“I don’t think you can burn me.” He reassured with a quiet smile. He still felt the waves of guilt trying to tear at him, telling him he shouldn’t be there, shouldn’t be holding her, consoling her like this, but he couldn’t let her go either. “I may not be a Fireborn, but you can’t burn me with your kind of power. With any kind of power, actually. I’ll take everything you have and still ask for seconds.”
She smiled gently and lifted her head to meet his dark eyes. They were perfect. Everything about them drew her in, and she enjoyed the feeling of getting lost in the endless darkness. They were every bit the match to hers, darkness where she was light. “I love your eyes.”
He smiled but it did make him feel slightly self-conscious. “I usually wear contacts in public. They tend to attract attention.” He kissed her on the cheek, a gesture almost exactly like the wolf-kisses they’d shared that morning so far, and nodded back to the van. “You good to go?”
Candra nodded and started to go back toward the van still clinging to his hand. “Don’t wear contacts.” She said softly, in a way that was definitely a request more than anything else. “Your eyes are perfect.”
“You two done?” One of the Ironborn in the front seat said with a glare as he opened the door for them, it was no time for two lovers to linger and stare into each other’s eyes.
“For the moment.” Orlando answered with a violent look in his eyes, squeezing Candra’s hand tighter as they got there, though at the same time, he was chastising himself for feeling so defensive so quickly. What was wrong with him? He was too old to be acting like some kind of infatuated child.
Candra didn’t know what to do about her growing feelings for Orlando, but she knew that she didn’t want it to stop. Ever. His protection of her was a welcome reminder that someone cared about her, and it made her want to be near him even more. They went back into the van and stayed close, since she needed him there to even remain in her human form. They didn’t speak much for the rest of the ride, though neither of them seemed to feel they needed to.
* * * * *
Aura was in the same van with Nick, but she was near the back doors and he was a few rows ahead of her with the Heartborn’s still-unconscious body. Nick spent most of the van ride on a cell phone getting reports from the various units that had gone with them for the attack. He made notes on a pad of paper on his lap and got more and more depressed as the ride went on. He ignored Aura almost the entire way besides a single look to acknowledge that he knew she was there when he got in, but his time had been taken up by the constant conversations with his captains about the state of their escape from Geneva.
She wished that she could talk to him, but just when she gained the confidence to speak up despite his obvious cold-shoulder, the Heartborn started to make noise and wake up.
A few of the guards around Nick moved to take hold of the chains that Heartborn was bound in just out of precaution, but Nick waved them off. He disconnected the call he was on and tossed the phone to the wolf in the front passenger seat as he turned to Zara. “Don’t try to move. You’re not in the Council chambers anymore.”
Zara looked around, but her vision was still fuzzy. She didn’t try to struggle against the chains, but she took a moment to assess what happened. The Ironborn had taken her with them when they fled, and she didn’t know what to think about it. Would they see her as a friend because of her eyes, or an enemy because of her association with the Council? She had been honest with Nick, but she still didn’t know if he could ever trust her. “You saved me.”
“They were going to bring down the Council building with us inside. We weren’t going to just leave you there to die. You weren’t one of the ones fighting against us.” Nick assured her, but his tone was still cold and calculating. He was a wolf with a heart, but it was still surrounded by barbed wire.
“But I was their servant and you still saved me.” She looked up at him upside down with her violet eyes. “Thank you.”
“We’re going back to Spain.” He said without acknowledging her gratitude. “Then we’ll decide what happens from there.”
She met Nick’s eyes and nodded, her fingers wrapping around the chains that held her, but she stretched to make sure her limbs still worked. “I understand. I hope that you will let me help you, if I can.”
“Help?” He said as he finally looked down at her, though he was still trying to keep his tone guarded.
“Help. Aren’t you going to need help with the families that lost their loved ones?” Zara’s element was the mind and emotions, and she was glad to assist wherever they could find a need for her.
“You are their servant. Why would you do anything to help us?” He was curious enough to give the idea a moment’s consideration, but he was still confused and suspicious.
“I am a Heartborn. I live off of what I can do for people. Just because they were bad people doesn’t mean I didn’t need them to survive.” Zara served the Council and in turn, their purposes served her. It kept her alive.
“You could have survived off anyone. Why them?” Nick questioned further.
Zara shifted a little in the seat, not to try and struggle against
