Hunger pulled her from sleep. She stretched and reluctantly opened her eyes and was immediately greeted by the vision of Theo’s sleeping face. there was simply too much mischief, too much sensuality for him to ever look innocent, but she did see signs of strain in him.
He had been tired, even if he wouldn’t have admitted it, and she loved him all the more for it. He had put her first. It made warmth flood her chest. She didn’t think anyone—besides Kate—would have ever cared for her like that.
She eased out of bed, hoping that she didn’t wake him, her body already healing. Her cuts and bruises nothing more than fading pink marks.
Soundlessly she moved around the room searching for something to wear. She could have gone back to her room—but that would mean leaving the sanctity of Theo’s room, naked—and she wasn’t willing to risk that with other people in the house.
His room was neat, she noted, everything in its place. It was clean lines of masculinity with muted and dark hardwood floors and simple furniture. She shrugged into a shirt, which drowned her and slipped on a pair of his boxers. She eased out of the room listening to the muted sounds of life that settled into the house. Life. That is exactly what it was. They were living, not just existing. And it pleased her to know that she too was among them.
She strode into the kitchen stretching her hands above her head. The smell of breakfast wafted around her making her stomach rumble.
“Hey Jay,” she greeted sliding unto a stool, “Bastian.”
Bastian gave her the faintest of nods, but that was all she was really expecting from him, his stony expression intact. In the time that she had known him, she hadn’t once heard him speak. He only ever nodded; Jay however smiled and placed a plate of something that smelt insanely appetizing before her.
“I figured you’d be hungry.”
“Thanks. I am starving.”
“Oh God! Millie!”
The screech came from behind her and she turned with a large smile to face the owner. Kit barreled into the room to throw herself into Millie’s arms her body softly trembling, little sobs breaking free of her lips. She looked to Jay but he just shook his head and like the man that he was disappeared, Bastian following closely behind him, looking uncomfortable—which was a dramatic change for him.
“Are you okay?” Millie asked with a small shake of her head and laugh, pulling back just enough to look into the younger girl’s face. Kit had tears in her wide eyes and sadness on her face. “Kit?”
“No, I mean yes, I’m okay. Are you okay? I was so worried about you, I mean we all were it’s just that I was thinking about that day when you and I went into town and how all of this is my fault---”
“No it’s not,” Millie cut her off sharply, tightening her grip on Kit’s fingers. Millie led her to a stool and motioned with her chin for her to sit. “I want you to listen to me. None of this your fault, okay. Even if we had been somewhere else, or if I’d been with someone else, he could have still found me. That is not yours to carry, it’s mine.”
Kit nodded “I was scared that you weren’t coming back.”
“I’m here and I’m not planning on going anywhere anytime soon.” Or for however long she had, she was going to be here.
“Good. I like having you around and if you were gone I think it would have destroyed Theo. I can’t lose any of you. You guys are my family. And if any of you were to,” her voice cracked and she dashed away her tears. “I’d be alone.”
“Well, I hate to tell you this kid,” beamed Millie thumbing away Kit’s tears “but you’re kinda stuck with me.”
“I’m glad that you are.”
After a good cry they both settled and Kit sat with her while she finished off her delicious meal. She had yet to see Kate and disappointment tugged inside her. In truth she was the first person, other than Theo, that she had expected to see.
“You know, you’re more trouble than one person ought to be.”
Millie turned and smiled. She didn’t expect much more than that from Drake, she was always going to think of him as cranky. She was even starting to find his scowl endearing. “You know what Drake, I think you could use some trouble in your life.”
His eyes narrowed. “How come when you say that it sounds like you’re cursing me.”
She laughed the sound light and happy. He motioned his head and she followed him into Theo's study. There were papers scattered about, they looked like maps. She picked up one and studied it lightly before rising to meet Drake's eyes.
"We had to start somewhere," he stated, answering her unasked question.
