Eclipsed Star

Chapter Twenty-five

ROMAN POV

"Do you still have the keycard?" I asked when he pulled back from my lips.

"Yeah, why?"

"Come back with me," I said, his eyes dark in the moonlight. "I don't want to let you go yet. Angela is driving Drake and I back, she can drop you at the back gate again and I'll meet you there."

My body thrummed with excitement of the idea of having him all to myself for the night. I'd missed him so much, his arms, his body, his lips, his beautiful heart. I needed him so much it made my chest ache.

"I don't know, I've already snuck out of the hospital to come here, if they call my Dad and he finds out I'm with you..."

"I know... I just," I sighed and brought a hand to cup his face. "I've missed you. I was so scared... And there are somethings I should tell you... About how you got better..."

"What are you talking about?" He pulled away and sat up, pushing me off him.

"I can't believe it worked, but it did and now you're better and I just want--"

"What worked? What did you do Roman?" His eyes narrowed. Intensity rolled off him like a tidal wave.

"I cured you," I confessed, unable to meet his gaze. "But no one can know. We're forbidden from using our... medicine... on humans." I looked up at him and grabbed his hand. "I couldn't lose you Jake. Not after just finding you. I couldn't survive it if you died."

A tear rolled down my cheek and I made no effort to hide it. His leaned in and licked it away with a groan. "I love you too," he whispered before pulling me against his body and holding me so tight I could barely breathe, but it felt so right, like I was being put back together piece by piece.

I lost myself in his embrace, letting myself fold into his arms and crumble to pieces before he put me back together again. It felt so right being back in his arms. Whatever had happened earlier didn't matter, It was probably just the rush from getting cyper, we'd all experienced it. Usually it manifested sexually or in hyperactivity, but I didn't really know what it did to humans, so I was more than willing to write it off and forget anything had ever come between us.

A knock on the window pulled my attention away from him, and when I looked, a large dark haired man with a magnetic smile waved at me. "Come on you two, stop steaming up my windows," he teased opening the door.

"Roman, this is Mason." I stared into the man's dark blue eyes, captivated for a moment by the heat rolling off him.

"So you're the guy who Jake had me break him out for?" Mason said with a dazzling smile before reaching out his hand.

I took it in my own but instead of shaking it, he pulled me out of the back seat to standing and clapped a hand on my shoulder. His intense gaze required all my attention. I felt a tremor run through my body. Was it attraction or fear? I wasn't sure but either way it deeply unsettled me.

"Hi," I said lamely.

"Make sure you take care of him, he's one of a kind."

"Mase, I'm going to stick around with Roman. Thanks for the ride," Jake said, taking my hand and holding it with a gentle touch. Desire pulsed through me at his touch and I turned to look at him. Whatever Mason had inspired in me, it was nothing like what I felt for Jake.

"All right, behave yourselves boys," he laughed before climbing into the driver's seat and revving the engine.

*** 

After Angela dropped Drake and I off at the sector gate, she headed off with Jake toward the back access door.

Drake and I walked back to his Pod together on my way there to meet him. "So everything's all right in your world again huh?" he teased, arm wrapped around my shoulder.