Page 86 of X-Clan The Origin
I laybeside Jonas in the bed, waiting for him to wake up.
Kieran had given us one of his guest suites to use while Jonas finished recovering, which he’d claimed would be complete soon. “He’ll move in an hour or two,” Kieran had said before leaving. “His body just needs to catch up with his mind.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m sure he’ll explain,” Kieran had replied with a hint of a smile. “Enjoy,macushla.”
Darling, I’d translated, aware of what that little endearment meant. Kieran had only used it because he knew I liked the way his Irish lilt played off the word. He’d claimed my smile had given me away from day one, and he’d vowed to call memacushlaever since.
The V-Clan Alpha was a flirt. But it was all just part of his charm. Another Omega owned his soul, one he’d only mentioned a few times in passing. From what I’d gathered, they were playing some sort of game of hide-and-seek. That game was what had initially brought him to the CDC—his Omega had been hiding in Atlanta.
Then all hell had broken loose.
And he’d shifted his focus to using his healing powers to help with the pandemic.
But as he’d said on the plane, the cure eluded us. It didn’t seem to exist at all, even with all our access to supernatural essences and genetics.
Kieran had been right—even if we found a cure, how much of the human mind had to be left for it to work?
I sighed, my head against Jonas’s shoulder while I continued to wait for him to wake up.
“I need a new path,” I mumbled to myself. “I can’t give up on the potential for a cure. But Kieran’s right about needing to shift our focus to the mutations.” He’d mentioned Rohan’s news about the Viking Alpha, which proved that another dangerous mutation now existed.
We needed to stop the virus before it started impacting X-Clan wolves or V-Clan wolves or W-Clan wolves or anyone else.
Except maybe vampires,I thought.Not particularly fond of those right now.
Although, Kieran had mentioned being friends with one. So apparently they weren’t all like the monster I’d met roughly twelve hours ago.
The one who had almost destroyed my Alpha.
I pressed a kiss to Jonas’s chest, right over his heart. “Thank you for protecting me,” I whispered. “And for claiming me.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied, startling me.
My focus shot upward to his face. “Jonas?” I blinked. “You’re awake!”
“I’ve been awake,” he grumbled, his gaze sliding past me to the nightstand.
I immediately moved to grab the glass of water waiting there.
Blood Sector was up and running as though we weren’t in the middle of a pandemic. They’d protected most of Iceland’s population, giving all the humans sanctuary within their borders so long as certain rules were followed.
They also had a blood ration in place—something the V-Clan wolves considered to be a form of property taxes.
Jonas nearly finished the glass of water, his head only slightly off the pillow to allow him to swallow, before saying, “My mind never slept. I’ve heard everything for the last… I don’t know how many hours.”
“It’s after midnight here,” I told him. “But it’s been just over twelve hours or so. And you heard everything? Even the stuff from the plane?”
“And before that when Kieran offered to let me die,” Jonas muttered. “Yeah. I heard it all.”
He sounded angry, but I wasn’t sure why. “I told him to heal you. I didn’t even hesitate. You know that, right?”
His expression softened a little. “I know,ástin mín.”
“Then why are you angry?”
And there went the softness in his facial gestures, leaving behind a sharp jaw dotted with blond hairs. It’d been a while since he’d been able to shave. But I had to admit, I rather liked the thin beard he was growing.