She pursed her lips and nodded emotion clogging her throat. They'd been looking for her. Intellectually she knew that they would be, but here was the evidence of their search.
“So can you tell me anything about where you were held?”
She sighed, and walked over to a chair her fingers brushing the edges of a map of Summit Valley. Tucking her feet under her body she shook her head. “Not much really.” She spied the look on his face. “Look, I was more intent on getting as far away as I could. I didn’t exactly stop to take pictures. But it might’ve been in this general area.”
He rubbed his chin as she pointed to a spot beyond the town that only showed forest. “That’s a large search area, but I think Bastian, Jay and I could manage. That is if he doesn't have any Cloaking Talents.”
“It's unclear how many Talents he has," she shrugged. Drake nodded absently a furrow forming between his brows as he studied the map, already calculating what he'd need for a recon mission to that spot. Millie inhaled and rose clearly dismissed. "Well then okay.”
She rose from the chair and was nearly to the door when he called her back. Millie turned.
“Try not to get captured again. It was a real pain having to look for you.”
"I'll try not to," she was moving away from him when she stopped and turned "Drake?" He looked up at her. "Theo?"
He knew what she was asking. He ran his hands down his face. "It was hard for him. He barely fed for the time that you were gone; all he was really concerned about was getting you back. Let's face it, he's in love with you and he'll kick my ass for saying it before he had a chance to, but it's obvious. And that worries me. It worries me what will happen to him if we don't find a way out of this mess that he agrees with."
He wasn't saying it to be mean she knew, his worry came from the fact that he cared a lot about Theo. She nodded and moved out of the room with a small sad smile. She wasn't as worried as he was simply because he couldn't see it, or maybe he never realized it. There were many reasons for Theo to go on living without her, he was surround by people like Drake that would always be there for him.
He had a family.
Theo appeared in front of her and she bit back her scream, laughing a little. "You scared me."
Abruptly he caught her in his arms, crushing her against his chest. Millie held unto him mildly confused. "I woke up and you were gone," he murmured into her hair "I thought you were," his voice trailed off.
"Hey," she started pulling back just enough to look him in the eye. There was fear in him. She framed his face in her hands, her fingers brushing at his lower lip "I'm here and I'm safe. I'm home, with you."
She recognized Kate as she sat folded in a blanket looking out at the windows, her eyes sad. Millie moved quietly across the room to her.
“Hey,” she greeted drawing Kate’s gaze who answered with a soft smile. “Are you okay?”
Kate inhaled “Aren’t I supposed to be the one asking you that question?”
Millie shrugged fitting herself next to Kate before heaving a sigh, t “I’m okay, mostly. It’s not like I haven’t been through it been it before.”
“You really scared me there,” Kate murmured somberly “Knowing that he had you and that I---”
“Hey,” Millie took Kate’s hand linking there fingers together “I’m okay. I got away. I’m safe at least for now."
They sat in silence together, a companionable kind, where no words were necessary to
“We’re not going to find a way to stop him are we? Not without me...” she trailed off
“No!” the protest was a harsh bark and they both turned to the sound.
Theo was standing behind them wearing a wrinkled shirt, his hair a rumpled mess his eyes still dazed with sleep, but there was something in his expression that was, dangerous.
“I’m not going to let that happen.”
“Theo’s right. We are not going to let it come to that. We’ll find a solution, we have to.”
She needed to play devil’s advocate here, because in truth no matter how much they may have wanted it to be so, none of them had any real idea if anything they did would have made a difference. “But what if there isn’t one. What if the only way to weaken him is for me to--”
“No!” Kate protested softly, throwing off the blanket defiance burning in her eyes.
“Katie,” Millie started softly I
“No,” Kate interrupted with an adamant wave of her hand. “I am not willing to accept that the only way to stop him is for you to die. I just don’t. I won’t.”
She turned and stalked off, her feet moving soundlessly on the floor. Millie watched her leave, sighing out her weariness.
