“El, we should ask him to stay. Now he remembers who he was, who he is, he’s our best chance of keeping the compound safe from the drags.” Not to mention the Marines.
Elan squinted at Padre Pedro. “You agree with this harebrained scheme of hers?”
“Yes, Elan, it just so happens I do. Not only is Micah Caine a trained soldier, but he’s a formidable Warrior enhanced by whatever the scientists did to him. He would be a great asset.”
El’s bloodshot eyes swung back to Rain. “Thought you said they were all brainwashed, those Marines.”
She shrugged. “They are. But the concussion must have damaged the conditioning. He can remember now and he is pissed as hell at what the Marines have become. At what Barnes did to him and others like him. I think we can persuade him to join us. In fact, I don’t think it will take much convincing.”
“And if the Marines come for him?” Elan heaved himself off his chair and headed over to the side cupboard to grab another bottle of home brew.
“Why would they? They think he’s dead. Killed with the rest of his platoon fighting the drags.” Rain exchanged a glance with Padre Pedro as El took a deep pull at the bottle. She saw the saw the sadness in the Padre’s eyes and knew it echoed her own. El was on a downhill spiral she was afraid none of them could stop.
“Fine. Whatever. Do what you want, just leave me in peace.”
In the hallway outside Elan’s room, Padre Pedro let out a deep sigh. “So troubled, that one. I am at a loss. Nothing I say or do seems to matter anymore.”
“He’ll straighten out when he’s good and ready. Not before. Nothing we can do about that.” But her heart hurt. Elan was all she had left of Sutter. They were so much alike. Had been so much alike. “I’m going to talk to Micah. The lieutenant.”
Padre Pedro gave her a look that told her he knew exactly how she felt about Micah Caine. “Be careful, Rain. You don’t know what was done to him. He is not the man you’ve read about. Not anymore.”
“You don’t know that.” She was convinced that man still lived inside the Dragon Warrior. He was alive and he had his memories back. There was hope.
Rain strode down the hall to the ward. She arrived in time to see Micah attempting to get dressed, which was amusing to watch since he had one arm in a sling and a thick swath of bandages around his ribs.
“Need help?”
He glanced up. She couldn’t quite tell in the dim light, but it looked like he was blushing.
“Yeah, thanks.”
She helped him get his shirt over his head and his arms into the arm holes without jostling his injured arm too much. It was her turn to try not to blush as every motion brought her into contact with his warm, bare skin. Every touch sent a little electric zing through her body, until she felt flushed and breathless.
“So, um, we were wondering. That is, Padre Pedro and I were wondering ... You can’t return to the Marines. God knows what they’d do to you and now that you remember the way things were and you know what they’re like...” She trailed off, nervous. “Well, we were wondering if you’d like to, you know, join us. The compound, I mean.” Rain wanted to smack herself in the head. She sounded like an idiot.
He raised a dark brow at that. “Join Sanctuary? What would I do here?”
“Well, for now, you could teach. Teach us how to fight. How to defeat the drags. How to stop the Marines from taking everything we have. And when you’re better, you can help us fight.”
He heaved a sigh. “I don’t know, Rain. I’ve been fighting a long time. A lot longer than any man should. I’ve lived far past my expiration date.”
“Don’t say that,” she snapped, angry. “So, maybe those crazy lunatic scientists did mess with your DNA. Bring you back from the dead when they shouldn’t have. But so what? You’re here now. You’re alive and that’s what matters. You can help us change the course of this war. Maybe even help us win so instead of fighting all the damn time we can finally start learning to live.”
“Wow. That was quite a speech.” He looked a little surprised. Maybe even a little pleased.
Rain was surprised herself. She was a Tracker. She’d never much thought beyond the next track, the next fight. It was all she’d ever known. But suddenly she was imagining white picket fences and bullshit like that. She swallowed. “It’s just ... it’s a miracle you’re still alive and still...” She waved helplessly at his physique.
“Still young?”
She flushed. “Um, yeah.” Not to mention hot. “Just seems a waste not to, uh, use it. The alive part, I mean.” Damn. She should just keep her mouth shut.
He grinned at that and reached out with his good hand to skim his thumb along her bottom lip. The contact startled her yet thrilled her down to her very toes. It wasn’t that she’d never been touched by a man before, but the fact that she was being touched by this man. A man who’d been haunting her daydreams for far too long to be healthy.
“Very well, Rain.”
“You’ll stay?” Her heart did a stupid little flip-flop. She needed to give the thing a stern talking to later.
He smiled. “Yeah, I’ll stay.”
MICAH WATCHED THE SMILE spread across Rain’s face and he suddenly felt like he’d just won the frigging lottery. Damn, but she was beautiful when she smiled. She was pretty, anyway, but that smile.
He watched that sweet backside of hers as she sashayed out of the medical ward. What the hell was he thinking? He was a fucking zombie, resurrected from the dead, for crying out loud. He had no right to think of her as anything but
