A Touch Of Lightning (COMPLETED!)

Chapter 23 Links

Chapter 23 Links

Carmen stopped outside the door to the Med room, her hand hovering in the air above the doorknob. She was dressed in her blue nursing scrubs and holding her clipboard, and the similarity between this moment and when she had first met Callin was disconcerting.

She found herself suddenly apprehensive, reluctant to open that door and step into the room where Callin lay on the medical bed. The memory of his claws on her neck, of knowing her life was just a blinding instant away from ending, was still terrifying, even though that had been almost 6 months ago. Even though she now knew Callin much better.

The bright, clean scent of the hospital grade soap she had used to wash her hands drifted by her nose, reminding her of fresh cut cucumbers, and she found herself smiling at the memory of Callin's remark about it, when he had compared the scent to "an unholy offspring of a chemical waste facility and a demented grocery store."

She cautiously pushed the door open, peeking inside. Reassuring herself he was still lying quiet on the bed. She was annoyed at the relief that flooded through her when she saw him on the bed, not liking to think of herself as a coward, even though she knew it was wise to be very cautious around Callin when he was wounded.

His animal-like reaction to pain, his ferocious determination to never again be trapped and held against his will, echoed inside her thoughts, tracing along similar lines in her own memories. She understood him, she knew what it was like to be a captive, to be tortured, and forced to do unspeakable things. She had fought back years ago, she had escaped. She wished he could do the same, that he could learn to trust her and Raina now that he wasn't trapped.

She slipped into the room and softly shut the door behind her, watching him all the while. He didn't move, other than the steady rise and fall of his chest, which she could see even from across the room, as he was covered only in a nearly sheer, white sheet.

Ahleena had been taking care of him for the last two days as he slept so deeply it approached a coma, but now it was her turn to care for him. She found herself wondering why she had always felt such a need to comfort and nurture, why she felt like she was born to be a nurse, when she couldn't even touch her patients. It was a thankless job for her due to her powers, a job that constantly reminded her of how lonely her life was doomed to be.

She bit her lower lip and dragged her mind away from the familiar, yawning pit of misery that train of thought carried, instead focusing on the job at hand. She supposed one of the reasons she enjoyed caring for others was that the required focus was so intense it shielded her mind from herself, from the darkness of her own memories.

She adjusted the thin, cotton gloves on her hands and stepped over to the bed, studying his features. His amazing healing power had gone into action right after the strange, horrifying bone spurs had receded, but there were still pale spots on his skin where the lines had traced their way around the outside of his body. It looked like the shadow of a full-body tattoo, tracing lines down his arms and up to his shoulders.

She found herself longing to reach out and touch his skin, to feel his warmth and life under her hand. He was both a nightmare and a joy, and she seriously wondered how much of the emotional rollercoaster he had her on she could withstand before she went crazy. There was something about him, something more than his dark good looks and finely toned body that attracted her on a fundamental level. She wondered if it was related to the animal inside of him, always there just beneath the surface, wild and unknowable.

She knew she felt a thrill when she was near him and he let his steel control slip for a second and she was witness to what lay beneath. Just standing in the same room as him was making her breathing quicken. She let her eyes rove over his chest, the sheet so sheer it only fueled her imagination. She swallowed, feeling her willpower fading by the second.