"I'm jusr going to check on her," she told Theo and she followed her.
“Kate! Wait!”
She shrugged off Millie's arm and whirled to face her. “No Millie, no. I refuse to accept that you have to die just so we can destroy him. I won’t. I can’t lose you.” Tears shimmered in her eyes, her hands trembling “You are my family. My only family. You’re my sister and if something were to happen to you, I wouldn’t be able to survive. I won’t have anything in my life if you’re gone. So I am going to find a way to fix this without losing you.”
“Then we’ll find a way,” comforted Millie, even if the words felt hollow to her. They would look for a solution but she had a feeling that deep down there really wasn’t going to be one.
“I should have done more. I’m supposed to be the one protecting you,” said Kate through a watery smile.
Millie thumbed away a tear from Kate’s cheek “How about from now on, we protect each other?”
Kate laughed and nodded through the sheen of tears as Millie pulled her into a tight warm hug.
“How’s Katrina doing?” Theo asked when she entered the room, taking her hand in his, his thumb finger brushing against the delicate bones of her knuckles.
Sparks of fire shot up her arm from that one point. His touch always seemed to ignite her nerves in the best way possible. “She’s okay, I think. She’s just worried.”
“I think we’re all worried. And how are you doing?”
Millie shrugged lightly, stepping closer to Theo “I’m not sure. How do we get through this Theo? How do we...”
“Together,” he answered absolutely. “We do this together.”
She nodded in agreement, she did want to figure this out with him. “But doing this together means that you don’t hide anything from me. No,” she added when she saw the fight rising in him, “I mean it Theo. You can’t hide things from me because you or Kate think that it’s going to be to dangerous for me. I don’t need you to shield me from everything. I think I knew that Kate was doing that for me and I allowed her to do it because I was scared, but I don’t want to have to depend on someone to keep me safe. I need trust not a shield.”
Theo brushed his thumb along her jaw line a soft smile playing at the corners of his lips. He could see a fire burning in her eyes. She was strong. He suspected even stronger than she gave herself credit for. He didn’t know of many people who could go through what she did, have someone like Micah in her head and come out of it like the warrior that she was. It was the strength in her as much as the vulnerability that made him fall in love with her. When it had happened he wasn’t quite sure but he knew it was true. There was no way he was going to live his life without her now.
“I do trust you,” he replied honestly. “But you need to realize that there will always be something inside of me, the untamed part that will always want to protect you.” To protect what was his “A part of me that will not tolerate anything or anyone hurting you. I will destroy anyone that will dare to do it, and sometimes you just have to let me.”
A smile widened on her lush mouth and his gaze was drawn to the action. She moved closer and ran her fingers through his hair, enjoying the way the silky strands slipped through her fingers. “Something tells me that you’ll just do whatever you want whether or not I let you.”
“Damn straight,” he agreed seeing no point in denying it.
Her fingertips traced the lower line of his lips, an action he was rapidly getting used to. She always seemed so fascinated with his mouth. He caught the tip into his mouth and sucked deeply. Millie’s breath caught and she raised her eyes to meet his. He didn’t bother to hide his hunger from her, he wore it proudly. His blatant desire for her was in his every touch, the darkening in his eyes as he took in everything about her.
A startled gasp escaped her lips and her doe eyed gaze jumped to his smoldering golden depths. A soft shade of pink coloured her skin and her breaths were coming in soft shallow pants. He knew he should slow down, she’d just been through an ordeal and she didn’t need him practically jumping her; but her response to him only fed on his intense desire for her. She wanted him too.
Her caught her hips and he drew her closer to his body. His hands caressed up her arms, his thumb tracing the pulse at the base of her neck, squeezing gently. He tugged her head down until his lips, wet, warm and hungry met with hers. Theo liked the taste of her. There were so many layers to Millie but the only time she let her guard down was when she was with him. There was no mask of indifference, she couldn’t feign boredom and each reaction that she gave was unrehearsed and addicting.