. The only problem was, if he fed Sacha's dreams, it would only be harder for him when they didn't come true. “I'd like to believe she is. I'm sure she's trying her hardest to get to you.”

Sacha deflated. “But you don't think she's here. Neither do I, not really. I know it's not possible.” With a sigh, he moved over to his own cot and flopped down. “I'm not delusional, it just felt
so
real.
Seeing her there, so close I could almost touch her.” There was nothing left of his earlier joy. Now he looked more depressed than ever as reality set in. Fortune wished he'd just lied his arse off, told Sacha that it had been real and that he'd see his girl soon. “I feel like I've lost her all over again.”
 

“We leave in five minutes,” instructed Zay as the team gathered up the rest of their supplies. “Leave nothing behind, not unless you don't mind losing it forever.”

Gable left them to it, needing to be alone for just a minute more, needing to gather her emotions and lock them away inside so she could continue on with the mission without breaking down like a stupid, pathetic girl. She took shelter behind a large tree, knowing that she wasn't
really
alone, but appreciating the illusion all the same. This tree was different than the ones with veins; taller than a house and wider than a car, with heart shaped leaves so dark they were almost black.
 

She felt weak. Weak in that way only Sacha had ever been able to make her feel, though she'd never really minded it. Not with him.

But weakness wasn't going to bring him home to her.

She had to toughen up.

“Gable?”

A sigh escaped her lips and she bit back a curse when she heard Nicky's voice. Oblivious as ever, he'd ignored her desire for solitude and followed her.

“What's wrong?” he asked gently, stepping in close, right up in her space. He reached up a hand as if he was going to touch her face but pulled back at the last moment. Maybe he wasn't as oblivious as he seemed. “What happened with you and Cadby back there? You're pale.”

“It's nothing.”

He tilted his head, studying her. It was a move she remembered so well from when they'd been teenagers, from before they'd even fallen in love. Whenever they'd clashed and fought he'd suddenly cock his head and she'd always known he was searching her – for a weakness usually, a cut so deep he'd win whatever pointless argument they'd be in the middle of. She closed her eyes as the memories washed over her. “You're lying. You forget I know all your faces. I know all of you.”

He had, once upon a time. “I saw Sacha,” she snapped. “I almost had him, and then I lost him all over again.”

Like her words had physically hurt him, he took a step back. “Right. Sacha.”

“You asked.”

He cracked his knuckles uncomfortably, glancing behind like he wanted to escape, before he turned back to her, his expression resolved. “We need to talk. About us.”

“We've been over this, Nicky. So many times. There is no us.”

“There will
always
be an us,” he exclaimed passionately.
 

Her stomach clenched at his words. She didn't know if she had the heart to fight him, not when she was still so raw and wounded inside. And he was right. . .in a way. Even if they weren't together, there would always be something between them. Affection, memories, a bond forged by first love. “Look, I know you loved me back then, and you know I loved you too. More than anything, at one point. But I'm not that girl anymore. You have to realize that. Things change.
People
change.”

“I'm not a complete asshole, Gable. I
know
that.”