Jagged Embrace

Chapter 68 - Ander

Ander laid next to Maeve and held her as she slept. He listened until he knew both she and Will were in a deep sleep. As he slid out of the bed, a pang of guilt caused him to pause before he ignored it and continued to his bag. Once again, his ability to see in darkness benefited his actions. He gathered the few materials he would need for the ritual before he returned to Maeve.

He crouched down and wiped the bacitracin off of her tattoo roughly, purposely causing it to bleed just a bit. He only needed a drop or two to complete the act. The rich sweet scent of her blood that rose to the surface stilled his movements. Unable to force his hand away or stop the monstrous cravings in his mind, he gritted his teeth. What happened before, when they were in the SUV after the hive, was different. It had to be. He forced his eyes away and moved his shaking hand from her.

She had not stirred, even with the pain, as expected. He was not only familiar with the chemical he had given to both her and Will, but he was also now familiar with how her body processed it. Ander was very careful when he administered it to both of them. Calculating it would ensure that they would not sleep too long, or it would be noticed.

He moved the components to the nightstand beside him. Although Will had cast the ritual for the marking, Ander did not have confidence that it worked. They could not afford for it to be done incorrectly. It also provided him the opportunity to heal his own wounds. With a cleansing breath, he began.

Ander moved through the ritual with ease, over almost too quickly. He felt the call. It demanded more. Euphoria rushed through his system and made his body tingle with anticipation. Tonight, he did not have to fight it. He gave in and healed his shoulder and chest wound more, not enough to be noticed, but removed another week from the healing process.

As always, his mind was sharp, focused, and much more able than it was in the general fog of life. He could learn anything, do anything, he only had to choose it. Just one more, the magic whispered. It always wanted one more. The exhaustion of his lingering soul damage from the encounter with the werewolf made him unsteady, but it was on the mend.

His eyes flicked down to Maeve. Her tattoo glowed from the incantation. Ander disliked that she permanently marred her alabaster skin, but something tugged at him. He designed it for her; she wore his sigil. He knelt down and ran his fingers across it. The brightness increased everywhere he touched. The faint glow brightened with the white light that extended from his fingertips.

Ander had not intended to heal her. It was instinctual. He pinched his eyebrows. She was Will's and yet... she was also marked by him. Indirectly and for protection, but there would always be a small piece of him, especially now that he had re-cast the ritual that would be bound to her.

Will's snoring disrupted his pondering. Ander froze. He thought he calculated the amount of the drug in Will's drink, but... Will was notorious for flushing chemicals out of his system at a rapid pace. It was part of the reason the effects of alcohol had little impact on him. Had he miscalculated? Sweat broke out all over his skin. He waited in the darkness until Will's breathing returned to its normal sleeping pattern.

Ander cleaned the area and took a quick glance to make sure Maeve's tattoo did not glow brightly. It was already dim. By morning, there would be no trace of what he had done. Except for his eyes. He stole into the bathroom and popped out one of his contacts. As expected, his eye was dimly lit. Relieved, he put the brown contacts back in. It almost covered the glow. Will would assume it was from before.

Full of nervous energy from spell-casting, he decided to do more research on the item they were meant to retrieve. It was odd that one of the previous operatives chose the old cotton mill to hide the object. It must have been calculated, but there were no details to why. Unfortunately, Mason's order only contained the information she could pry out of Greystone Industries.

The Soldiers of Night and the Greystone Industries had a tenuous partnership. They both destroyed the threats to mankind, but their core ideologies were not similar and caused more conflicts than not. However, over the years, Mason somehow forged a working relationship with them and, by extension, so had they. Ander suspected half of the retrieval missions they engaged in were tied to Greystone Industries. Perhaps to barter with them or get something directly for them. Mason made it clear it was not their place to ask, so Will did not. He, on the other hand, did not so much ask as simply investigate the items more thoroughly. Something about this retrieval bothered him. Why had the agent abandoned the item? Why had Greystone Industries reached out to Mason?

Ander raked his hair back with his left hand and glanced at Will. Due to his injuries, Maeve would be in the field, which he did not agree with. However, given the past month and the mistakes he personally made, the lies he told, hell, even his actions tonight, he did not feel it was his place to question his cousin's judgment. He could not be trusted.

He sighed as more internal arguments told him those were excuses and he was putting Will and Maeve at risk by allowing it. His mind raced in a thousand directions as he continued the research, moving through scenario after scenario. Maeve made a small sound from the bed, and it cut through the noise of his mind. She was restless. Perhaps she sensed his absence? He turned off his laptop and slid next to her. In her sleep she moved until her body pressed against his, a content sound slipping from her lips.